“…For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity.28 Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.” Mt. 23:27-28
Jesus basically told the Pharisees that they were wearing a costume, and it wasn’t Halloween. That’s a scary costume and one I don’t wish to wear.
They were dressed up radiantly on the outside but were deadly on the inside.
The Taj Mahal is one of the most beautiful mausoleums in the world. Emperor Shah Jahan built this mausoleum in memory of his late wife Mumtaz Mahal in the 1600s A.D. in India. It is a beautiful structure made to house death.
The Pharisees were like walking, talking, breathing Taj Mahals. People admired them, esteemed them, praised them, marveled at them. But Jesus saw through them. Their beautiful facade could not bring true life on the inside.
Jesus continues to say, “How often I have wanted to gather you together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.”
Jesus wanted to wrap His arms around those bags of bones and bring them to life. If you sense death inside, sin lurking within, don’t cloak it in a costume. Come to Jesus and let Him gather you in His arms. Let His love and grace cover you instead. Trade death for a life healed by the touch of the Savior.