Tuesday - 28th Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel – Luke11:37-41

Cleaning the Dishes

Capernaum

We did a quick Costco run week and the first thing you notice when you walk in the door are the holiday decorations.  No, I don’t mean Halloween, not even Thanksgiving.  I mean Christmas, in all its merchandise glory – huge outdoor holiday bears with presents, blow up reindeer and life-size nutcrackers.  It boggles the mind!  Bags and bags of Halloween candy in the aisles, 10-foot tall Christmas trees and lights greeting you at the door and dozens of family-size Thanksgiving turkeys in the cooler! Like it or not, the holidays are already upon us! 

And that means it’s also the season for holiday-sized piles and piles of dirty dishes!  My turn to shine!

Now don’t get me wrong; I help with the dishes year-round.  But during the holidays, I get to do the heavy washing and cleaning.  It seems only fair.  Ginger spends so much time planning and shopping for all the holiday meals.  She spends hours preparing the dishes, cooking the turkey and setting out the holiday feasts!  So she deserves thanks, not to mention a good rest afterwards.  So I usually do a first round of washing right after the meal.  Then bright and early (and I do mean early) I go after all the heavy-duty cleaning and scrubbing of the roasting pans and the crusted over pots and casserole dishes.  Believe it or not, I rather enjoy it, especially in the quiet darkness of a new day.  And when I’m done, all the pots and pans are spotless, inside and out, and the kitchen is back to normal! Job well done!                                                                                                                  

Today’s Gospel follows a similar path – cleaning the dishes – although with a much more spiritual intent.  Jesus makes His point with the Pharisees that they are so focused on outside appearances that they pay no attention to what is really important –what is inside their heart!  They get so upset when someone doesn’t wash their hands or remember to obey the laws for ritual washing.  But they completely ignore the interior motives for their actions.  It’s a good reminder to us that it’s not about doing good just for show!  It’s about doing the right thing for the right reasons.  It’s not enough to look good on the outside; it’s about our intentions - our willingness to do good, to love others, and to act on that love with charitable acts, yes even doing the dishes for a loved one exhausted from a long day of cooking!

So spend some time today cleaning and washing your own dirty dishes (your life).  Put some effort into those really stubborn stains.  And don’t stop at just wiping down the outside; make sure they are spotless inside and out!

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