Majoring in Minors

In Matthew 23, Jesus slams the Pharisees, declaring seven different woes upon them.  The 4th woe is recorded in Matthew 23:23-24:

23 ” Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.  24 “You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! 

While growing up, we called this majoring in minors, and Jesus says it was a problem that the Pharisees did it.  Of course, the Law of Moses required Jews to tithe (or give a tenth) of everything they owned.  And this even included the “seed of the land” (Leviticus 27:30).  So, dutifully, the Pharisees counted out and gave every tenth seed to God.

The problem wasn’t that they were exacting in their tithing (though this seems pretty extreme), but that they were more concerned with making sure God got exactly 1/10 of everything – no more and no less – than they were in fulfilling the weightier parts of the Law.  Jesus says that they should have been tithing as well as being just, merciful, and faithful.

Jesus then uses a pretty humorous example, saying that they strained out gnats (the smallest unclean animal according to the Old Law) and would then turn around and eat camels (the largest unclean animal under the Old Law).

It’s humorous, but it’s also very appropriate – for the Pharisees as well as for us.  How often are we guilty of straining out the gnats but eating camels?  We can’t get so caught up in the little things of God’s Word that we forget the bigger things.  Just like the Pharisees, those little things are still important for us to do, but we can’t neglect what God really wants of us.

So what are those bigger things now that we’re under the New Covenant?

Jesus answers that very question just previous to this when these same Pharisees try to trap Him:

Matthew 22:34-39

34 But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. 35 One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’  38 “This is the great and foremost commandment.  39 “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’