Mtr Beth Clarke

Friends in Christ,

“You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!”

—Matthew 23:24

Today’s Gospel, Matthew 23:13-26, offers stern words, seven woes, for the hypocritical religious leaders of the day. Not only does Jesus use colorful imagery to rebuke their negligent, self-righteous practices, but he does so seven times, notably, as the number seven often represents perfection and completion in the Bible. Their hypocrisy is not perfunctory; it is profound, it is so embodied that it is “perfectly” complete.

Such complete and pervasive corruption demanded interruption. The word “woe” is an interjection, a disrupter; it speaks of the grief, misery, and misfortune of those to whom the “woe” is directed; it interrupts a damaging pattern or a sequence.

The seven woes are profoundly troubling; they include: blocking people from the Kingdom of God, misleading converts, using religion to make money, elevating the trivial instead of the sacred (the straining out of gnats but swallowing camels), appearing gracious but being selfish inside, seeming holy but engaging in corruption, and honoring the dead but killing the servants of God. They are valuing gold above the Temple, gifts above the altar, objects over human beings. Ultimately, they are breaking the Third Commandment, because the Temple and the altar really mean something; they represent God’s promise to His people. In their disrespect, the religious leaders are taking God’s name in vain.

There are seven woes, but one unifying, “complete” theme: the religious leaders act one way and do something else. These spiritual leaders have either become so careless with their speech that their words no longer mean anything, or worse, so corrupt that what they teach is an affront to God.

Which begs the question: where might there be damaging disconnects between our words and actions? Where might Jesus interrupt us with a “Woe!” His warnings are not simply about saying the wrong thing; they remind us that our words will eventually reveal who we are and what we truly value. When our speech and our lives no longer tell the same story, something in us is adrift.

The invitation, then, is not simply to speak more carefully. It is to become a people in Christ whose words and actions are consistent. To neither strain out the gnat nor swallow the camel, but, as best we can, live out a faith that is true both inside and out.

Yours in Christ,

—Mtr Beth