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Scripture for Sunday, February 12: Luke 11:33-42
Additional Scripture: Luke 18:9-14
This week we join Jesus and the crowd listening to him preach using an analogy from nature.
"No one," he says, "lights a lamp and then covers it up."
Why not? Well, covering an open-flame lamp either extinguishes the
flame or starts a fire. Covering an open-flame lamp either leads to darkness or disaster.
"Your eyes are the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness."
When our eyes work well, our brains receive and interpret vast amounts of visual information instantly. We don't have to think to ourselves, "My eyes see that peanut butter on the second shelf; therefore I know there is peanut butter on the second shelf." We just SEE the peanut butter and make ourselves toast.
Jesus makes a connection between healthy physical sight and healthy spiritual sight, the "light within us."
When our spiritual sight is illuminated by the wisdom and love of Jesus Christ, we are "full of light." Our hearts work properly. The result is that our very lives radiate Christ's light in tangible acts that resemble our Master.
But, if the light in our hearts grows dark.... If our hearts get covered over by sin and disregard to God, we begin living in the very ways Jesus calls to account in his dinner conversation with the Pharisees.
At the after-church dinner following his sermon, Jesus disregards his childhood lessons about being a polite dinner guest and bluntly assesses the Pharisees' situation:
"You Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.... Woe to you...because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God."
The Pharisees observed detailed ceremonial washing practices. They held their hands at a certain angle and poured a prescribed amount of water in just the right way. So, too, they
followed detailed instructions for measuring out their tithes.
But thick into the trees of the details, they
missed the forest. Their righteousness consisted in external observance of the law but lacked internal illumination about what mattered most to God. In their considerable effort to please God, they missed the one thing he wanted most: hearts, minds, and lives bathed in and reflecting the light of God's character and love.
"If your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you." (Luke 11:36).
Shine on us, Lord.
Reflect
How would you describe external righteousness?
What makes external righteousness attractive? What makes it dangerous?
How would you describe internal righteousness?
What makes internal righteousness attractive? What makes it difficult?
In what ways does external righteousness motivate you? What about internal righteousness?
