First cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also

"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

"Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.' Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.' Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells on it. And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also."

- Matthew 23:13-26

In yesterday's reading, Jesus began His critique of the scribes and Pharisees. He is in the temple at Jerusalem, and has just gone through questioning by several groups of temple leadership, from the various parties that formed the Sanhedrin. But the plotting of the Pharisees has been to trap Him -- and now He goes on the offensive with His criticism of their ways of practice. He's speaking before both the crowds and His own disciples. In yesterday's reading, Jesus criticized the ways in which the Pharisees and scribes hold dear their own standing -- especially their image in the eyes of others. He taught His disciples to do as the Pharisees say, especially honoring Moses' seat, but not as they do. "All their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, 'Rabbi, Rabbi.' " They allot to themselves standing and authority in the title. But Jesus counsels His own disciples not to call themselves rabbi, nor teacher, nor father -- but to keep in mind there is only one teacher, the Christ, and they are all brothers . There is only one Father for them, the Father in heaven. "But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves." In yesterday's reading, Jesus criticized the ways in which discipleship was taught by scribes and Pharisees, and taught His followers to be brothers in Christ and under the Father, a different hierarchy and discipleship. Here He criticizes the ways in which the scribes and Pharisees treat their followers. As my study bible puts it, they "perpetuate a systematic hypocrisy which creates a wall between people and God." We read recently Jesus' response to the question as to which of the commandments was the greatest. Here, as in the teachings in yesterday's reading, Jesus continues the central importance of the commandment He put first, that of a loving relationship with God -- that which comes first. "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." He criticizes the Pharisees for keeping others from this relationship, as they themselves are bound out of it by hypocrisy. From that relationship is love of neighbor -- but a distance from God will keep us from right-relatedness to neighbor.

"Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.' Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.' Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells on it. And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it." Jesus' criticizes practices that, in effect, distanced followers from the very first object of worship: a loving relationship with God. It is the temple that sanctifies the gold in it; it is the altar that sanctifies the gift. Again, we are brought to the centrality of faith in God, a deeply loving relationship to God -- the source of all love, truth and righteousness -- first. It is a question of what we keep in our hearts first and foremost, and in their blindness they have failed to put into practice that which comes first. It is a failure of humility, a failure of value, a failure of understanding and right-relatedness in the first things that give all value to others. The practices expose the wall between themselves and God.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!" What do we tithe to God? What is the temple but the house of prayer, the house of God, where the holy dwells? So, Jesus places greatest emphasis on the things that are of God and that God loves, first before material wealth: "justice and mercy and faith." They are what should have come first. My study bible has a note on all the rituals and traditions of the Christian church, the tools available for the practice of faith: "These rites can be performed, invoked, defended and passed on without ever being taken by faith to heart; or they can be helps, safeguards and doorways into the true life of Christ in us, which transforms us from glory to glory." Jesus is not condemning practices such as tithing, but putting first things first -- even as the "great commandment" puts God first, and everything else follows and is given meaning and relationship through the first central relationship, teaching us righteousness and defining our relationship to all the world and all the beautiful and good things in it. Losing sight of this is what He criticizes. My study bible explains, "In the ancient world, strainers were used on the mouths of decanters, because any liquid might contain foreign matter. Pharisaic observance used the strainer also to strain out any ritually unclean substance which one might accidentally consume. This gnat and camel analogy points out how carefully the scribes and the Pharisees observed the minutiae of the Law, while neglecting its most significant aspects."

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also." Here Jesus teaches His most specific words against hypocrisy. It's not about what's outside, but we begin with the inside -- what's in our hearts. In this way, right-relatedness, or righteousness, "spills out" to the outside, to all things to which we relate in the world, neighbor, works, and all things in the world. What is clean? What is pure? This is what Jesus invites us to think deeply about, and to bind to ourselves in true relationship to God.

In all, I have to say that the life of the practices of the Pharisees and scribes here whom Jesus criticizes seems rather grim. (We should note, first, that not all the Pharisees fell into this criticism; among them the gospels report just and devout persons, even those who are followers of Christ.) The power of joy that is in relatedness to placing God first in our hearts is missing from the description of such exacting practices, such a focus on externals, and the material. That's not all to life, and it's not all to the gifts that faith gives back to us. The sacramental life is not just about what we do to give honor to God in a way that we observe, but giving honor to God in our hearts gives us back so much in that relatedness: trust, faith, love, joy, peace. And that is the real treasure we seek, and that we seek to share. I think of Jesus' great analogy to the Kingdom, the pearl of great price. In the ancient world, there were no cultured pearls -- a pearl grown from an object placed in an oyster and then coated by its nacre. Rather, pearls were pure nacre. What you saw on the outside was what was also on the inside, layer by layer. Jesus' teachings against hypocrisy reflect this sort of purity. What do we put first, in our hearts? What do we love with all our heart and soul and mind? We let that form the outward layers too, and define the ways in which we live our lives in the world, the spirit with which we practice our faith, in whatever tradition we embrace. Can we take His words to heart and apply them to ourselves? The pearl of great price can reflect a lifetime of work, of faith, of prayer and relationship to God, of cleansing the inside of the cup as the Spirit works in us. But it starts with the substance out of which it all must be created, first, in the center, in the heart.