“A Pharisee invited Jesus to dine with him…The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you.” – Luke 11:37-41
We all like to be seen doing the right thing. The question is, what is the “outside of our cup?” How do we try to look to others? How do we want to be seen? What is “inside our cup?” What are the desires and deeds we try to keep hidden from others?
In Verse 41, Jesus suggests that when we develop a generous heart, when we tend to the “inside,” then greed and wickedness can melt away.
Remember – God provides, and so can we, for others.
This message is excerpted from “Look inside your cup” by Cathy Sell from the November 15, 2021, blog of the Women of the ELCA. Today we commemorate Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, martyr, c. 115.
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