You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin,
and have neglected the weightier things of the law:
judgment and mercy and fidelity.
We tend to prefer specific details, nuances, and minutia, as ways to demonstrate our competence and our fidelity to the faith. In some ways Catholicism encourages us in this because there is a seemingly endless array of details to choose from. There is nothing wrong the the myriad of devotions and fine details in themselves. As with the tithes of the Pharisees, "these you should have done", but without neglecting the bigger picture: "judgment and mercy and fidelity". The difference between this big picture and the details is that the big picture requires from us genuine conversion. We can get our tithing percentage correct down to several decimal points and still be without love (see First Corinthians 13:3).
Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!
We tend to narrow our focus so that we don't have to look more deeply at ourselves. We use the errata of religion as a distraction from the many ways in which we still need conversion. We could, for instance, because so intrigued by the words or metaphors in this very gospel reading as to not hear Jesus challenging us about our own lack of justice, mercy, and faith. But he spoke not to the Pharisees alone. His words were also for every subsequent generation, and for us.
You cleanse the outside of cup and dish,
but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.
Jesus isn't really all that concerned with how we appear to others. He is concerned with the truth of our hearts. And he knows that truth is a mixed bag at best. The result of acknowledging this ourselves is that we will no longer appear as experts who have all of the details correct. We will recognize ourselves more in the tax collector who stood at a distant, beat his breast, and said, "be merciful to me, a sinner!" (see Luke 18:13). It is precisely this attitude that opens our inner world to the healing touch of Jesus. It is by this sort of humility that the inside of our cup may first be cleaned. This is typified by our words in the acts of contrition we use in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. And such is finally our choice, to continue to pursue the details so that we ourselves can remain in control, or to instead come in humility to the one who alone can heal us. Jesus tried to help the Pharisees at least to have a sense that all was not well with them. They therefore for the moment had to hear more woes than blessings. But the point was that if they did truly hear they could then desire change. And if they desired it God would not abandon them and could himself make them worthy of his blessings.
Another way we tend to become distracted is by all of the apparently apocalyptic happenings going on all around us all the time, as though the "day of the Lord is at hand". But for us these are often not so different from being overly concerned about details in that both are distractions from the life we are supposed to live here and now. There may be much chaos all around us, but none of it has the power to interfere with our relationship with Jesus himself (see Romans 8:35-39). This is why Paul suggested as an antidote to end times speculation a simple principle:
Therefore, brothers and sisters, stand firm
and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught,
either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.
In the most important sense Christians already know what we need to know, because we know Jesus himself. If we hold fast to him we too will find "everlasting encouragement and good hope through his grace". We won't stop at appearing pious but will have strength for "every good deed and word".
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