Matthew 23:26

“You blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the bowl, that the outside of it may become clean also.”

But what they should have done was first ensure that the inside was clean. Then there might be some point in cleansing the outside. For the outside cannot be truly clean until the inside is. Indeed the result of making the inside clean will, in the case of a human being, result in the outside becoming clean as well.

There is possibly in mind here the different views of Hillel and Shammai with regard to cleansing vessels. Hillel stressed the need for the inside to be cleansed. Shammai required both inside and outside to be cleansed.

Note the continual emphasis on their blindness (16, 17, 19, 24, 26). Jesus wants it to be recognised that they are spiritually blind and are merely stumbling along (Matthew 15:14; Luke 6:39; John 9:39; John 12:40), and are therefore not reliable guides. And yet this is the problem. They do not even realise that their own insides are filthy.

In Matthew 5:7 the merciful obtain mercy, for they recognise their own sinfulness, but these who are the opposite of being merciful and pure in heart see nothing, not even their own filthiness, and therefore they do not seek mercy (compare the Pharisee and the Public Servant in Luke 18:9), nor are they merciful. They are content with what they are.

A friend of mine who used to visit the old went one day to the house of an old lady who was blind. He was shocked at the state of the house, with dirt lying thick all around, cobwebs everywhere and with its general state of uncleanliness, but he was even more saddened when the old lady turned to him and said proudly, ‘you know, this is my house. It may be poor but at least its clean.' The sad thing was that her efforts to keep it clean had failed because she was blind, and she could not see it as it really was. Nor could she see what needed cleaning. That was the problem of the Scribes and Pharisees. They saw themselves as they imagined themselves to be and not as they really were (and they are not the only ones, but the point in their case was that they laid claim to be different. They claimed credit for being ‘observers of the Law', and men thus followed their example).