WEIGHTIER MATTERS
“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” (Matt. 23:23).
In Matthew 23, Jesus took off the gloves and unleashed penetrating condemnation against the religious groups that had been hounding him since the beginning of his ministry. In verses 13-36, the judgment is clear. The Pharisees and scribes were guilty of religious hypocrisy, a condition abhorred by God. They were the ancient equivalent of the “religious establishment.”
One of the accusations Jesus made against them is that they had “neglected the weightier matters of the law.” Many today are equally guilty of this. The Jews were required to pay tithes on everything they owned—their land, their cattle, their crops. If they lived a long way from Jerusalem, they could convert these things to money and bring it to the priest. All of this money was used to support the temple system.
This is why it is absolutely ridiculous to tell believers today that they are required to tithe based on statements made in the Old Testament to Jews under the Law of Moses. Every week in man-made denominations, people give ten percent of their income because they are made to feel guilty if they don’t. The proof that it is a man-made doctrine is that they aren’t requiring you to bring in a tenth of your plants or your stamp collection, or the eggs a chicken lays or anything else that they can’t use. It’s only about money. The tithing law for Christians is a lie. Don’t fall for it. Under the New Covenant of Christ, which is the only covenant you are under, you are free to give from the heart how much you want to give and to whom you want to give it. You are to be willing to share with those in need whatever financial resources God has blessed you with, but it is up to you how much and with whom.
The Pharisees focused on the paying of tithes on the tiniest things. “Mint and anise and cummin” were used to add flavor to food, much like salt and pepper today. They were made from the smallest of plants. While focusing on these small matters, the religious leaders ignored the more important things. Does that sound familiar? Like a “church” arguing over what kind of music they should have in their assemblies while they neglect starving families two streets over from their magnificent cathedrals.
There is never anything wrong with wanting to please God. That is part of the relationship. We are to love Jesus and seek to follow him. He said, “If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed” (John 8:31). The problem is that legalists make up their own laws. They make laws for God, they add to the laws of God. They are not content to let others have their own relationship with Christ and seek to follow him as best they understand him. Legalists want control. The Pharisees wanted power and control, and the modern-day Pharisees want power and control.
When a person is harder on the sins of others then he is on his own sins, he is a Pharisee. He is under the condemnation of God. When a person likes to appear outwardly religious but inside their hearts are “far from God” (Matt. 15:8-9) they are like the Pharisees. And when they pay attention to things that are less important while neglecting the most important things, they are like the Pharisees.
For example, a legalist will argue about things like how long a woman’s dress has to be or how long her hair must be while practicing racism. A Pharisee will take God’s simple instructions for Christians to assemble together and turn them into man-made laws where people have to go to formal religious services. And they will do this while mistreating homosexuals. The most important things, according to Jesus, are to love God supremely and love your neighbor as yourself. If you were born with same sex attraction, how would you want to be treated?
it is important to recognize that Jesus pronounced “woes” on the hypocrites. The religious establishment received from the Lord declarations of grief, denunciation, and condemnation. The harshest language Jesus ever used while on earth was aimed at the religious leaders. He was the most anti-establishment rebel in the history of the world.
Why did Jesus rebuke them so harshly? Well, if you would take the time to examine each of these “woes,” you would understand what the religious leaders were about and why Jesus was so against them. He absolutely hated their doctrines and their ways He said “they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is done for people to see” (Matt. 23:3-5).
While they were supposed to be helping people know God and serve him out of dedication, teaching them to have love for God in their hearts and a relationship with him, they were emphasizing the externals of the law and adding extra burdens to it in efforts to control, manipulate and rob from people who had been entrusted to their care. They were hypocrites, acting a role while their hearts were far from God.
The Sermon on the Mount was aimed at these religious leaders when Jesus emphasized the true spirit of the law. But the religious elite, the scribes and Pharisees, focused on their version of the letter of the law while completely ignoring its spirit. It was some of the most sinful conduct recorded in the Bible and it brought the wrath of God upon them.
When he denounced them in verse 23 about neglecting the weightier matters of the law, the picture is of them counting tiny leaves to make sure that they got the number exactly right while ignoring the poor and the outcast, the people who actually needed their help. Always remember Jesus is concerned about people, not rules and regulations. The Pharisees and their spirit are still among us today and they are still under the condemnation of God.
Dewayne Dunaway
