Gnats and Camels

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

GNATS AND CAMELS

 

Matt 23:23-24

23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices — mint, dill and cummin. 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. 24 You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

NIV

Let us begin at the ending and then we will see the truth of the whole of this woe. To strain out a gnat and eat a camel is a common proverb the Jews would be familiar with, although it appears it is not a proverb of Solomon. Nevertheless, we must first determine the idea of the gnat. It is a very small water-borne creature. A person who would be very particular about his drink would want to strain out those almost microscopic gnats. Jesus was telling them they were paying such detail to the minute aspects of the law but overlooked the main points. Here is that lesson we should take to heart. It could be possible for us to spend a great deal of our attention trying to live righteously by abiding by all the rules and regulations of the law, or we might say the commands of God. This could get misinterpreted as appearing as though we are overly focused on doing “Good deeds” and forget about mercy, compassion, kindness, gentleness, and faithfulness which are wrapped up in loving God with all our being and loving our neighbor as ourselves. This is not to say we should not do good in our lives. If we want the “Good deeds” then we need to define just what do they entail. How do we define what makes those deeds good and what are the deeds that are good? But again, should we not be more concerned with the matter of our heart or the attitude of our mind or thoughts toward others that cannot be seen as a deed. Solomon voiced a proverb that implies that as we think in our hearts, that is who we truly are. it is the attitude of our mind, the thoughts of our inner man, who determine how we live within the community of faith as well as out in the world. We can do all the “Good deeds” we think we know are good and be rude, ignore someone, or fail to forgive their mistakes and miss the whole meaning of walking with Jesus. We can do all the right things, but if we experience any form of envy, jealousy, bitterness, resentment, or judgmental attitudes we miss the point and are straining out the gnats but eating the camel.