washing the inside of the cup

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

What was Jesus speaking of in terms of washing the inside and the outside of the cup? The Pharisees had put an emphasis on outside appearances, on moral behavior and looking right. They had rules and regulations on top of rules and regulations all in order to appear "godly".

It was all with a big emphasis to look moral and upright.

Sound familiar?

Dallas Willard refers to the modern day versions as a "gospel of sin management". It is all about controlling behavior through outside forces. Accountability, attendance, all the going through the motions of systems.

A few moments before the cup analogy, Jesus noted that everything the Pharisees did was "done for men to see". This gives us a great insight to what Jesus meant by washing the outside. Accountability relies on holding someone to a standard by observing what we can see in them. How does that not encourage doing for others to see?

It's amazing how so many have been duped by outside the cup washing. One young man in a facebook discussion told me how he needed "accountability" in order to keep to worshiping God. He needed the outside pressure to make sure he attended church. huh? In the same conversation, a pastor said he needed his congregation to keep him accountable. How, will someone explain to me, is this not washing the outside of the cup?

Jesus is recorded in Luke 4 as saying he came to give freedom, to free us from oppression. A system that enforces "morality" and "behavior" by a system is counter to what he was speaking of. Accountability and other systems are ultimately oppression, a removal of freedom. Transformation must come from the inside. From relationship with God. From walking with the most holy. From healing, not behavior modification and discipline programs.

Law v Grace

Law gives us something to manipulate for our advantage, and gives us some sense of control. Grace doesn't have such a "handle" on it.

The Pharisees upheld the law because it gave them a means of control. But as was said by someone around the campfire this weekend, you can't balance rules, control, and rigid formal structure with grace. 1% law and 99% grace is still legalism.

Law permits us to restrict in many ways. Not only freedom, but it also allows us too much discretion where law doesn't speak. Grace as a way of life knows no such bounds. Law would require us to give a fixed set of our income to an institution. Grace demands from us to love until it hurts -- which may require none of our income if we are poor, or the majority of it if we are wealthy.

Law requires debate of rule interpretation, grace demands us stop debating when anger or condemnation is interpreted in our words.

In the process of detoxing from four wall church, I'm finding how the rigid ritual of "church" reinforces the idea of keeping law -- whether an old one, or re-interpreting the New Testament in a way to derive a new one. As Alan Hirsch writes, the "medium is the message". What message does the medium of ritual express? That of form, of format mattering. Our medium often gives off the message of law. What would a grace-filled gathering look like?