Luke 11: 37-41
While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you.”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Cleanse our Hearts
It can be easy to see the Pharisees as Jesus’s hypocritical adversaries who were obviously in the wrong. Jesus calls them fools full of greed and wickedness (Luke 11:39-40). Yet, in today’s Gospel the Pharisee did not even say anything against Jesus, he simply had a strong reaction to witnessing Jesus not following the purity laws by not washing before dinner. Jesus draws attention to how much care and detail the Pharisees devote to external matters but neglect their hearts. We are called to live from the inside out and, like the Pharisees, we too need reminders to care for and focus on our interior selves. Are we full of greed, vanity, riches, honor, or pride? Jesus’s rebuke of the Pharisees’ tendency to over-privilege the self we present to the world is an opportunity to look within and cleanse our hearts, our truest and deepest selves, which God has made.
—Carl Caceres, SJ, is a Midwest Province Jesuit working on a doctoral degree in higher education and doing spiritual direction at Loyola University Chicago.
Prayer
We pray to you, O Lord,
Wash us of all that needs cleansing
Let us heed your call to
pay attention to our interior lives
Help our truest deepest selves
guide our actions and behaviors
as we continue to walk this faith journey
with You who lead us and call us to fidelity to the law of your heart
Amen
—Carl Caceres, SJ
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