Sponge

Have you ever had a situation where someone does something that just ticks you off, and you kinda lose control- and then you are ashamed for having lost control? This happens to me sometimes. Like when I am driving, and it's hot, and traffic is taking forever to get somewhere, and someone come along and just cuts me off. I'm not one to yell things out the window, or flip them the bird, or even swear much. But I will likely express in some verbal manner my opinion of the other drivers idiocy.

For those of you who don't drive- have you ever run your but off to the bus stop, gotten there 2 minutes early- waited 15 minutes, and realized the bus was 4 minutes early?

And some times someone will politely point out the error in my ways, that I shouldn't be so mean to this person I do not know. I will feel a little ashamed, but mostly I will think it was the other persons fault anyway.

Sometimes, however, a person I really care about will just get on my nerves. They will criticize me, or demand something of me, or sometimes they just chew with their mouths open or comment on my flatulence- and I find myself suddenly saying something mean to them out of anger. Often I will actually go into a bit of a rant, naming all the faults related to the one in question, and throwing in a few extras to justify the extent of my anger.

This is not charitable! And it is not virtuous to lose my temper. However, how many of you, when told you shouldn't get so mad about a thing, are like "It's not my fault! If they wouldn't ...."

You know what? Jesus said that it was from the heart that man sins. In other words, you can't blame other people. I am ashamed of my lack of ability to control my emotions, because it means that I am not the well composed holy man that I like to pretend I am. I sincerely want to be holy, and I regret the times that I behave in ways that are not holy. But whatever exterior forces are working on me, whatever 'crunch' I'm under, it is in fact me who is behaving in an unholy manner, and it is in fact my own fault.

Jesus used to get so frustrated with the Pharisees. He called them "White washed tombs". What is a tomb? What is white wash? To a religious person in Jesus' day, if you touched a dead person or a tomb, than you would be decared to be "Unclean", and would not be allowed in the temple, amongst other things. It was like you were a leper.

So if Jesus called the Pharisees "White Washed Tombs"- that's a pretty harsh diss! That means that even though the Pharisees looked all good, they weren't, they were unclean death on the inside.

What was Jesus' problem? I mean, the Pharisees did all the right stuff. They didn't do drugs or drink or smoke or sleep around. They prayed all the time, gave money to the poor, or at least gave it to the Temple. Isn't this exactly the kind of people God wants us Christians to be?

But Jesus said they were like dishes that were washed on the outside, but not on the inside. They didn't believe it- they thought that they were so holy that they didn't need Jesus. And so they hated him, and had him crucified.

But after all, that was Jesus' fault, right? I mean, he pretty much goaded them on, calling them 'brood of vipers' and 'white washed tombs.' They can't be held responsible for their actions under those circumstances, can they?

This is the whole point about Jesus. He doesn't care nearly so much about what you look like on the outside as he does what you are like on the inside. Jesus said "You have heard it said, do not commit adultery, but surely I tell you, if you so much as look at a woman with lust in your heart, you have already committed adultery with her in your heart." Do you think he's just trying to be tough? Come out with a good catch phrase? Like let's think about this! What is in your heart? Do you sit there thinking about what jerks people are? Do you think about how anoying they are, or awkward, or geeky, or stupid? Or how over strict and unreasonable your parents are? Or how funny looking your youth minister is? Then you think "yeah, but I treat them nice!"

It is your heart that needs to change. Your actions might be Ok, but what happens to you under pressure? It's like a sponge. You could have 2 sponges, one filled with nice clean water, and the other filled with dirty, putrid water. They could look exactly the same! You might even look like a saint! You might be like the Pharisees- do all the right stuff, give money to the poor, say nice things, pray lots.... you look good, but are you?

Life starts to squeeze you- and it will! Your parents get mad at you for something that wasn't even your fault. your teacher gives you a bad grade on an essay that you were proud of. Your friends ditch you at the mall. You miss a bus, and get splashed by a passing car... life squeezes you. What comes out of your heart when it is squeezed? Is it pure, happy goodness? Or is it rotting, disgusting putrid mucus?

What is the theme song for transformers? More than meets the eye. God has called us to be transformers, to make a difference in the world. But how are we supposed to do that if we are no different from the world? Before we can become transformers, we need to be transformed. We need to be "more than meets the eye"- more than just the outward illusion of holiness. We need to get holy deep down inside where no one usually sees us.

And in order to do that, we need to go to the source of all holiness- God. In a few minutes, we are going to go to adoration. In Adoration, take the time to let God see your heart. I don't mean that you have to rip open your chest and take out your still beating heart and be like "See God?". I mean, go as deep inside of you as you can, where you are angry and hurt and lustful and putrid and stinky and impure and say "God, this is me. I want to be cleaned from the inside out."