A waitress once remarked to us that the worst customers of the week in her restaurant, the ones that complained the most and tipped the least, were the Sunday-after-church people. We are focused on doing religious stuff but easily forget that true religion is to love our neighbor. We strain out an unclean gnat but miss the bigger picture, the unclean camel.
This is as bad as the Pharisees who were exceptionally fastidious in tithing of minutia such as mint, dill and cumin, but neglected weightier matters. Jesus complimented them for tithing, a requirement under the law, but condemned them for neglecting justice, mercy and faithfulness.
Perhaps counting mint leaves for an offering is not our focus, but we can easily be overly concerned with religious trivia of other sorts – worship methods, insignificant traditions, icons that are not painted just right, liturgical minutiae and so on. Let's not forget important things like justice, mercy and faithfulness. That's what Jesus said.
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