Reflection on Today’s Gospel – Lk 11:37- 41
It is not that the external is unimportant. The point is that what is outside to harmonize with what is inside. God cares about man's heart, not about appearances. If we have given our heart to God, then the external is as it should be, because it flows from what is inside a person.
The prophets already warned against a soulless religiosity in which there is no heart and everything boils down to what is external. This people, God complained in the Book of Isaiah, " honors me with their lips alone, though their hearts are far from me," (cf. Isa 29:13). When you fast - says God in this book - fast also from your sins and your selfishness.
Let me recall at least a fragment of this very well-known statement: " Is this not, rather, the fast that I choose: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking off every yoke? Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry,bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own flesh?"(Is 58: 6-7f).
An extremely moving picture of soulless, heartless religiosity can be found in the Book of Ezekiel (13). Namely, if a person is religious only outwardly and his heart is not converted, he is like someone who, instead of repairing a crumbling wall, covers the crack in the wall with plaster. It is precisely this kind of hypocrisy that from it the Lord Jesus wants to protect us, when he urges us so hard to turn to God with our heart, and then everything external will have its meaning.
Let us also pay attention to the last sentence from today's Gospel: " But as to what is within, give alms,". It might seem that almsgiving is a typical act of what is external. After all, almsgiving consists in giving someone in need some service or something. Meanwhile, the Lord Jesus says: give what is inside for alms. Because the act of mercy reaches its truth only when it comes from the heart - then we perform the act of mercy with respect for the needy person and really in view of his good. And then we do not make act of mercy for its own sake, nor for the purpose of gaining any praise.
One more thought
"Love and do what you want" (St. Augustine) - this is the lesson from today's Gospel. Love is a manifestation of maturity. Law is needed before we learn to love.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george