"As Jesus was speaking, one of the Pharisees invited him home for a meal. So he went in and took his place at the table. His host was amazed to see that he sat down to eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony required by Jewish custom. Then the Lord said to him, 'You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and wickedness! Fools! Didn’t God make the inside as well as the outside? So clean the inside by giving gifts to the poor, and you will be clean all over.'" (Luke 11:37-41 NLT)
sac - ri - leg - ious - intentional ignorance of a sacred (seemingly holy, traditional) person, place, thing, custom, etc.
Does it seem surprising that Jesus, Son of the Most High God, Holy, God Himself was sacrilegious?
If it wasn't already challenging (impossible without Jesus) for man to live by the 10 Commandments God gave to Moses, Jewish leaders went on to add another 600 plus. Great! (sarcasm implied)
So here comes Jesus in Luke 11 to once again set things right, show people what is truly important in life. Did the required hand-washing ceremony required by Jewish custom account at all for one's salvation? Nope. The custom in and of itself didn't mean a hill of beans. Whereas the custom likely began in reverence to God, ultimately became just another thing to do and check off on one's good-works-to-get-a-gold-star list.
Jesus continued, "What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things." (Luke 11:42 NLT)
Jesus is about the important things in life. He is about people, about people knowing His incredible love and grace, about saving people from sin and death. Jesus isn't about handcuffing people to man-made, burden-filled laws, traditions, and customs that truly do no one any good.
How may we introduce people to Jesus: Sacrilegious by our words (i.e. communications) and actions? Do some thinking on this. What are things in your life, in the life of your congregation, that may add burden or confusion on those new to the faith or those who are far from God; things which mean nothing for one's salvation?
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