The Holy Martyr Andrew the General and those with him.
Post-feast of the Dormition.
2 Corinthians 2:14-3:3; Matthew 23:23-28.
Read Matthew 23:23-28
Imagine doing the dishes. You wouldn’t wash just the outside of a dish or cup. Jesus uses this image of dirty dishes to describe what the scribes and Pharisees were doing. He says that what they do is like washing the outside of a dish but leaving the inside filthy. Jesus says they must “first cleanse the inside of the cup and of the plate, that the outside also may be clean” (Mt. 23:26). When we are overly concerned about external appearances, we forget that it’s what’s on the inside that matters. If we were to wash the outside of a cup without washing the inside, the cup only appears to be clean while it is actually filthy.
Related to this, Jesus also taught: “Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man…What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man” (Mt. 15:11, 18-20). It is what flows out from our heart which truly matters. If impurity and evil are nested in our hearts, then sinful deeds will come forth from us.
Let us seek to “cleanse the inside of the cup and of the plate,” that is, let us pray for purity of heart. May we seek not to only “appear” to be righteous before others but rather seek to actually be righteous.