“Woe to you blind guides, that say, ‘Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but he that shall swear by the gold of the temple, is a debtor.’ Ye foolish and blind; for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? And whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, is a debtor. Ye blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? He therefore that sweareth by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things that are upon it: and whosoever shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth in it: and he that sweareth by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and have left the weightier things of the law; judgment, and mercy, and faith. These things you ought to have done, and not to leave those undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel.”
In the Pharisaical tradition, in an dispute, if one swore by the temple but was found guilty of falsehood, he was not held guilty for invoking the temple, but if he sore by the money that was offered to the priests in the temple, he was compelled to give what he had promised: “Keep thy word, and deal faithfully with him” (Ecclesiasticus 29:3). The temple was the place of God’s glory: “And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the sanctuary, that a cloud filled the house of the Lord” (3 Kings 8:10), and the meeting place of man and God, whereas the gold of the temple aided in this. You do not encounter God through money, but through Himself, coming to truly know how loved you are: “When Elias had heard it, he covered his face with his mantle” (3 Kings 19:13). Because the scribes and Pharisees leaned harder on the gifts given, that is, the gold, rather than the true gift, which is the interaction of love between man and God by prayer, they are harshly reprimanded. It is also the case that more rigorously held to oaths of sacrifice rather than the altar itself, all done out of covetousness. To swear by the temple is to swear by all that it contains, including the gold, and the altar all that is upon it. Now, this is a look into grasping tightly the things of earth, rather than holding as sacred what is sacred and revering it as such, but there is a spiritual meaning that is of great importance here. A thought in the mind is of extraordinary value, for it can be found in no visible creature but man, and therefore God alone is worthy of them: “Let thy thoughts be upon the precepts of God, and meditate continually on his commandments: and he will give thee a heart, and the desire of wisdom shall be given thee” (Ecclesiasticus 6:37), and so to offer one’s gold to the temple is to devote your mind to thoughts of your Beloved, be it in the truths of Sacred Scripture or the visualization of the life of Jesus: “Thy eyes are doves’ eyes, besides what is hid within” (Canticle 4:1), considering all else to be so much chaff. The altar is then your heart, the most important thing about you, and prayers, songs, and deeds of love that proceed from your heart are made special by your heart’s love, not by the deeds themselves. God wants your heart, Theophila, He wants your heart to sing with joy and exuberance: “Sing joyfully to God, all the earth: serve ye the Lord with gladness” (Psalm 99:2), and what proceeds from a heart filled with love is hallowed by the love, for all that is done with love is done well. Finally, to swear by heaven is to swear by God, which is to break a commandment of Jesus: “Let your speech be yea, yea: no, no: and that which is over and above these, is of evil” (Matthew 5:37), and similarly, the Law, which can be interpreted as His throne, is sanctified by love, and so too, any act of virtue that is not loving is of no value in the treasure houses of heaven: “And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:3). He then turns to their propensity for being correct in small matters, such as taxing herbs, while neglecting the true calling of a life of love: “He that loveth not, knoweth not God: for God is love” (1 John 4:8). To be righteous and fully alive with the winds of love at your back: “Arise, O north wind, and come, O south wind, blow through my garden, and let the aromatical spices thereof flow” (Canticle 4:16) is the goal of the commandments and Scriptures, whereas the tithing was for the benefit of the priests, which the scribes and Pharisees sought more than the salvation and hearts of those under their care: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel, that fed themselves, should not the flocks be fed by the shepherds?” (Ezechiel 34:2). The bond of love calls those versed in the Scriptures to provide spiritual fruit for the people, who then give what is necessary for the upkeep of the bodies of the priests and doctors: “If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we reap your carnal things?” (1 Corinthians 9:11). All that is not love in you, the Lord desires to be transformed by the fires of love: “Be reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2), and this moves to even the little things, therefore He exhorts you not to neglect the small matters while living justly, mercifully, and faithfully, letting your every action be one of a love done right. It is said of St. Anthony of Egypt that he desired to be second to none in moral conversion, ever striving for what was best, and to deeply examine the commandments of both the Old and New Testaments, noting what is transformed in Christ as a fulfillment, while also letting your Beloved lovingly correct what could use improvement: “Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore, and do penance” (Apocalypse 3:19). But all of this is done within the context of love, that you may carry on a relationship of love, rather than being weighed down by a rulebook: “Stand fast, and be not held again under the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1). Because it is less important to tithe than to be benevolent and loving towards all, they are called blind guides, who overlook the weighty precepts, but with scrupulousness look at what is minor. The tithes are seasoning, things that add small bits of beauty to you: “Use as a frugal man the things that are set before thee: lest if thou eastest much, thou be hated” (Ecclesiasticus 31:19), whereas when you aren’t animated by love of God and neighbor, being led through life by love like a woman in a dance, then to uphold the small commandments slavishly is to be straining out a gnat while swallowing a camel. You will find wholeness, when you let love be your guide, and the rest of the commandments simply prune to make more roses bloom: “The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning is come” (Canticle 2:12).