40 lines
2 KiB
Markdown
40 lines
2 KiB
Markdown
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title = "Luke 11:37–44"
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date = "2022-12-13"
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### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Lk11.37-44)
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While Jesus was talking about giving light to your whole body through your
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eyes, He gets a chance to show how this works out practically in a person's
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life. A Pharisee asks Him to dine, and there are other guests too, as we shall
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see. Now, Jesus doesn't wash His hands before dinner, and this astonishes the
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Pharisee, but not because Jesus's hands were dirty. At least, they didn't
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appear dirty, but the Pharisees ritually wash to remove the uncleanness they
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may have gotten from touching something unclean, so that the food won't become
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unclean, so their insides won't become unclean.
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Jesus lambastes them by letting know that their insides are already unclean.
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They have wicked, greedy hearts, even though their outward actions appear holy.
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They tithe even the tiny herbs from their gardens in accordance with the Law of
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Moses, but they corrupt justice and don't love God. Instead they live for the
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praise of man and the comforts of this life. He compares them to unmarked
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graves, which make people unclean when they walk over them, even without
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knowing it.
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The Pharisees had missed the whole point of the Law. Tithing isn't meant to be
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a bean-counting exercise, to make sure you are giving precisely 10 percent to
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God. It's about thanking God for giving you what you do have, providing for the
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needs of the priests who spent their time serving God and the people instead of
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farming, and trusting God to provide enough for you and your family even after
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you have given some away. The ritual purity laws were to show that God is holy
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and that we can't help but be defiled. The civil laws were to protect the weak
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from the wickedness of the strong, and promote justice and mercy among all the
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people. The Pharisees made the means into an end, and neglected the end in
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their own lives.
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* * *
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Reveal the wickedness in our own hearts where we do not follow Your laws, and
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help us repent and turn back to You.
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