Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity. In the same way, on the outside you appear to be righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
Matthew 23:27 and 28
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Whitewashed
A month before Passover, the great Jewish feast in spring, the tombs in and around Jerusalem were whitewashed. Not to make them beautiful, but as a warning. Anyone who touched a grave became unclean under the law and couldn't celebrate the feast. So the thousands of pilgrims had to be able to see the graves clearly.
White and well kept outside, dead inside: every pilgrim understood that picture. It is a hard saying, aimed at scribes and Pharisees, but everyone knows the risk: a tidy exterior that hides what is really going on inside you. Whoever admits that honestly can begin again.
Question for today
What am I hiding behind a tidy exterior?
Prayer
Lord, I don't need to polish anything up for you. Make me clean inside, and brave enough to be honest. Amen.
My prayer
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