“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 was surprised when he noticed that Jesus did not first wash before the meal. 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 now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you. “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.”‭‭Luke‬ ‭11‬:‭37‬-‭42‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Heart attitude was everything to Jesus. What irked Him most about the Pharisees? Their “outer man” and their “inner man” didn’t match. They were fake! They looked genuine on the outside but rotten inside, like a rosy red apple on the outside with a worm at the core! 

Jesus used some explicit words to diagnose the heart “disease” of these religious men, words like “greed, wickedness, neglect”. They were schizophrenic…split between  a righteous exterior and a rotten interior. What was the real problem? They wanted the applause of people for their “righteousness” as well as fulfilling the evil desires of their hearts for money at the same time, without anyone knowing.  

Jesus called them “hypocrites”. 

“Appearing outwardly righteous to others, while actually being full of uncleanness and self-indulgence—that’s the definition of hypocrisy (Matt. 23:25-28).” (Source: Google – Jesus’ definition of a hypocrite)

Jesus narrowed down the source of the Pharisees’ hypocrisy to “greed and wickedness” and the solution to “be generous to the poor”.  Why did He make their attitude to money and the poor  the focal point of His  condemnation, and generosity to the poor the evidence of a clean heart? 

Time and again, Jesus exposed our attitude to money as the real object of our love…What or whom  do we serve?

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The entire ungodly world system is driven by money. Paul accurately diagnosed the root of wickedness…

“Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭6‬:‭9‬-‭10‬

Just as people are fake when they blame others for their sin, so also they are phoney when they claim to love God but really serve money. Why, then, according to Jesus, is being generous to the poor a sign of a “clean” heart?

Loving money and being generous are opposite and conflicting attitudes. Generosity is an attribute of God. Only when His grace intervenes to change our hearts from greed to generosity can we be real by showing whom we really serve. 

The Pharisees were fake because they developed a facade of righteousness by their actions that disguised their greedy and wicked hearts. Their fastidiousness about obeying the law covered up the wicked thoughts and attitudes of their hearts. Inside, they loved money and used it to serve themselves. 

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”

‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭22‬-‭25‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Believers are just as vulnerable to this trap as are unbelievers. We can only be genuine, not fake, if what we think and what we do match.   

Again, let’s pray, like David…

“Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭86‬:‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

To b continued…