Fools and blind!

 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you nether 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 cummin, 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.  Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also."

- Matthew 23:13-26

Yesterday we began to read Jesus' final sermon, which took place in the temple in Jerusalem after several confrontations with the leadership.   Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying:  "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.  Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.  For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.  But all their works they do to be seen by men.  They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.  They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, 'Rabbi, Rabbi.'  But you, do not be called 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.  Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.  And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.  But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.  And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you nether 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."  My study bible notes here that because the example of a leader can be so influential, leaders who do not love God can hinder others from finding Him as well.  Therefore, leaders are held to a higher standard (James 3:1).  Jesus addresses the hypocritical and selfish practices of the leadership, particularly their greed and their corruption.  Once again, it is important to remember that the things Jesus addresses don't apply simply to the religious leaders of 2,000 years ago nor to one particular people.  They apply to all of us, and particularly to those of us who call ourselves Christians and our religious institutions.   His words remain guideposts and warnings for all of us today.

"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."  Jesus continues to address the tradition of the Pharisees that was developed around the Law, and its workings that actually subverted the purposes of the Law.  Central to all understanding of faith is the need to put the love of God first.  Those who do not are "blind guides."

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, 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.  Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!"  My study bible tells us that Jesus' warnings here (and in the verses that follow, included in tomorrow's reading) are especially important to Orthodox Christians (and by extension, to all other denominations with rich heritage and tradition).  The Church, it says, has maintained the ancient practices of tithing (These you ought to have done), sacred vessels, holy rites, and following the patristic tradition handed down to us.  These practices can be an expression of deep faith and lead one to a deeper commit to God, safeguarding our life in Christ -- or they can be observed without ever taking them to heart and lead to condemnation.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also."  The Pharisees would attach strainers to the mouths of decanters in order to avoid accidentally consuming a ritually unclean substance, and this is what Christ refers to here.  When Jesus speaks of cleansing the inside of the cup and dish, He is speaking of our own internal need for "cleansing" -- and the humility necessary for this kind of faith.

Jesus speaks of a kind of hypocrisy that comes from failing to put the love of God first, practices that look good on the outside but cover up personal corruption.  How does this work, exactly?  What are the processes that feed corruption?  Some people have seemed to feel that doing away with the externals will somehow fix the problems of hypocrisy.  But it just doesn't seem to work that way.  We will all sooner or later resume a mask of piety (or some kind of public display of purity) that can cover up a heart that schemes or betrays itself with some form of selfishness.  While all of us struggle with our own blindness to ourselves in one form or another, it's important to remember that our faith is really based on a deep need for humility before God, and with that goes the recognition that self-knowledge is all-important.  We can't remain deliberately blind to our own failings and think we're living a holy life.  The love of God in the heart works to open us up, to open our hearts to guidance in love.  In God's love, our failings are lovingly corrected.  The notion of some sort of morbid guilt being productive or something given by God is also false, a flip-side of self-centeredness.  Correction comes with acknowledgement within the love that is perpetually renewing, evergreen.  Even the need to hide one's true self behind mask, one might say, could be born of the failure to truly know God's love.  The strange thing about humility is just how good it can make us feel.  Humility is not about being humiliated by others, nor is it a kind of self-deprecation or devaluation of the self at all.  Humility is sitting in right relationship to God and to neighbor.  It puts us in a place that is appropriate for us; before God one is simply surrounded by love and opened in total honesty, secure in a place where guidance is acknowledged as necessary.  Before neighbor, one must recognize not simply a common humanity, but a decency born of that understanding, and the need for self-control and maturity, patience and faith to bear what we need to.  There is a limitation to the need to conform or act simply for the good opinions of others that goes with this (John 12:42-43).  Moreover, the need to humiliate others becomes tempered by our focus on and awareness of our own blindness to ourselves (7:4-5).   Jesus' criticisms of these leaders is their failure to understand the love of God and the humility it must produce in us.  They fail to address their own tendencies for corruption and their hard-heartedness that results.  Each of the faults Jesus criticizes are present to each of us today; they remain temptations for those in authority and also for each individual.  We can wear our faith like a mask, or we can let it develop us by grace, integrating God's love into ourselves through humility in prayer and seeking God's guidance for our own correction, like the leaven that leavens the whole in true faith (13:13).  What will it be?   We need to remember the humility of the poor and all the littlest ones that Christ sets before us as example.  The world is still deeply in need of true faithful to Christ's path.