“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint, anise and cumin, and omitted the weightier matters of the law: judgment, mercy and faith; these ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 24. You blind guides, which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.” (Matthew 23:23-24)
“He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8) Jesus took the chief Jewish leaders of that day to task for not having the right priorities. The scribes and Pharisees were long on religion and short on human decency. Jesus pointed out that they were careful to tithe their crop of herbs, but leaving out the “weightier matter of the law.” Actually Jesus was not criticizing their tithe. In fact, he said that they should have done that. The point is that this was easy obedience compared to what they did not do. They were scrupulous in religious practice, but scrimpy in heart. And there is plenty here for us to learn! They fell short in “judgment.” This is also translated as “justice.” The prophet, Micah, had given as a requirement of the Lord that they “do justly.” They did not treat the less fortunate, and less religious with fairness. This means that we should be just and fair in our dealings with people. They fell short in “mercy.” The scribes and Pharisees were meticulous in their religious practices, but fell short in the matter of compassion and kindness.One of the requirements that Micah made was “to love mercy.” In Matthew 9:35, it was said of Jesus that, “When He saw the crowds He had compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.” As the religious leaders of these “fainting” people, the scribes and Pharisees should have been moved with compassion as Jesus had been. We are to look at our lost world with eyes of mercy and compassion. We should never consider ourselves so good that we cannot treat people with kindness and respect. This would certainly not minimize our stand against sin. In fact, it would maximize our stand. They fell short on “faith.” This is also translated as “faithfulness.” They forgot what Micah wrote about, “walking humbly with your God.” The idea is that they were more faithful to their image, and their righteousness than they were to the Lord. In other words, their faith was in themselves in not in the Lord. Religiosity will engage us more in “navel gazing” than in humbly serving the Lord in witness and ministry. We need to watch these things in our own lives. What are your real priorities? Bro. Joe
1 Comment
Linda Brooks
12/13/2016 12:24:33 pm
WHEW......In this series, you have given me enough to CHEW ON FOR SEVERAL MONTHS .....Might not need to publish any for a while,'cause I have to DIGEST ALL of this !!! LOL. Thank You !
Reply
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
All
Archives
September 2021
|