Reflections on Matthew 23 Part 6

Good Morning,

It has been very busy around here recently. This past weekend I was blessed with the opportunity to fill in for our pulpit minister as well teach my Bible class and have the teens over for a devotional. This week I’ve gotten to have lunch with our senior citizens, meet with my youth ministry buddies and spent a great deal of quality time with Emma. It has been so busy that I realized last night that I have yet to finish our journey through Matthew 23. I apologize for not getting back to you sooner. I hope that you are still enjoying the journey as much as I am.

Matthew 23:25-26

²⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

This has always been one of my favorite passages to use as an example when teaching or preaching. The reason for that is that, almost without exception, everyone you speak to has washed the dishes from time to time. Anyone who has ever washed dishes has had that experience of opening a covered dish that doesn’t look used on the outside but on the inside has a science experiment growing in it. This happens quite often in our household as we have a child that is drinking whole milk. Just this week I went to fix Emma a glass of milk and I found a thick, curdled mess waiting for me in a beautiful Disney Princess cup. I would never allow my little girl to drink out of a cup that had something inside that was not good for her. We wash her cups and then put them in the dishwasher to make sure that they are as clean as they possibly can be on the inside and on the outside.

Jesus is talking to a group of men who have allowed the inside of their cup (their minds, hearts and souls) to become filthy. On the outside they have on the finest clothes and the best accessories but the inside of their cup is something that nobody would want anything to do with. We still do the same thing today in our lives here on Earth. When we come to worship we wear our finest clothes and put our best foot forward while the whole time we are allowing bad things to live inside of our cup. As we think about cleaning out the inside of the cup let’s consider the dishwashing analogy once again.

When you wash cups in dishwater you don’t just wash the outside of the cup. When you wash cups you submerge them into warm, soapy water and with a sponge or rag you wash the inside and outside of the cup. When you go to rinse a cup after washing it you don’t just rinse out the inside of the cup, you rinse the whole cup inside and out.

If we are living the kind of lives we should be as Christians then the inside and outside of our cups must be clean. This doesn’t mean that you have to spend money on a new wardrobe; but it does mean that you need to reflect the image of Christ. This doesn’t mean that you act pious for all to see; but it does mean you are as concerned with keeping the inside and outside of yourself as thoroughly clean as those cups you just washed. Let’s remember that every cup has an inside that must be kept clean just like our physical and spiritual bodies do.

Questions For Thought:

1. How are you making sure that the inside of your cup is clean?

2. Where is a good place to examine the cleanliness of your cup?

3. If your cup is not clean on the inside where can you go for help?