Contemplative Bible Reading

Matthew 23:23 (New International Version)

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

Ah, these poor guys. The teachers of the law did their jobs too well in one sense. They taught the law; they enforced the law, and they made the law the most important thing in the world. They made sure that they contributed a tenth of everything, including a tenth of the mint, dill, and cummin they had.

Can you imagine taking the pepper out of your pepper shaker on your dining room table, separating a tenth of it, collecting that carefully, and then donating that to charity? That is what these guys were careful – very careful – to do.

They succeeded too well. They concentrated so much on a tenth of this and a tenth of that to where they could no longer see the more important matters.

These more important matters were justice, mercy, and faithfulness.

They no longer had the heart to see that justice was done in their society. They no longer had the heart to have mercy on people who needed it. They no longer had the heart to be faithful – to believe in a God that they could not see.

Their heart was gone.

It is easier to concentrate on things that I can see, touch, taste, smell, and hear. It is easy to work so hard on these concrete things. And there are only so many hours in a day. Dividing out a tenth of my mint, dill, and cummin takes a lot of time and energy.

Will I have anything left for justice, mercy, and faithfulness?