Sanctification in the Jesus Tradition 167 holy, they had to keep the Sabbath, refrain from unclean food, keep the purity regulations and observe the commandments pertaining to social behaviour. Ritual purity was in no way considered inferior to ethical purity. Even the prophets, for all their concern for social justice, did not abrogate ritual and cult. The two sayings of Jesus about tithing mint (Matt 23,23 par. Luke 11,42) and cleaning the outside of the cup (Matt 23,25-26 par. Luke 11,39-41) show, that according to him even the most accurate observance of the cultic and ritual law is useless, if a person’s ethical conduct does not come up to the will of God. It is possible to fulfil minutely the ritual prescriptions of the law while at the same time neglecting “its weightier matters”, namely “justice and the love of God” (as Luke 11,42, alluding to Deut 6,5, puts it). What Jesus criticizes in these instances is not the fulfilment of certain minor commandments (i.e. the purity laws), but the neglect of the most important one, the injunction to love. However, the outer purification of vessels or — this is the meaning of Luke 11,39 (39) — men, plays little or no part in Jesus’ view. It takes care of itself or becomes altogether redundant, when people are inwardly pure: “First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become clean” (Matt 23,26 par. Luke 11,41). In a warning to the scribes, Jesus accuses them of trying to harmonize robbery with long prayers, declaring the latter to be “for a pretence” (Mark 12,40 par. Luke 20,47; secondarily also in Matt 23,14). It follows that, according to Jesus, even prayers are useless if one transgresses God’s ethical commandments. On the other hand, Jesus’ reply to the Pharisees’ and Herodians’ question about paying taxes to Caesar confirms that even contact with a pagan occupying power does not defile the person who “renders to God the things that are God’s” (i.e., unconditional devotion in obedience to his will) (Mark 12,17 parr.) (40). (39) Cf. I.H. MARSHALL, The Gospel of Luke (NIGTC; Exeter 1978) 494: “Since ... the OT law required the cleansing of the latter [i.e. the inside] (Lev 11:33; 15:12 ...), we must conclude that Jesus’ words do not reflect the custom of cleansing merely the exterior of a vessel; rather he is suggesting that the Pharisaic ritual of only washing the outside of a man is as foolish as only washing the exterior of a dirty vessel”. Cf., however, mKel. 25:6, which “contemplates liquids falling on certain parts of vessels such as the handles, in which case you wipe them and they are clean” (M. CASEY, An Aramaic Approach to Q. Sources for the Gospels of Matthew and Luke [Cambridge 2002] 77). (40) There is a religious background to this question: For the Zealots and those taking side with them “the payment of tribute to the Romans was incompatible with Israel’s theocratic ideals. This must have been because the Romans were pagans”