THESE two verses show how one can be very religious and careful concerning religious duties, and still be far from knowing anything about true and real religion. The practice of religion can also be a way of life that is used to gain standing in the religious society that is espoused, and not the worship and service of God.

The giving of tithes was an established practice in the Old Testament. It went back beyond Moses to Abraham. Tithes were given to God as an act of worship, and were used for ceremonial feasts, for the poor, and for support of the Levites who were set apart to minister the worship of God in Israel. The Law of Moses directed that tithing should be of the increase of all ones possessions, but there was no direct reference to mint, dill and cummin, which were herbs for flavouring food. Only the main possessions like corn, wine and oil, together with live-stock are mentioned in this connection. The Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law carried the duty of tithing to extraordinary detail, and by it presented themselves as very religious and righteous. Giving of tithes was a duty that was laid down, but not in such meticulous detail as practiced by the Pharisees.

The trouble with the Pharisees was that in concentrating on this particular religious duty, they felt that they had achieved an ultimate righteousness, and this was at the expense of much more important duties, such as justice, mercy and faithfulness. In fact through their pride in their meticulous righteousness in the duty of tithing, they became unmerciful and unjust in their dealings with others, as they made others feel guilty for not acting as they did.

Jesus does not say that giving of tithes is wrong. Indeed he says they ought to be given, but he plainly condemns the pernickety self-righteous practice of the Pharisees. Jesus also emphasizes that it is no excuse for neglecting more important matters of the law. Jesus teaches here that justice and mercy and faithfulness are more important in the mind of God than over zealous practices in tithing. Jesus uses a proverb to emphasize his meaning. The Pharisees strained out a gnat – just a little uncleanness, but swallowed a camel – a much larger uncleanness – which was the neglect of treating people justly, and with mercy, and with faithfulness in dealing with them.

By this one-sided emphasis the Pharisees and teachers of the Law showed their religious and spiritual blindness. They had been set apart to teach people how to live for God and please God, but they were all wrong in their understanding of what is pleasing to God. They were blind. They could not see the truth of God. Because of this they were unable to fulfill their calling. Indeed it was not a matter of just not fulfilling their calling, it was a much more serious matter of leading people astray in the practice of their calling. Their failure was compounded in that by this they were harming people spiritually, and leading them away from God rather than to God.

All Christ's words need to be applied to us in our age, and in every age. It is easy to see how the Pharisees were wrong, and condemn them in consequence. We may well pity the church of the Jews in the time of Jesus because they were led so badly and so harmfully. However if this is all we see in this woe that Jesus pronounced, we will have missed the point for ourselves today.

The church has leaders, ministers and teachers who are set apart by ordination or other means, to be teachers and leaders of the church in our day. The purpose of such ministry today is the same as it was for the Pharisees and teachers of Jesus' day. The ministry is set apart to teach people the truth of God and how to be reconciled to God. The ministry is to lead people in the practice of the worship and service of God. It is just as easy today for ministers to be side-tracked by over emphasis on particulars in church practice, and which have become distorted or even wrong over time. In such over-emphasis people can be led astray from God, and kept from the true knowledge and favour of God.

For example it seems to me that in the Church of England there has grown up today an over emphasis on the Holy Communion, or the Eucharist, to the exclusion of preaching. There has also grown up an emphasis on practical religion of caring for peoples temporal needs, to the harmful neglect of their souls. There has grown up a wrong sort of charity which teaches that as God is love, his love covers everyone, and due to this there is a neglect of the Gospel of salvation, and the problem of sin which the Gospel provides an answer to is neglected or thought insignificant, or even denied.