From mint and dill to gnats and camels, today’s gospel finds Jesus using lots of familiar images of his time to make his message pretty clear to the Pharisees.
The Jewish people knew the Torah commanded that, right off the top, a tenth of one’s livestock, fruit trees, grain and oil be presented to God. Everything, even small garden veggies and herbs like dill and mint, were tithed to comply with the Jewish Law. To counter the Pharisees obsession with fulfilling the law to the extreme with these minor items, Jesus confronts them with 3 weightier obligations that they oftentimes neglected: justice, mercy and faithfulness.
The next images Jesus uses are gnats and camels, the smallest and largest living things of their culture. What Jesus is trying to teach the Pharisees is that they’re too concerned about minor obligations of the Law; he doesn’t want them to miss the major precepts of God.
In our first reading, Paul is also teaching his listeners what’s important. He tells them not to act and live to please people, but rather to please God, who judges our hearts. The contrast between the loving message of Paul and the practices of the Pharisees could not be any starker
- Paul’s words had passion; the Pharisees had platitudes
- Paul spoke from his open heart; the Pharisees spoke from strict traditions
- Paul spoke of the Lord; the Pharisees spoke of the Law
- Paul spoke like a loving parent; the Pharisees spoke like harsh judges
The point is this: both Jesus and Paul are trying to convey that true spirituality calls for the on-going conversion of our hearts. Again, Jesus uses the image of a cup to explain this. He says we need to cleanse the inside of the cup first so that the outside may also be clean.
Jesus is calling us to be transformed into true and authentic servants from the inside out. We do this when we:
- Are guided by mercy and justice in our dealings with people,
- Show compassion and love to others rather than burden others, no matter who they are or where they are from, and,
- Practice what we preach.
Today, may we reflect on what’s godly in our heart, so that what’s inside can radiate outward.
