In Monday’s Crisis Counsels we began looking at two passages containing words of the prophet Micah and the words of Jesus:

With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings… ? He has told you, O mortal, what is good. What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:6,8

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, but 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.
words of Jesus in Matthew 23:23

We noted in yesterday’s Crisis Counsels how Jesus sharply critiqued the scribes and Pharisees for their “religious show” – the way in which they engaged in outward pious actions in order to get praise for themselves, while “neglecting the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.” Jesus gave many examples of this in Matthew chapter 23. In the verse above, Jesus referred to how the scribes and Pharisees would “tithe mint, dill, and cumin.” Biblical teaching consistently affirms the practice of tithing – giving to God out of our income – with the Biblical benchmark being a 10% tithe out of all that one earns. Jesus affirmed tithing, including it among the practices one should “not neglect.” But the scribes and Pharisees made their tithing ostentatious. They tithed out of what grew in their herb gardens! Yet while they made a display of such piety, they neglected God’s deeper calling to “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.” (Micah 6:8)

Those who would follow Jesus today must take this teaching of Jesus to heart, especially in light of our heightened awareness of the troubling legacy of racism in our country. We are called not only to acts of personal piety but acts of social justice, committing ourselves to work for the well-being of all. What does the Lord require of us in these days? Surely it is a deeper commitment to God’s purposes.

Prayer – Move us, O Lord, to join in the working of Your Spirit to impact the lives of all people for good. Click To Tweet

If you missed Sunday worship, you can join with the recorded service of either the 9:30 or 10:30 worship hours at live.kentmethodist.org

About the Author

Dr. David A. Palmer has been the senior pastor at the United Methodist Church of Kent since 1995. He has a B.A. from Wittenberg University, a Master of Divinity from Duke University, and a Doctor of Ministry from Princeton Theological Seminary. A native of Wooster, Ohio, he has served three other churches in east Ohio before coming to Kent. He and his wife, Mavis, have three children.