**Keep the Inside Clean First**

       In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 23, Jesus continues to denounce the scribes and the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. Here is the second half of the reading: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean." We also commit the sin of caring more about how we look on the outside than how clean we are on the inside. May we never hear the Lord say "woe to you" to us!