[column width=”1/1″ last=”true” title=”” title_type=”single” animation=”none” implicit=”true”]
Continuing our short studies in Luke, this week we are completing chapter 11. Please read verses 29-54 every day this week and, if possible use a different translation each day, asking God to open your eyes to fresh revelation from His Word.
[/column]
[divider type=”1″]
[/divider]
[column width=”1/1″ last=”true” title=”” title_type=”single” animation=”none” implicit=”true”]
Luke 11:37-41 (NIV)
‘When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. But the Pharisee, noticing that Jesus did not first wash before the meal, was surprised. Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But give what is inside the dish to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.”’
I don’t know if you managed to catch something on the news some time ago. There was another crisis in the NHS and diseases were being spread in the hospitals as never before. One of the answers suggested in order to combat this was to issue some advice to all of the NHS nurses – “Please wash your hands”.
I was a little amazed at this because it seemed obvious to me. I think every child is taught to wash their hands regularly and is something non-negotiable before sitting down to eat. Nurses are moving from bed to bed and dealing with numerous diseases and infections. Surely, it’s common sense to wash your hands between patients! Well, obviously not because the NHS needed to issue the instruction.
Just in case there’s any confusion here, Jesus was not being accused of having bad hygiene. He wasn’t being insulted that His hands were dirty and that there was an abundance of germs on the Saviour’s hands. This washing of the hands refers to ‘ceremonial washing’. What this meant was that it was necessary to wash before eating just in case you had been defiled by something like accidentally touching a Gentile on the way home from the temple. The Pharisees had insisted on an adherence to rules that was detailed down to practices such as the method in which water was poured over the hands. None of this was prescribed in the Scripture but was an extension of the law enforced by the religious leaders.
Jesus went on to give them an understanding of what it really means to be ‘clean’. There’s no point in washing the outside of a cup if the inside is filthy dirty. Greed and wickedness were just two things highlighted by Jesus. There was an abundance of poor people that were being neglected by the greedy religious law-keeping Pharisees. Jesus was saying that the inside needs to be sorted out first and then the outside will take care of itself.
Going back to the first part of the verses, after Jesus finishes speaking, a Pharisee invited Jesus to his home. I believe that whenever we have an encounter with Jesus, we have a choice to make. Invite Him home or go our own way. Sometimes when we go to church, we see something of Jesus in the worship or the preaching or perhaps in someone’s testimony. When we’ve heard what He’s saying to us, we make a decision. Sometimes it’s a conscious decision while other times we may be unaware of what’s happening. Either way, the fact remains that we have a choice to make. Will you invite Him home to continue the relationship or leave Him at the door of the church?
As we’ll find out tomorrow, Jesus had some harsh things to say to the Pharisees. The lesson is to ensure that we speak to Jesus with a correct motive and a pure heart.
[/column]