From the Inside Out

I once was told something about myself that I think was supposed to be a compliment, but it sounded kind of weird, even though I understood what was being said.



When I was the youth minister in Stanton, TX back in the late 1990s, I had a mom tell me that I was different from the guy who had been there before me. Basically what she said was this: "You know you never can tell by just looking at the outside.  Aaron looked the part and was clean cut and wore the suits but on the inside he didn't fit it. You don't look or dress like that at all, with your earrings and stuff, but on the inside you fit."  Now I'm sure that this is a paraphrase of what she said, but you get the idea I'm sure.  The guy before me looked the right way for the job, but inside he just wasn't right.  Me, well I dressed then a lot like I dress now (jeans and t-shirts) had the same style of facial hair and wore at least 2 earrings (and probably 4).  But inside I was the better fit, at least in her eyes.

I'm sure that some of you know people like this. The inside doesn't match the outside. On the outside they look just like they should and people think that they are great, but inside they are not nice, or the other way and on the outside someone doesn't look like the kind of person that you would want to hang out with, but on the inside they are the kindest, nicest person you can imagine.  We tend to make judgments based on what we can see, rather than what we have to take time to find.

This is what the scripture for today is talking about.  In Luke 11:37-52, Jesus is laying out this very same idea to the Pharisees and religious leaders of the day.  One of the Pharisees has invited Jesus to his home to eat a meal.  When Jesus gets there, they notice that he doesn't hold to the ceremonial tradition of washing his hands first.  Even though this was (and is) a good thing, it was also done by many Pharisees as a showy kind of thing.  When they say something to Jesus about it, he lets them have it.  He tells them that they are so careful about the outside appearance of holiness while inside they are filthy.  He compares it to only cleaning the outside of a cup or a dish and not bothering to do anything about the inside.  If the inside is gross, it doesn't matter how clean it is on the outside, it's still gross.

On the other hand, if something is clean on the inside, even if there is some mess on the outside, it's not as much of a concern to eat or drink out of it.  In 1 Samuel 16:7 God tells the prophet Samuel to not be to concerned about what he sees on the outside while looking for the next king.  The reason is that God is far more concerned about what is on the inside of us than what is on the outside.  That is where it matters the most.  Peace and Love y'all.