Tuesday 11 October 2022

Today is Tuesday the 11th of October, in the 28th week of Ordinary Time.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo sing: ‘Inhliziyo Zethu’: ‘You will make my heart pure’. A pure heart is a heart that is open to God, that doesn’t seek its own advantage, but wants whatever God wants. As I enter into prayer today, I ask for that openness of heart. I ask the Lord to lead my heart to him, to guide me in the way he wants me to go.

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Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Luke.


Luke 11:37-41

While he was speaking, a Pharisee invited him to dine with him; so he went in and took his place at the table. The Pharisee was amazed to see that he did not first wash before dinner. Then the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You fools! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? So give for alms those things that are within; and see, everything will be clean for you.

It’s not your average dinner party. The guest - Jesus - speaks his mind about the host. He’s brutally honest. Gone for the moment is the ‘gentle Jesus, meek and mild’. How do you find yourself reacting to this Jesus?


Jesus exposes the hypocrisy of his host. Paying attention to rules whilst ignoring what really matters - put simply, the state of the heart and response to others in need. If the Lord were to come to my house to eat, how might the conversation go? What would I be amazed by?


As you hear the passage again, picture how Jesus might demonstrate a new freedom in your life.


Speak to the Lord in these closing moments about where you need freedom, perhaps even from self-imposed rules.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.