27 August 2019 - cleanse first the inside

St. Augustine and St. Monica

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You cleanse the outside of cup and dish,
but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.

Jesus can't only tell us what we want to hear.

But as we were judged worthy by God to be entrusted with the Gospel,
that is how we speak,
not as trying to please men,
but rather God, who judges our hearts.

Much of the time, what we want to hear and what we need to hear are two different things. Jesus is constantly inviting us to draw closer to him. We are invited to allow him to make us more like himself. Superficial changes that affect our appearance are what we want, because of our pride. We want to be able to show off our transformation to others. But Jesus is interested in what is happening in our hearts.

Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup,
so that the outside also may be clean.

Preaching which is difficult and hard to hear, preaching which challenges us, does not necessarily come from delusion, impure motives or deception. As long as the goal is trying to please the God who judges hearts it is possible for such preaching to be done gently "as a nursing mother cares for her children." This is how God speaks even difficult words to us. He does so, in fact, by sharing his very self. So too does Paul. So too are we called to do.

God speaks words that convict, but not words that condemn us and make us feel hopeless. Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He came to give us hope. He came to help us move beyond the difficult places where we are stuck. He is the light of the world who wants to help get us past our blind spots. 

O LORD, you have probed me and you know me;
you know when I sit and when I stand;
you understand my thoughts from afar.

Let us not run from the LORD. Let us allow him to search us, to speak to us, and to cleanse us from the inside out. In turn let us, with all tenderness, share whatever words we are called to share, however sweet or challenging those words may be.