You may remember the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus spoke about making oaths. He told people not to swear by heaven, earth, a person’s head, or Jerusalem. Instead, he said this:
“Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.” (Matthew 5:37)
Once again, Jesus returns to the question of oaths. He is teaching in the courtyard of the temple and addresses the religious leaders with this accusation:
“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the sanctuary is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the sanctuary is bound by the oath.’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the sanctuary that has made the gold sacred? And you say, ‘Whoever swears by the altar is bound by nothing, but whoever swears by the gift that is on the altar is bound by the oath.’ How blind you are!” (Matthew 23:16-19a)
When it came to making oaths, what was it that made the religious leaders blind guides? In their day, oaths were used to determine right from wrong in judicial decisions.
Jesus took issue with the way people used the finer points of the law to gain an advantage over an adversary. The practice He condemned occurred when someone took a non-binding oath in the temple—which served as the courtroom of their day—to win a victory over their opponent.
Jesus declared this practice to be “from the evil one,” yet the religious leaders allowed it to take place. No wonder Jesus called them “blind guides.” In Isaiah’s call to ministry, God told him that the result of his preaching would be blindness:
“Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.” (Isaiah 6:9)
Why were the people blind and deaf? Because they decided to ignore God’s message, they rendered themselves blind and deaf. Whether for Isaiah’s audience 500 years before Jesus, the crowds during Jesus’s day, or people today, the result is the same. If we ignore God’s will in pursuit of financial gain at the expense of another, God’s verdict is that this comes from the evil one.
Swallowing Camels
The word hypocrite originally referred to actors who wore masks. These masks helped them portray characters, project their voices, and play different roles.
When Jesus called people hypocrites, He meant they were wearing a mask and playing a part. They were hiding their true nature instead of showing who they really were.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!” (Matthew 23:23-24)
The religious leaders projected a picture of righteousness and dignity. However, they were complicit in the crimes that took place through the legal system in the temple.
They strained out minor issues concerning the tithe, but they swallowed the “camel” of injustice, a lack of mercy, and faithlessness.
A Modern Example of Justice, Mercy, and Faith
We can thank God that the hypocrites and blind guides of our world have people like Bryan Stevenson as a counterbalance.
Stevenson has dedicated his legal career to fighting racial bias, poverty penalization, and extreme punishment in the United States legal system. His book, Just Mercy, is rooted in a guiding principle that directly mirrors grace: “Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.”
As a member of the African Methodist Episcopal church, Stevenson cites his faith as the enduring engine behind the exhausting work of drawing near to the hurting and broken.
He frequently speaks about the necessity of being “stonecatchers”—a reference to Jesus’s response to the crowd preparing to stone an adulterous woman. He challenges people to stand between the condemned and those casting judgment.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed Matthew 23:16-24 on YouTube today.
Real Voices 