Today’s Scripture Readings

While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you.

In today’s Gospel, a meal becomes a contested space, and cups and dishes are metaphors for cleanliness of heart. Jesus’ refusal of preparatory washing is about rejecting rituals empty of meaning. The remedy offered is almsgiving, a generosity that extends beyond the setting of the room and the table. Today’s conversion is from head to heart and keeping inside and outside aligned.

This cleanliness of heart resonates with interior freedom, peace of mind and an awareness that everything is gift. Francis of Assisi gave everything away and Carlo Acutis is a contemporary disciple. Teresa of Avila said it this way: ‘Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you…Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices.’

The Pharisees, the Lord declares, are filled inside with plunder and evil: they steal, presumably from the poor, and have lost the integrity which a conscience provides. They are fools. They are reminded that the Divine Master created them, and knows them, inside as well as out.

Perhaps it was curiosity that brought Jesus from the public square where his host had heard him speak, to his home, presumably with other guests. Can we hope that the host, having felt the blowtorch from this encounter with Jesus, felt the stirring of a conversion of heart?

May we also find here an invitation to dine with Jesus, to listen to His Word, and to become more like him, just as he yearns to be with us?