Today is February 19.
 
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace through the power of the Holy Spirit.    
  
Take a moment and quiet yourself. Take a deep breath. Welcome God’s presence. And say, “Come Holy Spirit.”     
    
Today’s reading is from the gospel of Luke, chapter 11.    
   

37 When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. 38 But the Pharisee was surprised when he noticed that Jesus did not first wash before the meal. 
  
39 Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you. 
  
42 “Woe to you Pharisees, 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. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone. 
  
43 “Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces. 
  
44 “Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which people walk over without knowing it.” 
   
  
To summarize this scripture, Jesus is calling out the reality that talk is cheap, and that the interior is way more important to God than the exterior. The Pharisee was surprised that Jesus didn’t wash his hand. Notice here that the text does not tell us that he said anything to Jesus about it. He was just surprised. Somehow, supernaturally, Jesus must've sensed judgment coming from this Pharisee because he responded in a way that was addressing judgment and not handwashing. Not only that he addressed the silliness of paying so much attention to the surface, when everything beneath the surface can be corrupt. In Jesus's word… You can wash the outside of a cup, but if the inside is filled with mold and mess… It's still unclean. In the same way we can look really great on the outside… And have some pretty messed up internal realities. As you come to prayer today, think about your inside and your outside. Think about your secret self, or your private self… And the public persona that you walk around showing. How are those two selves to one another? 
 
Listen to the scripture again and pay attention to the intensity with which Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees. In the last line of our text, he says "Woe to you because you were like unmarked Graves, which people walk over without knowing it". That's a picture of being dead on the inside. Pay attention to how it makes you feel as you listen to the text. 
   
In particular, Jesus says to these guys that while they give a 10th of all their herbs and spices… They are not generous to the poor. And they neglect mercy and justice. They do everything on the outside to look right, but they're actual behavior and the state of their heart isn't clean before the Lord, as we end our time of prayer today, take some time to reflect on the state of your own private self. Ask the Lord to help you continually become transformed, not just exteriorly… But in the very core of your being, into the likeness of Christ.