The one who made the outside also made the inside!

Luke 11:37-41

When Jesus finished that talk, a Pharisee asked him to dinner. He entered his house and sat right down at the table. The Pharisee was shocked and somewhat offended when he saw that Jesus didn’t wash up before the meal. But the Jesus said to him, “I know you Pharisees burnish the surface of your cups and plates so they sparkle in the sun, but I also know your insides are maggoty with greed and secret evil. Stupid Pharisees! Didn’t the One who made the outside also make the inside? Turn both your pockets and your hearts inside out and give generously to the poor; then your lives will be clean, not just your dishes and your hands.

Food for thought!

Jesus says in this gospel something that is extremely important. He says to the Pharisee, "I also know your insides... Didn’t the One who made the outside also make the inside?" Jesus is making a great revelation not only about ourselves but also about himself. About us, that we live in two worlds: the inner and outer worlds; the interior and exterior; the invisible and the visible; the spiritual and material; the godly and human.

We may develop a preference for one world or the other. Some people turn almost exclusively to the inner world, while others turn exclusively to the outer world or the world of externals. But in order to be happy and well-integrated people, it is important to function in both worlds with ease and satisfaction; our happiness lies in the development of our two worlds, the inner one and the outer one.

To live successfully in the outer world we need to live successfully in the inner world. Truth teaches us to relate the inner to the outer, to integrate the spiritual with the physical, to unify our thoughts, feelings, and actions into a harmonious oneness. There is an old saying that goes, “As within, so without.” It means that what appears in our outer world — friends, jobs, opportunities, schools, career —reflects what is happening inside ourselves. Almost every successful person will tell you that they first thought out their moves in the inner consciousness. The door to success opens from within.

The good news is, as Jesus said, "the One who made the outside also made the inside."