Fools and blind!

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.”

- Matthew 23:13-26

In yesterday’s reading (see He who exalts himself will be humbled), Jesus began the first part of a long discourse on the problems of the Pharisees and the way they practice their religious leadership in the temple. In today’s reading, he continues his criticism. He is “going on the offensive” after having been questioned by the leadership: Pharisees, scribes, Sadducees, Herodians.

My study bible had a long note on this section that combines several readings, starting with yesterday’s. I quoted from the part that applied in yesterday’s commentary, and here is the part of the note that applies today: “In his eightfold indictment of the Pharisees (vv. 13-36), Jesus charges them with inverting God’s values and with being mean-spirited, greedy, ambitious, absorbed in externals, hypocritical, and blindly self-righteous.” And, to repeat the warning in the note: “How much worse will it be for Christians who lapse into patterns of religious life similar to the scribes’ and Pharisees’!”

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” My study bible notes here: “The Pharisees perpetuate a systematic hypocrisy which creates a wall between people and God.” In the past several readings and commentary, we have discussed the importance, in Jesus’ teaching, of the relationship with God – that nothing should stand in the way of the individual believer’s restoration to this place. Indeed, we could say that the purpose of religious leadership is to lead each one of us to this place. Jesus indicts the scribes and Pharisees here, not only for their own failure to engage in practices that allow themselves to do so; that is, when he called them “hypocrites” in yesterday’s reading, he was alluding to their practices that simply engage in a kind of idolatry of authority, and a show before others (as “hypocrite” means “actor”) rather than truly engaging in that relationship in which we “love God with all our heart and soul and mind.” But, in their own failure to engage in this true relationship of the heart, they also mislead others. As teachers, they hinder those who would “go in” to this deep place of the kingdom in the heart, and so they mislead their flock, the “little ones” who truly desire this relationship.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.” The Pharisees’ practices penalize the poor, making them subservient to their own ends. In prayer, Jesus seems to be saying, one expresses a kind of righteousness for others to see – and to be devout is to practice righteousness, to gain that which comes from loving God: the second great commandment, or love of neighbor as oneself. They are hypocrites – who will “travel land and sea” to win one follower – but that follower is then taken down the same road. “A son of hell” is indeed a profound pronouncement; to follow this leadership’s practices is to become like them – not a child of God, but a son of hell instead.

“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.” Here, Jesus seems to emphasize the purely materialistic perspective that misses the whole point or the purpose of the practice in the first place. While Jesus notes specific practices that directly exclude the altar and the temple, and include the “gifts” of great material value, we can apply our own sense today of the purpose of his teaching. To take seriously the altar, the temple and heaven itself is to understand the reality of the kingdom, its presence, its immediacy – and the relationship it confers.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.” My study bible has an important note which applies to the last two verses of today’s reading, and also to those we will read tomorrow. But I will include it because it is important for our understanding. We remember that I quote from the Orthodox Study Bible, and so the practices it is concerned with in this note apply to the Eastern Churches – however we can take it in the spirit in which it is given for all the ways in which we worship God by religious practice. “These warnings are especially important to Orthodox Christians. This historic Church has maintained the ancient liturgical obligations (vv. 23, 24) . . . and imposing tradition, handed down through God-fearing fathers. These rites can be performed, invoked, defended and passed on without ever being taken by faith to heart; or they can be helps, safeguards and doorways into the true life of Christ in us, which transforms us from glory to glory.” It further adds, for verse 23, “Jesus is not against externals, but considers them of lesser significance. The weightier matters are of trust and obedience to God in justice, mercy and faith.” “Weightier matters” is a kind of play on words, which refers to the tithing of goods which are weighed in order to gauge their amounts. The weightier matters, then, are those things that are of far deeper importance than the money, the tithing, the gifts, and that is the practice of true righteousness: the justice, mercy and faith we learn in relationship to God, and which we seek to embody in our lives.

As I say above (and have said in the previous readings), I don’t believe these words are to be taken at face value for a specific time and place, but for all of us who seek this worship – especially we who call ourselves Jesus' followers. As far as I personally can see, I think that it little matters how we choose to worship in terms of how important these words are. Every worship practice is just that – a practice – that is designed to take us closer into relationship with God. This is the purpose – that this kingdom lives in each of our hearts and enlightens our lives, gives us guidance and steers us through a “Way” of righteousness. Certainly the study bible is right to note that it is exceptionally important for those denominations in which there is tremendous historical and traditional effect of practice, ritual and beauty – including great adornment. But no matter how we worship, or how we pray, to “take it by faith to heart” and to allow all forms of our religious practice to be “helps, safeguards and doorways into the true life of Christ in us, which transforms us from glory to glory” is really the whole point. Where are we on that road? We can all use every “form” to be an actor or a hypocrite – no matter how beautiful or faithfully created, no matter how it has served generations and centuries of believers, of saints, of those who truly love God. The point is to take it all to heart in faith. I truly believe this is what Jesus is teaching us. Otherwise we, too, may be led by the "fools and blind." And we will continue with Jesus' criticisms – and his indictment of the Pharisees – in tomorrow’s reading.