“Woe to you, blind guides, who say,
‘If one swears by the temple, it means nothing,
but if one swears by the gold of the temple, one is obligated.’
Jesus criticized the Pharisees because they put strict adherence to the letter of the law above the purpose of the law. In their oath formulas they used verbal sleight of hand to justify a whole category of meaningless, non-obligatory oaths. They were not concerned with the purpose of oaths, but merely compliance with laws. In wanting to look good, however, they actually became foolish.
Blind fools, which is greater, the gold,
or the temple that made the gold sacred?
Oaths were and are sacred promises, invoking divine help, and accepting divine punishment when one didn't live up to their part of the bargain. The Pharisees thought they could enjoy the divine assistance and the credibility gained by making oaths but dodge the human obligations and divine punishment. But in so doing they inverted their whole hierarchy of value without even realizing it. Thinking in a human way, they placed the gold of the temple as of more value than the temple itself. They saw the gift given on the altar as of more value than the altar, although the altar was the place that allowed the gift to be offered to God. This confusion of heart came about because of the way they sought wiggle room so that they could look good before others without truly being so.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You traverse sea and land to make one convert,
and when that happens you make him a child of Gehenna
twice as much as yourselves.
The Pharisees sought converts, not to bring them to the service of the living God, but rather as a notch on their belts, as people that they could parade around the cities a signs of their achievement, and of the supposed superiority of their teaching.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men.
You do not enter yourselves,
nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter.
Lest we think that the spirit that corrupted the Pharisees was unique to their age we should remember that we face similar temptations to hypocrisy. We too want to appear righteous in the eyes of others, to the degree that we will use our words inauthentically in service of that goal. We too are often more interested in seeing our own beliefs validated when another converts than in the salvation of the convert himself. We too sometimes place the shiny things before the truly sacred, and the gifts we give and the actions we ourselves take above the God who in his mercy accepts our offerings.
What the Pharisees did not have, and that of which we ourselves could always use more, is the gift of faith experienced by Thessalonians for which Paul gave thanks.
For our Gospel did not come to you in word alone,
but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.
Word alone was not going to be enough to enable them to make a break from their past. If they were to be truly changed, to become obedient from the heart rather than mere pretenders, they would need the help of the Holy Spirit to bring them sufficient conviction to motivate the change and sufficient power to make it possible.
We have been given the Holy Spirit in baptism and confirmation. He always waits to help us when we ask, so that we too can be a people who "turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God" and whose lives are now directed by our blessed hope, as we "await his Son from heaven,whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath."
Let the faithful exult in glory;
let them sing for joy upon their couches;
Let the high praises of God be in their throats.
This is the glory of all his faithful. Alleluia.
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