A Pharisee asked Jesus over to eat at his house. Jesus took the invite and sat down for the meal, but apparently didn’t wash up in the way the Pharisee deemed appropriate. The host chided Jesus on his lack of religious practice—bad idea—launching Jesus into some of his own thoughts:

Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also?…Woe to you Pharisees, because you give a God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God.

Jesus knew this man inside and out because Jesus created this man inside and out. Jesus knew of his attention to particularities in tithing. Perhaps this man taught on tithing from the garden and peered over the fences of neighbors to see they did so properly? Perhaps he choose the ten percent himself, pointing out the best fruits and vegetables for his table?

In doing so this proud Pharisee ignored the greater issues of justice and love of God. I don’t think Jesus choose mint and rue out of thin air. Jesus looked inside his host and saw the specific nature of his pious sins.

Sadly, I’m much more like these Pharisees than I like to admit. Their stories aren’t in scripture for me to look at and shake my head, but rather to ponder and consider how I fit in their crowd. Jesus’s words apply to me as a religious teacher just as much as these Pharisees.

I’m good at cleaning the outside. Cleaning the inside? That’s just as hard as it’s ever been.

Luke 11 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Izz R

What comes to mind when you think of praying for something you want? I see heads bowed, knees bent, and quiet moments of humble requests offered to the Lord.

How did Jesus describe such praying? A ceaseless, door pounding, bar room brawl: Because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you what you as much as you need.

So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks find; and the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Can I really pray so aggressively? Jesus says to go to the Father and ask. To go again and again. Knock and knock and knock and yell bold requests through the door. This is not my normal prayer experience—perhaps I’m going about it all wrong?

Also, Jesus provides a sure-fire answer to one prayer: If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

If I ask for more of the Holy Spirit, then more of the Holy Spirit infuses my life. As the Holy Spirit seeps into the cracks of my hidden places, my prayers reflect more of the Lord. As my prayers reflect more of the Lord, the Holy Spirit splits more rocks in my soul. A virtuous cycle pulls me further up and further in.

These ideas click together. I ask for the Holy Spirit, and ask for what I want from the Lord. I ask over and over. The Holy Spirit guides my asking in fresh ways, giving insight into results or lack thereof. My life changes, and lives around me change under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

My role? Keep asking with shameless audacity.

Luke 11 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Alexander Tsang

Often the Bible surprises me with the level of attention given to details in the text. This morning I found it odd to discover directions for good camp hygiene.

Designate a place outside the camp where you can go relieve yourself. As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement.

Campers and soldiers use this method today, digging a cat hole and covering it up after moving their bowels (FYI here’s another reason I don’t like camping).

But why would the Lord concern himself with Israeli excrement?

For the Lord your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. You camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.

The Lord called for holiness among his people, especially among these warriors leading the nation into the promised land. Excrement littering the ground offended the Lord as he moved with the people of Israel. Droppings represented indecency, while holiness is identified with cleanliness.

Excrement surrounding a camp also proves highly unsanitary. This command to bury their poop protected the nation of Israel from various diseases and kept nearby water supplies safe.

This simple call toward holiness focused people on the Lord and led them into healthier conditions for living. The Lord’s instructions always protect from danger and provide something better. In this case, following the Lord protected from sickness and disease and provided the presence of the Lord in a battlefield campaign.

Two really good reasons to dig a hole and bury your sh*t.

Deuteronomy 23 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Denny Müller

I’ve always been a little hard on Martha, one of the two sisters Jesus and his band of disciples dropped in on during their travels. Mary, her sister, sat at the Lord’s feet and drank in his words and presence. Martha, on the other hand, was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.

She complained the Jesus, Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me!

Come on Martha, throw some cheese and crackers on a tray, pop open a jug and hang out with Jesus and the fellas. Why blow your stack?

Then last fall I strolled through a museum in Amsterdam and happened upon the scene displayed above. Painted by Joachim Beuckelaer in 1566, the title explains what’s happening: The well-stocked kitchen, with Jesus in the house of Martha and Mary in the background (I encourage you to click the link, fill your screen, and take a longer look).

Martha just welcomed a large number of guests into her home, people she respected and cared for deeply. How better to honor them than serve a wonderful meal? Pondering Beuckelaer’s depiction of the scene I realized her dilemma. This was no cheese and cracker moment. The Messiah rested under her roof. Martha’s gift of hospitality kicked into overdrive and she needed the help of her sister.

Jesus’s words corrected and calmed Martha—Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her. Indeed, the Messiah hung out in her house, but he was more interested in Martha joining him in the living room than sweating in the kitchen. A few minutes with Jesus mattered so much more than the food on the stove.

If a famous person walked into our house I’d pull out the china and serve the best we could offer (actually, my wife would need to take over). How else should you treat rare and dignified guests?

But Jesus, happy with whatever we could throw together from the frig, would rather sit with us in the den and talk of more important matters.

Luke 10 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022