8.23.2011

Recycled Post: Cooking with JC

After my last post about words, I read today's Gospel reading.  I was immediately reminded of this post I wrote in the infant years of this blog circa 2005.  Hence, today's recycled post.  Enjoy!

Today's Gospel is from Matthew (23:23-26). I know it's always been there, but it struck me as "new to me" today. I think I'd remember a reference to mint, dill and cumin! Not to mention dishwashing.

Jesus said:
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You pay tithes of mint and dill and cumin,
and have neglected the weightier things of the law:
judgment and mercy and fidelity.
But these you should have done, without neglecting the others.
Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You cleanse the outside of cup and dish,
but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.
Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup,
so that the outside also may be clean."

The commentary in my New American Bible said something about how the law of the time was to tithe your produce, but that what Jesus was criticizing here was not that practice. Rather, he was pointing out the hypocrisy of paying attention to the tiniest details of some things (tithing even your herbs) and yet at the same time choosing to ignore the big things in life.

Judgement, mercy and fidelity (NAB)
Justice, mercy and faith (NRSV)
Justice, mercy and honesty (Good News)

What if for just one day, we focused on spicing our lives (and the lives of others) with these things instead of the petty things we tend to focus on? Like keeping the outside of our dishes neat and clean, while the insides are messy indeed.

Food for thought (no pun intended)

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