And as He spoke, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. So He went in and sat down to eat. When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before dinner. Then the Lord said to him, "Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also? But rather give alms of such things as you have; then indeed all thingsare clean to you. "But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like graves which are not seen, and the men who walk over them are not aware of them

Isn't our Lord telling us that we must seek to use everything to glorify the LORD, God, the Almighty? The Pharisees were willing to use relatively insignificant and available herbs as a donation to the LORD, rather than seek to find ways to live justly and spread the love of God.

Do you notice that this is the only example that Jesus gives as an example where we are prone to substitute something cheap for something that demands commitment and sacrifice on our part?

The next two examples deal with our love of self. The Pharisaical nature, inbreed in all of us, loves to be recognized as men and women who advance the Kingdom.

Good morning, Pastor John, thank you for all that you do. Nobody ever greeted me as Programmer John, yet my contribution to advancement of the Kingdom should have been as God honoring as my calling as a pastor. And in those days I didn't realize that the root purpose of my being was to serve God.

Readings:

Morning Psalm 75, Noon Psalm 119:57-64, Evening Psalm 26