Wednesday, February 20, 2019
As Jesus was speaking, one of the Pharisees invited him home for a meal. So he went in and took his place at the table. His host was amazed to see that he sat down to eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony required by Jewish custom. Then the Lord said to him, “You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness! Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside? So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over. “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. Luke 11:37-42(NLT)
Jesus was wildly popular with the
disenfranchised, the common people, poor and meager, but, with the rich and
powerful…not so much! Perhaps one of the
reasons a Pharisee would invite Jesus to his home to eat is that he was well
aware of the political power-play manual’s cardinal rule: keep your friends close, and your enemies
even closer! Simon, the Pharisee
wanted an up-close and personal look at this guy whose preaching was turning
the political status-quo on its ear.
This was dangerous stuff, and he wanted to examine his enemy.
Pharisees were religious power
brokers, and, as such, they were clever in political maneuvering; they were
manipulative, ruthless, and focused on winning. The problem with smart people, however, is the
inability to keep one’s mouth shut. One
of the Pharisees tried to bust Jesus for coming to the table without attending
to ritual…7 dips in the water pots, or pours over the hands to satisfy the Law,
and then you could eat. Jesus, ever the
controversial adversary of control freaks, named the rule-keeper, FOOL! Sometimes only an insult will do.
The whole point of eating with the
Pharisees was to expose their duplicity.
They were experts in keeping the bare minimums of the Laws and traditions
of the elders, but when it came to throwing their lives into the spirit of the
Law, they came up miserably short. Jesus
pointed out that the Pharisees are careful to tithe on even the tiniest bit of produce
but ignore the needs of needy people.
Jesus reminded them God didn’t so much need 10% of the rosemary and thyme
their gardens produced, as to see justice and fairness in the Pharisees’
everyday living. The Pharisees had the
responsibility of ruling with righteousness over God’s people; they had a duty
to alleviate suffering amongst the poor, but they spent most of their energy on
controlling everything to their liking…power, prestige, and wealth for them and
their close allies. Jesus came to drive
a wedge between truth and evil. Sometimes
only a shocking insult will awaken dull senses.
One little side note here (at the
risk of being called a Pharisee); please note Jesus did NOT say that the
tithe is wrong; he said just the opposite – we ought to tithe. Rather He was making the point that there are
more important things than the tithe, and all those important things include
better relationships, care for all persons, and honesty before God in
everything. He was saying, your
pocketbook issues are important, but they don’t matter, unless your heart is
right.
For You Today
I love the imagery of the old
saying, don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. The bath water is used up; a baby is just
beginning, so keep the priorities in good order!
In the same way, while you’re
keeping all the rules of your faith, make certain you don’t ignore the purpose
of your faith, loving God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength…and live
that love by loving the neighbor you’d rather not!
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