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.”

–Parallel verses:
‭‭II Chronicles‬ ‭16‬:‭9‬a
For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

In the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, the prophet Ezekiel was commanded by God to eat his food over a fire fueled by human excrement. He protested, and God allowed him to use cow dung instead. This was done as a prophecy against the people of Israel, whereby God was telling them they would be captured and forced to eat “unclean food”. In similar fashion, Jesus is doing something that is culturally unclean and unsanitary, with a message for the Pharisee. This Pharisee thought he caught this Rabbi, Jesus, in a mistake. Instead, Jesus turned it on him.

Have you ever loathed someone so much that you celebrated their failures and pointed out even their smallest flaws? I have been tempted to do this many times, with brothers and sisters, with coworkers, with government leaders. But God does not give us this option.

The reference here to the poor may be that this man looked down on and made excuses for why the poor put themselves in a place of need. This thought track can go like this: “If they would have just followed the rules and not hung out with that group of sinners, life would have been better for them. They dug their own grave.”

Jesus calls out this dark moral depravity and warns this Pharisee. It is a warning for me too. “Do not think you have arrived, Joe Anderson. Your accomplishments are nothing without my power.” When we get prideful we get evil. And this process starts in the heart and can, for a time, remain hidden.

One additional thing Jesus does here: he lets this Pharisee know that he can see into his heart and he knows his motives. He indicates by this power that he is God.

I love the short but powerful verse in II Chronicles. God sees! He knows what is in my heart! I cannot hide anything from him. So I might as well surrender my will and authority to him and let him get started cleaning up my wicked heart.

Lord, take this broken man, this man who has a damaged heart — hurt by my sin and the sin of others. Take it all and do your amazing work in me. Keep doing it. Purify me to be a temple for your Spirit, I pray. May I be honest and true and may no hypocrisy rest in me. Clean me up and use me for your glory!