Matthew 22:25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
In our youth meeting on Sunday, we took one last look at the scriptures in Matthew and Luke that address the “woes”. The verse above was part of that. Jesus was particularly harsh with his words to the Pharisees, the religious leaders of his day. He addressed his sermon on the “woes” to them. Why?
According to the Oxford Dictionary, woe means great sorrow or distress. Why would Jesus direct these depressing proclamations to the highly religious? Why not to those living and reveling in sin? They would appear to be the group more fully deserving of a severe “woe to you” warning. Time and again Jesus targets those who appeared to live godly and untarnished lives. His harshest warnings were saved for the most religious!
To those of us who’ve grown up in the church, or to those who’ve been part of a church family for a very long time, it’s easy to fall into “Christianese”. In other words, we know the words to use and the actions to take, even when our heart isn’t there. I’ve become more aware of this in myself as I get older (and hopefully a little wiser).
Oh, how easy it is to go through the steps – say the church thing to say, show up at a meeting, sing a church hymn, say a prayer – and generally walk out our faith publicly and still know that we are miles away from a genuine walk with God. This would be our modern-day version of what Jesus was railing on to the Pharisees. Our cups look pretty good on the outside. But the inside of us? Not so much.
How do I stay “real” and keep my faith genuine? To me, it always goes back to the basics. Reading the words of Jesus and others in the Bible, quiet prayer, meditation – and whatever else connects you most genuinely to God. My word for the year is consistency, staying the course, consistently making time for my faith practice.
May we be genuine in our steps to walk with Jesus.
Blessings,
Diana
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