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Gospel: Matthew 23: 23-26
Jesus said:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin,
and have neglected the weightier things of the law:
judgment and mercy and fidelity.
But these you should have done, without neglecting the others.
Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You cleanse the outside of 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.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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How ridiculous would it be for a person to ask for a refund while their plane is crashing? Or for the WiFi password on a sinking ship?
In either case, such a fool would perish. If your plane is going down, then say a prayer. If your ship is sinking, then grab a life vest and get off!
Keep the big picture in mind.
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In today’s Gospel, Jesus begins his lengthy monologue of “woes” against the religious leaders of his day. They will perish under the law, dragging other souls down with them, because they’ve forsaken the bigger picture for tiny – ultimately unimportant – details.
“You pay tithes of mint and dill and cumin,” he says, “and have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity.”
Like a ship sinking or a plane crashing, the religious leaders of his day lost sight of what matters most – not hand washing or tithing, but fidelity, faith, and morals.
You can wash your hands all day long, but if your heart is filthy with hatred, then you’ll still draw the ire of God.
You can pay tithes on every little herb in your shopping basket, but if you fail to be charitable, then God will not show you mercy, either.
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This is by far the most scathing condemnation ever issued by Jesus. It’s filled with enough fire that one would imagine religious people in every generation would get the point.
Yet many religions, Catholicism included, can get entangled in the finer rules of religion – how many times one did this or that, a person’s stance on this or that, whether or not they fasted for a full hour before Communion – while neglecting the supreme law of charity.
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As Saint John of the Cross once said, “In the twilight of life, God will not judge us on our earthly possessions and human success, but on how much we have loved.”
Keep the bigger picture in mind.
What might that look like for me today?
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Image credits: (1) Cornerstone Community Church (2) Magnific (3) Facebook