Jump Start # 1149

Matthew 23:23  “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.

Matthew 23 is a tough chapter. Jesus blasts the hard-headed, hypocritical Pharisees. There are those who love this chapter because Jesus calls names. They like to call others names and so they find justification here in Jesus. Many fail to realize that Jesus had been teaching and demonstrating through miracles who He was. This had been going on for three years. They still didn’t get it. They still challenged, tested and accused Him. They were unwilling to accept Jesus for who He truly was. Now, down to the wire, just shortly before the cross at Calvary, Jesus gets very plain and blunt with them. Those that look to Jesus as a hero in calling others out need to understand the background first.

There are a series of things that the scribes and Pharisees were doing wrong. They had misplaced the emphasis. Their faith had become empty and external. There was nothing on the inside. It was fake. Our verse is just one example of that.

They were very strict about tithing seeds. Have you given much thought about how slow and tiresome that could be. Seeds are small. I bought some flower seeds this year. Three thousand seeds came in one small bag. The Jews in Jesus’ day would spread those seeds out and divide them by counting to ten. Out of the ten, one would go to God and the rest would be used to plant. How tedious this was. Jesus never said that this was wrong nor a waste of time. The verse ends, “without neglecting the others.” Jesus wanted them to do this. This was taking their faith seriously. It was good to include God in all things, even seeds.

Where they fumbled was they were not that careful with their hearts. Give them a handful of seeds and they seemed to get that right. But matters such as justice, mercy and faithfulness—they missed those. Justice, what is right. Justice—meaning doing things just or right. Not looking the other way. Not bending the rules. Doing things right. Justice is how we look at ourselves. They had a track record of not being too serious about that. Remember the woman caught in adultery and brought to the temple before Jesus? They did this to trap Jesus.  Many things wrong there. Remember the question about divorce? They were trying to trap Jesus. A heart that is trying to trick, test or trap someone, is not a good heart. Something was missing.

Mercy is how we respond to others. We need to be just with selves, and have mercy with others. Mercy is not tolerance, nor looking the other way. Mercy involves forgiveness. To have mercy, a person must have a heart. I’ve found that there seems to be many “heart-less” folks these days. They are hard, mean, demanding and above all, unwilling to forgive. In James it says, if we are merciless, then God will have no mercy for us. Jesus, in the example prayer, stated that if we do not forgive, neither will God forgive us. The lack of justice and mercy paints a picture of someone who is hard on others but breaking the rules themselves. They expect others to toe the line, but they don’t. Double standards. Unforgiving.

Faithfulness—driven by faith. Faithful, first and foremost, to God. Faithful to the cause. Faithful to God’s word. Faithful to one another. Loyal. Dedicated. Committed. Those are the companions to faithfulness.

These Jews were good at counting seeds, but failed to do the things that really counted. What good is it to give God one out of every ten seeds, when they were ugly towards others, heartless and faithless in their walk with God. Seed counting doesn’t compensate for being shallow, empty and godless on the inside.

And there it comes to us. We can be sticklers for certain doctrinal points, but gossipy, annoying, and avoiding others who are different than we are. Get it right on the inside first, then start counting the seeds. Getting the seeds right doesn’t make up for not getting the heart right. I’ve read discussions on line where folks accuse, get mean and call names because of some trivial differences. We need to be right with God. We need to obey God. The book, “Don’t sweat the small stuff,” isn’t a Biblical model. We need to sweat ALL stuff. We need to get serious, be serious and be right. But it starts with the insides. Have the mind of Christ in you the Philippians were told. Paul said, “Christ lives in me.” The Galatians were told that Christ was to be formed in them. The Romans were told that they were to be conformed to the image of Christ. Imitate Christ. Christ is our example. Over and over and over, the New Testament drums that theme. Our attitudes. Our language. How we handle differences. These are all shaped and formed by Christ in us.

Justice, mercy and faithfulness—those are foundation stones to what we believe. Missing those, misses everything. It doesn’t matter how many seeds you count, if you miss the core principles. How are you treating others? How serious are you taking things? Do you think before you speak? Do you expect others to do things that you know you won’t do?

You wonder if these Pharisees that Jesus was addressing ever got in arguments, fussed and got ugly while counting seeds? You wonder, as they counted those seeds, what was going through their heads? If mercy, justice and faithfulness was missing, was it contempt, greed and complaining? You wonder if they “miscounted” some seeds now and then, since faithfulness wasn’t something that they were concerned about?

We must wonder the same about us? Our worship? The way we treat others? Our seriousness to what God says? This chapter would use two illustrations to describe the hearts of those Pharisees. They were like a dish that was washed on the outside, but the inside was filthy. They were like a tombstone, white and nice on the outside, but under the ground was dead bodies. The inside of the cup. Under the ground. The weightier provisions of the law. These folks sure looked good on the outside. But it’s the inside that comes out. It comes out in our words, choices, attitudes. Ugly thoughts. Mean words. Condemning attitudes. Critical of others. Those are the very things that these Pharisees were guilty of. They, like the elder brother in the story of the prodigal, stayed home with the Father, worked hard, but missed the whole point of things. They looked so much better than the younger brother who was out living sinful. However, it was the younger brother, whose pure and honest heart made him see himself and come home that trumps the cold heart of the elder brother.

What’s on the inside? That’s what Jesus is after. That’s what He is interested in. Don’t stop counting seeds, but count seeds with thankfulness, joy and love. Count seeds, building faith, mercy and justice within you. Counting seeds doesn’t do much good when there’s nothing on the inside.

Jesus sure has a way of saying things. He knew. He always does.

Roger