hoiliness within
I never cease to be amazed that the people of Nazareth, who lived for at least 25 years alongside Jesus and His family, didn't recognize Him as anything extraordinary, and therefore took offense when He presumed to preach to them ("where did this man get this...?" Matthew 13:54). I would have thought that having the sinless Son of God in your midst would have in some way given Him away as being more than a carpenter. But perhaps I'm not thinking of the true nature of holiness.
I tend to associate holiness with things that set me or us apart from those who aren't following The Lord, most of them being outward activities or behaviors. But Jesus makes it clear that holiness, or the lack of it, comes from within. He said, It is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come, and then He proceeds with a list of outward-facing sins that result. Conversely, it is from within, out of a person's heart, that holy thoughts come and, consequently, holy behavior. One can't manifest truly holy behavior without holiness within, of the heart. Jesus came against this false holiness in the lives of the "religious" whom He knew.
Holiness in its original Hebrew comes from a word meaning "to cut", a literal cutting away of that which isn't dedicated to God. This formed the basis for the Hebrew sign of holiness, male circumcision, in which a part of the body is cut away, setting the community apart for God. Paul applies this to the holiness of the believer who is one inwardly, circumcised in heart, by The Spirit, not by the written code (Romans 2:29). It's as you and I allow our hearts to be treated surgically by God's Word and Spirit that we become holy within, in a way which becomes more and more apparent with each incision, and each manifestation of God's Healing Work in us.
May we earnestly seek God for the circumcision of our hearts, so that the resulting holiness within may be manifested in true holiness without, for our benefit, for that of those around us, and for the advance of His Holy Kingdom.