Clean on the Inside

Take a few minutes and ponder the above image…

Seriously, go ahead. I’ll wait. 

I’ve been reading/studying the Gospel of Matthew a fair bit these past couple of weeks. As someone who has grown up in a Christian church, I have both heard and read this Gospel more times than I can count. A fact which, when compared to the reality that there are still places that have never heard the name of Jesus, astounds me. Why does this astound me? Simply put, every time I actually give my attention to the scriptures, not just read or listen to them passively, but actively engage with and allow the scriptures, through the Holy Spirit, to engage me, God faithfully reveals something new, exposes area’s in my thinking/feeling that need to change, clarifies who Jesus truly is… on and on the list could go. 

This week I was struck by Jesus words of “woes” to the religious leaders of his day. The religious leaders, and much of society, cared very deeply about the appearances of things; often more than they cared about what took place in private or secret. This is, in part, tied to a vast social system of honor and shame, and at a more base level I’d argue simply a part of our fallen human nature. Jesus’ judgements against the religious leaders are preceded by some very hard teachings earlier in the Gospel where Jesus calls out what true discipleship requires: laying down ones own life and fully taking up the cross of Christ. Jesus’ disciples heard some hard words from Jesus, take a quick look at Mt. 10:16-39 if you don’t believe me, and now they are present while He speaks even harder words to the religious leaders. I imagine, hope, that if I were present, I would be paying very close attention to Jesus’ words. Even reading them now, so far removed from the first century, I can feel the judgment and inherent warning deep in my soul. Whereas these words enraged the religious leaders and stirred murder in their hearts, they drive me to knees asking God to deal with the places in me that look more like the religious leaders of Jesus day than a true disciple who has forsaken all for the sake of Christ. 

Jesus rebukes the religious leaders for, metaphorically, only cleaning the outside of the cup while the inside remained filthy. Anyone who has ever washed dishes knows that as you scrub the inside that soapy water is going to pour out over the outside as well. (Yes, I still use the cloth to wipe the outside as well for those who are wondering). 

What pierced my heart as I pondered Jesus rebuke, and the inherent warning to all the others present (including us today), was how often I view my own discipleship as a tightrope walk rather than a journey with my Savior. It is so easy to get caught up in the balancing act, intently focusing on not tipping too far to one side or the other. “Am I doing enough?” “How do others view me?” “Was that good enough?” “Is my heart in the right place?” On and on it goes. Jesus’ description of a true disciple can easily feel like an unattainable ideal. 

On our own we can never meet the “ideal” of true discipleship. The hope of the Gospel, as Oswald Chambers describes it, is that Jesus puts “something into you that will make the ideal and the actual one. Without Jesus Christ there is an unbridgeable gap between the ideal and actual; the only way out is a personal relationship to Him. The salvation of God not only saves us from hell, but alters out actual lives.” (pg. 83 Studies in the Sermon on the Mount)

If like me, you have at times felt like you are walking a tightrope rather than walking hand in hand with your savior, take a moment to first ask God to forgive you for trying to do things on your own. Then ask God to give you a new picture of what it looks like to walk as a disciple of Christ, with Christ, and through Christ. For that is only way for the “cup” to truly become clean; inside and out.