Today's Gospel

Live from the Inside Out

Welcome back. The gospel of Jesus Christ is as radical and relevant today as it was 2,000 years ago. And that's why each day we take a few moments to read the gospel reading of the day, looking for a word or phrase or an idea that jumps out at us that the Spirit uses to capture our attention, so we can focus our day on the gospel of Jesus. Today's reading comes from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 23 verses 27 through 32. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within, they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.

So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but within, you're full of hypocrisy and inequity. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, will you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, saying, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' Thus, you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up then the measure of your fathers." What jumps out at you today? Well, this is three days in a row, right?

Jesus is like, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites." So he's not letting up on the scribes and the Pharisees. And Jesus lived at a very moderate temperament. And for him to be this worked up about these men in these positions of power and authority means that the way they have offended him by taking advantage of people, using people, abusing people, was great. It wasn't a small thing. And again, today, he's focusing on the fact that they are so focused on all of the external, and that they are neglecting the internal. And worse than neglecting the internal, they're allowing the internal to rot and to become decayed.

And so, again, we have an invitation to live our lives from the inside out. Are we living our lives from the inside out, or are we living our lives from the outside in? The temptation is to focus on all the externals, make sure we look right, to make sure we're being seen to do the right things. And God is inviting us not to pretend to do the right things, but to actually do the right things for the right reasons in the right time, to become who he's created us to be, not just to pretend to be somebody.

And of course, that's harder and harder in our world where in a world of social media, so many people spend so much of their life pretending to live a life so that they can post it, so that people can see them. And then other people looking at them and thinking, "Well, that's their real life," when the reality is, they're just pretending that that's their life. And then all these other people are saying, "Well, I want that life that they have," but they don't actually have that life. And so you can see how this spiral effect could take a hold of society and has taken a hold of society.

And so today, the gospel is an invitation to return to the basics and to say, "Okay, am I living my life from the inside out, or am I wasting my time, effort, and energy pretending to be someone that I am not?" Have an amazing day and remember, don't just be yourself. Be the very best version of yourself, all that God created you to be.