Whitewashed Tombs

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness…how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is desolate.” Matthew 23:27, 28, 37-38

In Matthew 23 Jesus is speaking to the crowds referring to their teachers and leaders. He listed seven woes that primarily dealt with the heart of those leading others. Jesus was speaking on the hypocrisy of externalism. The teachers cared more about the outward view of righteousness and morality then the inward view of living the life aligned with righteousness. While they exhorted their ‘servants’ to live righteous and moral lives their hearts were full of self-indulgence.

“Tombs were whitewashed so that Jewish people would not inadvertently touch them and thus be ceremonially defiled. Jesus likened the scribes and Pharisees to whitewashed tombs, which looked clean on the outside but were full of corruption inside.” Believer’s Bible Commentary, p. 1290.

It is the desire of Christ for us to live our lives outwardly and inwardly in complete alignment and sincerity. Our actions will either validate our words or reveal them to be empty and contradictory.

If we are living our lives as whitewashed tombs we are empty and lifeless. We care more about the clean image of our lives than the rich fruit for which our actions can yield. We all have longed for something in our lives to fulfill, complete and restore. Christ is no different as He longs for relationship with each of us. He is always calling but we don’t always respond. He sits in our house waiting on our time with Him and longing to protect us. Through the sacrifice of Christ, He has washed our lives clean giving us a chance for new and righteous living.

It is not only His desire for us but His expectation of us.