Hello everyone and welcome to Friday’s foundations podcast. My last one of these weekly reflections on the Bible. Did you hear what Sam Watson shared this Wednesday on loving your neighbour and the call from God to a locality? It was brilliant. Do go back and give that a listen if you have time today. Next week, I believe Liam Brennan is taking on the daily podcast so do keep listening in.

REFLECTION:

Today, we are looking at Matthew 23:23-39. It’s part of Jesus’ Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees. Yesterday, we had 3 woes and today we have woes 4 through 7. Yesterday, we reflected on the idea of hypocrisy. It’s something we are all guilty of from one degree to another, consciously or unconsciously. I’ve heard it said that there are multiple perspectives of self, but here are 3. There is the stuff that lots of people know about us (public perception of me), there is also the stuff that lots of people don’t know about me (the private perception of me). That’s not a bad thing. It is good and healthy to have a private life. If we just dumped all our unfiltered thoughts on each other when we meet on zoom it would be a very strange dynamic. We might feel better for offloading our burdens but others will certainly go to bed worrying about us that night. Then there is another perspective of me… What people know about me that I don’t know about me (in a sense, my blind spots). How do people describe James Brown when I’m not there.

This is relevant to the Bible story today because Jesus is basically challenging the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees. Some of it is to do with their public presentation, some of it is to do with their private intentions (as we have regularly seen in the last few days – some of the tricky questions given to Jesus came from evil places in their hearts), and finally, Jesus is challenging some of the blind spots – things they do that are harmful that are seemingly unconscious.

Let’s hear together verses 23 and 24 read aloud to reflect on. There is an Aramaic joke here thrown in for good measure but I think it loses its punch translated into English. Listen in.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

“You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel” You get it? One commentary I read pointed out “This joke may have been aided by an Aramaic pun on galma (gnat) and gamla (camel).” Perhaps read that line in the podcast description for full effect.