Give Alms
If a person has been diagnosed with lung cancer, would you suggest that they wash their hands three times a day to get rid of it? How ridiculous to try to solve an internal problem with an external remedy.
This seems to have been the problem of a Pharisee who had Jesus over for dinner (Luke 11:37-41).
“After 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.”
Ceremonial religious washings were a custom carefully observed by the Pharisees. This was not just a matter of getting the dirt off one’s hands before meals; it was intended to have religious value. Since the purpose of religion is get closer to God, the Pharisees must have thought that these ceremonies drew them closer to God. Jesus bypassed the ceremony and went immediately to the table. The Pharisee looked shocked. How could a rabbi who was supposed to be a religious man ignore the washing custom?
“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!”
Ouch! Jesus, where are your manners? To categorize the Pharisees as fools was not an appropriate way to address a man who invited him to dinner. They were meticulous about external cleanliness but ignored the cleanliness that really mattered—that of their inner spirit. Jesus was able to look into the insides of people, and he didn’t like what he saw. Pharisees lived off plunder. In effect they were stealing money under the guise of religion to pad their own pockets. Greed, rather than love of God, is what drove their behavior.
“Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside?”
God made both the outside and the inside of us. And it is the inside of us that tells us how close we are to God. Clean hands do not matter when one’s spirit is wrought with disease.
Did Jesus have a solution for the Pharisees? Remember Jesus loved the Pharisees and wanted them to be saved. What appears as an insult was intended as a wakeup call.
“But as to what is within, give alms, and behold everything will be clean for you.”
There was an invisible “water” that had the power to clean out their insides, namely the living water of the Holy Spirit. If they truly wanted to get right with God, then they would have to be released from their greed. How to get rid of their greed? “Give alms.” If the Pharisees dedicated themselves to giving away the “plunder” they had taken, they would begin to become clean inside. Instead of amassing money and accumulating things, they were called to be generous in giving to the poor. With two words, Jesus gave them the solution to their problem and taught them how to please God.
We are a society dedicated to outward cleanliness. We even have laws against littering the streets and property. We are also a society that values people in terms of money and possessions. It is no surprise then that greed is a serious spiritual problem with us. How tempted we are to let money rule over us rather than the Holy Spirit.
This is an opportunity to evaluate how we spend our money. How generous are we in giving alms? Does our security rest in money or in God?
Today we pray for freedom to let go of our attachment to material things so we can be filled with and led by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus, we repent of our greed. Give us merciful hearts so we can share generously with the poor and be filled more and more with the Holy Spirit, the only water that truly cleanses.
