''"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean" (Matthew 23:25-26).''
The Pharisees looked wonderful on the outside. They looked righteous and clean. However, they were dirty inside. Their sin was hidden, but Jesus could see through their facade.
The Pharisees tried their hardest to make themselveslook clean, but they were more like children who shove everything into the closet when Dad tells them to clean the room. Dad knows the trick. He goes over to the closet door and opens it up. The child cringes in anticipation even before the door is open. He knows that everything will spill out when the door is flung open.
Jesus flings open the closet door where the Pharisees have hidden their sins. Not to gloat over finding them. To call them to repentance. Jesus doesn't want sins hidden. He wants them forgiven. He died on the cross to take yours away. Why would you still want to hide them anyway? Amen.
