“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!
(Matthew 23:23-24 ESV)
I find the contrast between our monetary gifts and justice, mercy, faithfulness so fascinating.
Here is part of Mark Bradford's thoughts on these verse and that I thought he summed up these verses so nicely.
Jesus also pronounced this woe upon the Pharisees in Luke 11:42. The Pharisees were so meticulous in their tithing, they would count out individual leaves and seeds in their gardens to give a tenth to God. That’s admirable, but what had they left out? They had forgotten justice. After all, they were at that moment plotting to kill an innocent man. They had forgotten mercy. In the version of this woe in Luke, Jesus says they had forgotten the love of God. Mercy and the love of God are the same thing. In spite of our sins against him, because of his great love, God shows us mercy. He gives us what we need rather than what we deserve. According to Jesus, if we want to receive mercy from God, we must extend mercy to others (5:7).
And they had forgotten faith, or as some translations put it, fidelity. In the previous woe, Jesus had condemned the Pharisees for coming up with objects to swear by that wouldn’t bind them to their oath, so they could make promises and not keep them (23:16-22). That’s forgetting about fidelity, or truthfulness.
Here’s the thing about tithing as God established it in the Old Testament. The whole purpose of it was to celebrate how God had provided for them, and to care for those who could not care for themselves. It was about justice (giving God what was just) and mercy (helping the helpless). It wasn’t just about keeping a rule so people could feel righteous. The Pharisees had forgotten that. To them, tithing was a way to show how holy they were. They were missing the whole point of tithing.
Then Jesus adds this humorous line to drive his point home. They strain out a gnat but swallow a camel (NIV). Gnats were the smallest unclean animal to eat, and camels were the largest (Leviticus 11:4, 23). Gnats commonly got into wine because they were on the grapes when the wine was made. To avoid swallowing a gnat, Pharisees would strain the wine by sipping it through clenched teeth, then wipe any gnats off of their teeth! They would go to ridiculous lengths to avoid consuming the tiniest unclean animal, but by forgetting the more important aspects of the law, justice, mercy, and truthfulness, they were, in effect, swallowing the largest unclean animal of all. In a few days, the Pharisees would demand that Pilate crucify Jesus, while refusing to enter Pilate’s home because it would make them ceremonially unclean. Straining out a gnat while swallowing a camel.
That attitude has been all too common in the church throughout the ages, and remains so today. Many are very strict about keeping the rules of their church body, but are mean spirited and unforgiving. They would never smoke a cigarette or take a drink, but they’ll happily spread gossip. We can get very upset about a relatively minor issue in the church, the color of the carpet or the style of music, but have no concern about the eternal fate of our neighbors. That’s just how the Pharisees thought. If we “major on the minors” but forget about what’s really important, our attitude is like the Pharisees. But if we practice justice, mercy, truthfulness, and the love of God, our attitude is more like Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment