Denunciation of the Pharisees
Gospel Reading: Lk 11:37-41
AFT ER Jesus had spoken, a Pharisee invited him to dine at his home. He entered and reclined at table to eat. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not observe the prescribed washing before the meal. The Lord said to him, “Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools! Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside? But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you.” REFLECTIONS You cleanse the outside of the cup
In their excessive concern for ritual purity, the Pharisees want people to observe the regulations on the washing of hands that priests do before performing Temple services. Another group, the Essenes who live in their “monasteries” in Qumran, observe ritual bathing before meals.
Jesus is under attack for not observing the purity regulations – like the washing of hands – advocated by the Pharisee party. Rather than defend himself, Jesus launches a sustained attack against the Pharisees. This apparent lack of decorum follows the convention of ancient rhetoric, known to Luke, where
slander is commonplace between rival Hellenistic schools such as the Stoics and the Epicureans. This kind of attack is also leveled by the Jewish parties against each other.
Jesus speaks of vessels but he really points to the interior of persons. Cleansing the outside of the cup and dish refers to the external ritual, but more important is the cleanliness of the inside of the cup, that is, the cleansing of personal intentions. Purifying the outside does not necessarily cleanse the inside, which may be full of the dirt of plunder and evil.
For Luke, almsgiving makes the person clean. The “inner wickedness” of the Pharisees may lie in their “greed.” The internal remedy to this is the giving of alms, i.e., the sharing of their possessions. The readiness to help signifies their interior purification.
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