Wednesday, January 21, 2026

“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.” (Matthew 23:25 -26, New Living Translation)

             The one thing that I miss from our old house is the automatic dishwasher. We don’t have one here in our apartment. So dishes need to be washed by hand. Susan is a real trooper and does it without complaining. But she has been on the sidelines this past week or so, sick with a very bad cold and a terrible hacking cough. This has meant that I need to do the dishes. I’m sure many of you are already sarcastically thinking, “Oh, poor baby!” Fair enough.  But I detest doing dishes. I’ll clear the table of the dishes, stack the dishes, wipe dry the dishes, put away the dishes but please don’t ask me to wash the dishes.  I’ll vacuum, do the laundry, dust and sweep, but I’d rather not wash the dishes. I don’t care who does the dishes – man, woman or child or the dog can lick them clean. But I’ll pass when it comes to actually washing the dishes in the sink. Don’t really know why I have this aversion, but it’s been true my whole life.

                I would love to claim our text as supporting my position on dishwashing but that would be quite an interpretive stretch, of course.  Jesus is, once again, up against the dogmatic, religious leaders. These leaders were always looking to find fault with Jesus. They saw him as a blasphemer, a radical, a reformer, a poor example of good Judaism. These men were rigorous to a fault about obeying the Law to the finest detail and expecting everyone else to do likewise. We might call them fundamentalists, those who see their world in no uncertain terms as to what they think the Law demands.

Heaven forbid, if one used a dirty dish. There were rules about washing, mostly about one’s hands.  But since a cup was frequently used as part of the tradition, it was essential that the cup be properly cleansed as well. Thus, perhaps, the phrase, cleanliness is next to Godliness. But Jesus seems to be saying that religion which only touches the surface and is it all show and looks shiny, but bears no results, is an empty dish indeed, no matter how clean it might be.

There are several other instances in scripture where we ere reminded that the practice of our faith is more than ritual obedience, more than ceremonial performance, more than saying the right words  or practicing performance-based faith. My favourite is from Micah:

        Should we offer him thousands of rams    
            and ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
        Should we sacrifice our firstborn children
            to pay for our sins?
        No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good,
        and this is what he requires of you:
        to do what is right, to love mercy,
        and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:7 – 8)

Our best religious practice is more than going to church, saying our prayers, giving our offering, memorizing scripture, serving on some church board or committee. That  is an important part of it, of course. But our religion should inspire us to do as Jesus once said: “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.” (John 14:12)

                Not that washing dishes can’t be holy work. A very long tome ago, l was being interviewed for a pastoral position. One of the questions I faced was about how I would get those who loved working in the kitchen, i.e. washing dishes, to step up their religious game and be more fervent in joining bible studies, prayer meetings and the like. The search committee joined the pharisees by looking down their noses at those who were serving the Lord in practical, helpful ways but not according to their high standards. I knew right away that this church wasn’t for me. Not surprisingly, perhaps, this church no longer exists.

James wrote that faith without works is dead. “Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?” (James 2:20, The Message Bible)

So, no, Jesus is not letting me off the hook for washing dishes. Rather he is demanding that you and I bear fruit because of the faith we practice. Jesus washed feet, for goodness’s sake, a menial job but it spoke volumes about the breadth and depth of what it truly means to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

Somebody, pass the dish rag, please.

 Prayer

Our forbearing God, forgive us when it is easier to say the words than live the words. May our expressions of faith in you be more than superlatives about our superiority. Help us to see how we may fill  our  cups with kindness, love, compassion, forgiveness and servanthood. In Jesus’ name, amen.