“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."
Just to remind us of the context of these woes that Jesus is pronouncing on the Pharisees: the teachers of the law and Pharisees were asking Jesus illegitimate questions trying to trick Him into saying something they could twist and use against Him. Among the questions that were asked was one concerning which law, which commandment, was the most important. Jesus answered that the most important commandment was to love God with all of our hearts and souls and minds and strength, and the next, to love our neighbors like we love ourselves. And then Jesus made an astonishing statement. He said that all of the law and all of the teachings of the prophets were fulfilled by keeping these two commands. If we could truly learn to love God and others, the law would be fulfilled.
Immediately after this, Jesus began speaking these woes upon those who were asking trick questions -the religious leaders who did not understand and did not truly care about the heart of God.
The theme of this woe, much like the others preceding, is the importance of internal spiritual realities and not just external appearances. God is not nearly as concerned about our looking religious as He is about learning to love Him. Intimacy with Father produces transformation, but external appearances do not produce intimacy. When we are worshiping and opening our hearts to God and loving Him, we are changed simply by being in His presence. But this internal transformation only happens when we forget about being religious and just abandon ourselves to the relationship. When we being motivated by looking good and acting religious, by definition we are not being motivated by loving God and others. In other words, when we are focused on the externals, it prevents us from focusing on the internals. Jesus likens this to whitewashed tombs: beautiful on the outside, but filled with death on the inside.
Father, today help me to care more about how You see me than how others see me. Teach me to love You more; and as I love You, let Your love flow into the lives of those around me.
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