Luke 11:42, commentary and pictures

Christ speaks a woe against religious leaders who set themselves up as judges over others while breaking God's law themselves and turning sacred duties aside from their true purpose. They were exact in returning a tenth even of the smallest garden herbs, yet they passed by and left undone judgment, justice, mercy, truth, and the love of God. Care in small duties does not make anyone a true keeper of the commandments, for the lesser duties and the weightier matters are both to be done and neither to be left undone. The weightier matters are justice, mercy, and love to God and neighbor, shown in pity and practical help to the needy, distressed, afflicted, widowed, fatherless, and oppressed, and in tender compassion toward those who suffer or err rather than magnifying their faults. No outward ceremony or costly display can make worship acceptable when those are lacking, and tithing itself remains a returning to God of what is already His to sustain His work, which none may withhold without robbing Him.

Christ's Rebuke of Pharisees

The verse is one of Christ's woes rebuking religious leaders who neglected God's requirements while setting themselves up as judges and censors over others. Those who judged others were themselves failing to keep God's law and resisting the Holy Spirit, and their claims to authority did not excuse their own disobedience. Sacred duties under their influence were being displaced and perverted.

The priests and people with the Pharisees displayed arrogance and cruel intolerance, being overbearing and quarrelsome toward all who opposed them. They were severely critical and resentful of any reflection on their own acts. True followers, by contrast, must not lack mercy but show tender compassion that pities and aids those who suffer or err and avoids magnifying the faults of others.

They were scrupulously exact in tithing mint and rue and all manner of herbs, even the smallest garden produce. Scrupulous observance of such minor religious requirements did not excuse neglect of God's commands. At the same time they passed over and neglected judgment, justice, mercy, truth, and the love of God. Their outward rules and performances obscured the self-denying principles of true religion and reduced them to nothing. Small religious duties must not displace the weightier matters God requires, and doing what God requires in mercy, judgment, and love for Him does not mean abandoning other duties.

The rulers used meticulous tithing of herbs and human traditions and teachings to draw attention away from Jesus and to turn the people back to outward observance. The chief rulers thereby sought to regain influence over the people while neglecting what mattered more. Their religious influence centered on outward observance rather than the weightier matters of judgment and love for God, making religious practice a means of control rather than faithfulness to God.

Lesser and Weightier Duties

Carefulness in some small religious duties does not make a person a true commandment-keeper and does not excuse neglect of God's commands. Careful tithing of small herbs does not make up for neglecting the weightier matters of judgment, mercy, and love for God. Both the lesser duties and the weightier matters are to be practiced, and neither is to be left undone, so attention to one must not become an excuse for leaving the other undone.

The weightier duty is judgment, justice, mercy, and the love of God and neighbor, shown by giving practical help to the needy, distressed, suffering, and afflicted, including widows and the fatherless. That love is expressed in pity and practical care, in breaking yokes and setting the oppressed free, while careful payment of tithes remains a smaller duty still to be done and not left undone. Indifference or selfishness toward people in need is failure of duty to Christ, and every such act is recorded as guilt and lawbreaking, for people are judged by their deeds.

True followers must not lack mercy but must show tender compassion that pities and aids those who suffer or err. That compassion helps rather than magnifies the faults of others. Exactness in tithing mint and rue and all manner of herbs while passing over judgment and the love of God is the opposite spirit, lacking mercy.

Tithing is returning to God what already belongs to Him, meant to sustain His work on earth. Withholding it is theft and robbery that deprives His work of support. Faithfulness does not depend on how much one has, so the poor should give what they can and those blessed with abundance should set aside what God claims as His own. Careful tithing of even small garden herbs does not excuse neglecting what matters to God, and the verse calls for examining whether one's use of money shows faithfulness to God rather than selfish spending.

Faithful obedience requires both the tithing and the neglected duties of justice and love for God. Magnificent temples and religious ceremonies cannot make worship acceptable when justice, mercy, love for God, and a humble, contrite spirit are lacking. Outward religious display does not honor God or replace the character and godliness He values.

Living the Verse Today

In the home, cleanliness and order are good and are Christian duties, but to make them paramount while neglecting the interests, character, training and salvation of children is to repeat the tithing of mint and rue and herbs while passing over judgment, mercy, justice and the love of God. Mothers must not perfect the home at the expense of proper training and shaping of character, for the lesser good should still be done but not instead of the greater duty. Parents can bring their children to salvation only by ministering to them in that same justice and mercy and love of God, which are the only way to be saved.

In business and positions of trust, careful tithing and faithfulness in small religious duties do not excuse neglecting the weightier matters, but must go together with justice, mercy, judgment and the love of God and neighbor guiding every part of daily life, words and acts. Those entrusted with responsibility must understand and honor justice and the love of God, and those whose judgment about justice, mercy and God's love is clouded should not remain in positions of responsibility. One placed in management, such as a sanitarium business manager, must daily be managed by the Lord, possess dignity and knowledge blended with a clear sense of how to use authority, reveal Christ in life, give religious instruction and exert spiritual influence, know how to deal with minds while his own mind is controlled by the Spirit, speak wisdom in words of encouragement, discern and correct mistakes, harmonize with fellow workers, possess adaptability, and speak of the different points of faith as occasion requires.

A close and covetous heart that is strict in tithing mint and rue and all small rigid duties while neglecting the weightier matters withers the soul. God requires economy but not meanness stretched into covetousness, and requires the true spirit of sacrifice that gives to the poor and lays up treasure in heaven. Leaving the weightier matters undone brings a fanatical spirit mistaken for God's Spirit, which watches others and refuses help unless they follow the same rigid course, cannot bear plain reproof, and sets up personal judgment and notions as a rule for others.

The rebuke falls on one-idea men who make dress and pictures and other matters of little importance into tests of Christian fellowship, who are exacting about dress with a heart closed to pitying love unlike the love that dwelt in Jesus, who criticize articles worn by others, condemn all who do not meet their ideas, and oppress the conscience of those who want to be right. It likewise falls on those who condemn minor faults while dealing unjustly with others and tolerating serious wrongs, for unless they repent they face the woes pronounced on the Pharisees. Such conscientiousness carried to extremes makes Christian duties as burdensome as the Jews made the observance of the Sabbath, does great harm from which the church needs to be purified.

To tithe mint and rue while neglecting justice and the love of God is like giving or sacrificing for others to win human praise while failing to treat one's own family justly and lovingly. Judgment and mercy and the love of God demand that those who have learned of Christ impart to others in greatest need and relieve their physical and spiritual wants and bind them up as Christ did. This calls especially to the poor, friendless, untaught colored people of the Southern field, whose dark, disagreeable life and ignorance call for help, among whom many even professing Christians are sadly ignorant of Bible doctrines and Christian principles and whose religion is mingled with earthliness and sensuality, that light shine forth amid the corruptions found there. Religious care in outward duties does not excuse neglecting justice, mercy and the love of God, for the Pharisees were condemned for disregarding justice and God's love while maintaining religious appearances, and these are essential principles in dealing with others, including within the work of the church.