Hey friends, we're talking about Matthew chapter 23 verses 23 through 24. This is

pronouncement of woe that Jesus is making against the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. We've

been working on this for a while now. This passage goes thusly. He says, woe to you, teachers of the

law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You give a tenth of your spices, mint, dill, and cumin. But you've

neglected the more important matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have

practiced the latter without neglecting the former. You blind guides, you strain out a net, but swallow

a camel. Last time around, we got through processing a lot of that imagery. And this time around, I want

to finish out processing some of the metaphors and the imagery that are present in this. And then

talking a little bit about the effect that this passage has on me, because this is one that does

get through the armor and gives me some stuff to think about. And so though we don't normally go

there, we're just going to go there and kick that around together a little bit. All right,

I have Jeff play some music and we're going to get back into it.

All of that to say from the beginning of Jesus talking to people in public, he has made it

abundantly clear that lots of people are getting things right that don't really matter very much

and actually don't matter at all and just look hypocritical if you don't get the big stuff,

right? But what he's calling people to repent on is like the big stuff. Like, hey, just a quick

reminder, you're supposed to, if you've had an encounter with God and you've bent the need of him

and you embrace the values of his kingdom, like first and foremost, that should manifest in that

you do justice rooted in truth and the values of God and his kingdom. That should manifest in that

you love mercy because it is only by the mercy of God and the existence and the universal sense of

the notion of mercy that you even exist or draw breath, let alone are called sons and daughters

of the king, agents, heirs, citizens of the kingdom. So you gotta do justice. You have to love

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