Scripture: Luke 11:42 – “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others.” (NRSV)
There is a story about family traditions that I have heard a few times in my travels. One day, a young girl watches her mother cut off the ends of a pot roast before putting it in the oven. The girl asks her mother why she does this, and the mother replies, “I don’t know why I cut the ends off, but it’s what my mom always did. Why don’t you ask your Grandma?” So, the girl calls her grandmother, and the grandmother says, “I don't know. That's just the way my mom always cooked it. Why don't you ask her?” So, the girl asks her great-grandmother, and luckily for the little girl, she does not say that’s the way her mother had done things, but rather that when she was a young woman, she had a very small oven and cut off the ends of the pot roast so it could fit into the oven. Generations later, the tradition is still followed without question, even though it is no longer necessary.
This is a story about how the reasons for traditions get away from us, and we do things out of habit without examining why we do them. At best, this creates incongruities like unnecessarily wasting parts of a pot roast. At worst, however, it can lead to thoughtless and even cruel behavior, prioritizing the tradition over people or adhering to the letter of a tradition rather than its spirit.
This was at the heart of one of Jesus’ criticisms of the wealthy Pharisees of his day. The Pharisees considered themselves experts in following the Laws of Moses. Among those laws was tithing, giving ten percent of one’s income to the Temple or community in the name of God. In the Gospel according to Luke, Jesus says, “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and herbs of all kinds, and neglect justice and the love of God; it is these you ought to have practiced, without neglecting the others.” He accuses the Pharisees of taking the letter of the commandment too literally, giving ten percent of herbs like mint to the Temple, which is essentially worthless, while not making a difference with their money in their actual communities. They forgot that the purpose of giving to the Temple, or to a church in our time, is not to sacrifice to the Lord or even to create an attitude of humility towards money, but to help those in their neighborhood and beyond who depend on others for their survival, to create a community of love and not dominance.
Note that Jesus does not say that tithing is a bad thing or that being meek before God is not an important part of one’s spiritual life. Rather he says that the greater issue of God’s justice, the spirit at the heart of the commandment, is being ignored so the Pharisees can enjoy their wealth by fulfilling as little of the commandment as they can to claim their holiness.
I am sure that there are some traditions in your life which you do by rote. Try to examine them. Look for the stories behind them, like the little girl, and see if they still make sense for you. If they do not, consider changing them, especially if they distance you from God and God’s justice.
Prayer: God, give me a heart of discernment and a heart of compassion to create new traditions of love every day. Amen.
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