An extended weekday homily on Luke 11:37-41 written in answer to a question that followed my Sunday Homily: "Your Faith Has Made You Well".
While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so Jesus went in and took his place at the table. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you.” ―Luke 11:37-41
Some year ago, my employer at the time, took me out for lunch and as the lunch drew to its inevitable conclusion, coffee. He reminded me that there is no such thing as a free lunch, and went on to ask me to consider taking on a new challenge. That was his agenda for our lunch.
The Pharisee invited Jesus to dinner, but his agenda wasn’t just for breaking bread with this itinerant preacher. It was for certainty, for control, for the clean lines of the law, drawn and measured in the outer world. A world scrubbed down, whitewashed, and manageable. But Jesus doesn’t pick up the utensils. He doesn’t even wash his hands. He speaks instead of something deeper — of cups that shine on the outside but are hollowed by greed and wickedness within.
And I don’t think that he is saying this to shame the pharisee — but rather to reveal that which he consciously denies is there. That we would rather deny is there in ourselves. He is holding up a mirror, that exposes the pharisee’s shadow side.
The shadow side of each of us, is that side of ourselves that is usually remains invisible, but which once in a while we catch a glimpse of in moments of self reflection. or when someone asks us a pointed question. The petty weaknesses, the fears and doubts, the desires, the flirtations with evil.
We live in a world that is obsessed with appearances — physical appearances, religious appearances, social appearances, we craft carefully curated lives that we can post on social media, and perform in life. but it is all about what is happening on the outside.
Jesus is asking: what’s going on the inside? “Give for alms those things that are within…” Now, that’s not just a command. It’s an invitation, it’s a call to freedom, an invitation to become human again. To live in relationship with God the Son.
You see, Love, for Jesus, is never law-driven, it’s relational. It happens from the inside out, not from the outside in. God does not dominate us into cleanliness. He loves us into wholeness. So how do we get clean on the inside? Well not by scrubbing harder. Not by holding on tighter. Not by imposing more rules. But by giving.
Jesus says: Give for alms those things that are within. Now I have to confess, that when I would read that my mind would automatically transpose it to something easier to handle, something that required me to be less vulnerable. I would read it as: Give alms for those things that are within. But that is not the same thing at all. I was being the pharisee, I was moving it from what is within to something external. Jesus says, Give for alms those things that are within.
What are those things? Our fears. Our petty weaknesses. Our doubts and desires. Our bitterness. Our shame and our secrets. Our longings. Our tears and tenderness. Our spiritual pride. Our flirtations with evil.
This is not about moral perfection. It’s about a vulnerable offering. The interior life becomes clean, not when it is perfected, but when it is given in love. Given to God. Given to one another. Given even when it’s messy, unfinished, or unresolved.
God works in cooperative love. God acts, and we respond. We act, and God responds. It’s a divine-human synergy. God responds to our offerings, however small, and works with them — not against us, not in spite of us, but with us. Our transformation is not dictated; it’s participated in.
So maybe cultivating a clean inside begins like this: Sit in silence with God, and don’t hide. Offer your anger instead of acting it out. Offer your guilt instead of drowning in it. Speak truth instead of defending your image. Give kindness, not because it’s owed, but because it’s freeing. Let love in, even when it costs your pride.
The Pharisee wanted an outer world he could control. Jesus offers an inner world we can surrender. And in that surrender, everything begins to change. Not instantly. Not easily. But deeply. “Give for alms those things that are within…” Because when we give from the inside, we make space for God to dwell there. And then, everything is clean.