See the Web site.

See the ads go.

Change, ads, change.

But change to something that makes sense, OK?

These ads are supposed to be “content-sensitive.” That is, the marvelous search engine ad servers read the Web page, do an instant analysis, and send an ad they think will appeal to a reader of that page.

It is truly remarkable that such a thing might happen. It’s doubly remarkable that it works so well, so often.

But once in a while there’s a hitch in the system. Witness this delightful ad, which appeared recently on one of the Fox News sites (yellow highlighting added):

Does that ad miss the mark, or what?

It lines up with the literal root of a word, but it misses the heart of the message. Badly.

I’m thinking that sounds familiar. It sounds like me.

Literally, I can do the right thing. My external behavior is picture-perfect. But my attitudes, my motives, even my when-you’re-not-looking behavior show up poorly. Inside, I’m missing the heart of the message. I’m on the right page, but I’m a pretender.

In Matthew 5, Jesus says the Pharisees are pretenders, too. They are teaching people how to be like this ad: “Line up with the right letters, in the right order, and you’re good to go.” But Jesus calls their bluff. Their say-so doesn’t make it so.

They have a page where they should be, but it’s not the one they’re on. It takes somebody outside our page to tell us that.

Christ knows toxic when He sees it. And He points out that we can only pretend to cleanse ourselves or our world. When it comes to toxic assets, we aren’t cleansers. We’re carriers.