Trash Wrapped in a Pretty Package Still Stinks

“Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matt. 23:28)

From the outside it looked just fine. It looked like any other trash can on the road waiting for pick-up. It wasn’t even overflowing.

Outside it was exactly as it should have been.

But the inside contained a festering mess.  An unfortunate incident with a deer and a simultaneous freezer failure resulted in much fodder for decay in our trash can. Then we had an issue with our trash pick-up, so this trash can, although it appeared fine on the outside, had been sitting in the hot sun for a week. Everything was in double or triple plastic bags, but it didn’t help. Decay set in. Bugs invaded.

It was gross. We didn’t even have to open the can lid to know this. The smell gave it away.

It stank.

Bad.

My neighbors were only half joking when they asked if there was a dead body in there. We had our own CSI episode in the making at the end of our driveway.

I hope you aren’t reading this at breakfast. If you are, I apologize.  But as awful as the trash can experience was, it perfectly illustrates a point Jesus made in the Bible account commonly know as the Woes of the Pharisees (Luke 11:37-54).

In this story, Jesus is holding the “righteous” teachers of the law accountable for being like my trash can–fine on the outside but full of rot on the inside. Why was Jesus so concerned about this? The Pharisees, the teachers of the Law, were entrusted with setting an example of right living for the rest of the people to follow. They were supposed to be men of clean hearts dedicated to serving God. They were supposed to be witnesses for God in their community.

Unfortunately, they were not, and Jesus called them on it. The Pharisees did what many of us do, whether intentionally or unintentionally: they presented a façade that looked good while their hearts, minds, and attitudes were full of ugly. Jesus does not let this slide with a gentle pat on the back.

“Woe to you hypocrites,” he says.

Jesus might say these same words to many of us who claim to be Christians today. We are supposed to set an example of right living for others to follow. We are supposed to have hearts and minds, souls and bodies that love and serve God. We are supposed to be witnesses for Jesus in our community.

Yet all too often, we present a false façade; a pretty, dressed-up, made-up, holier-than-thou, got-it-all-together exterior while inside we are simmering with anger, crying with hurt, consumed with envy or pride, in bondage to addiction, lost without hope, closed off in judgment or obsessed with material stuff. And we kid ourselves by thinking that no one notices the rot.

If anyone gets close, though, our stink gives it away.

The Pharisees received Jesus’ rebuke for their hypocrisy because they were unwilling to admit to their rot. If they had, I believe he would have embraced them just as he embraces any sinner who repents.

The lesson is not that we can’t have the rot. The lesson is that we can’t pretend we don’t have the rot.

We must heed this warning and take a look at our hearts, our thoughts, and our attitudes. What trash are we trying to wrap in a pretty package? Where might Jesus call us hypocrites?

This is important because our world needs us to be real. The cry of hypocrisy can’t stick if we are willing to admit it when we don’t quite live out what we say we believe. The world needs to know the saving grace of Jesus Christ and witness the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

I could not fix my trash can problem on my own. It took the help of my neighbor and his truck to resolve it. Even after dumping the offending material, I still had lots of cleaning to do.

We cannot fix the rot inside us by ourselves either. Jesus is the only one who has the power to truly cleanse us of what stinks. It might take the help of a trusted friend, and it might take more than one attempt to transform our thoughts and attitudes. With help and grace, we can find ourselves clean, both of our rot and of our hypocrisy.

Denise Roberts is a wife, mom, and joyful soon to be mother-in-law. She loves sharing a good cup of coffee on her back deck with friends and morning snuggles from her 100-lb. chocolate lab, Hudson. She writes with a passion to share how to live holy, where faith and life intersect. Connect with her at www.deniseroberts.org.