Missing the Point and Swallowing Camels
In a world full of camels, the gnats seem to loom large.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have 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 gnat but swallow a camel.”
Matthew 23:23-24
To be a part of the church means to experience frustration, anger, disappointment, and weariness with the very thing we are a part of, and yet to hold on to it with stubborn hope and the belief that God is still present and working among us. Some seem to think that we must deny the former in order to do the latter, but faithfulness to the way of Jesus demands honesty, confession, and repentance. It never ceases to call us forward, drawing the community of faith toward ever-increasing Christlikeness. And along the way, the Spirit shines light on all that obscures the image of Jesus within us, both individually and as a body. Sometimes we need to be confronted with the truth that, despite our sense of righteousness, we have missed the point in frustrating and wearisome ways.
We’re often hard on the Pharisees, but they were not viewed as evil villains and were generally admired by others for their commitment to the law. They took the law seriously and wanted others to take it seriously for the sake of the nation. As is true for all of us, though, taking things seriously doesn’t necessarily mean we’re taking the right things seriously enough. The Pharisees’ obsession with finer points of the law, while disregarding the spirit and purpose of it all, led to a distinctly pointed sermon from Jesus. Frustrated and wearied by their obstinate blindness and determination to miss the point, Jesus calls them blind guides who strain out gnats but swallow camels. It’s an absurd image, to be sure, but it captures the level of absurdity displayed in their meticulous concern for aspects of the law while violating its very purpose and significance. In the eyes of Jesus, being proud of your tithe while neglecting justice, mercy, and faithfulness is a gnats and camels level of absurdity. It’s truly an adventure in missing the point.
I know many who have become frustrated and wearied by the state of the American church, only to be criticized and dismissed as if they are the issue. Viewed as negative voices that simply want to damage the church, theological liberals who have deconstructed the faith, or progressives who just want a license to sin, they are shut out and ignored. But most of the people I know who are frustrated with the church don’t fit into any of those descriptions. They are simply weary and disappointed by the fact that while we live in a world full of camel issues, matters that demand justice, mercy, and faithfulness, part of the church seems far more concerned about swatting at gnats. Their criticisms and questions do not stem from failing to take Jesus seriously, but from their desire to take Jesus seriously. What they wrestle with is not the necessity of the church, but the need for the church to look like the Jesus it claims to follow. And they cannot remain silent in the face of a church that exchanges camels for gnats.
When innocent school children are gunned down while praying, some of us are more indignant, defensive, and ready to fight over the phrase “thoughts and prayers” than we are the far greater problem at hand. While the blood of murdered children repeatedly cries out for justice and reform, we would rather take on a fight that honestly makes no difference to our actual prayer lives or belief in prayer. While our immigrant and refugee neighbors live in fear, surrounded by dehumanizing rhetoric and capricious shifts in policy, we wrap ourselves in existential dread over changing corporate logos. Brothers and sisters in Christ, children of God who are deeply loved, have been swept up, detained, and mistreated despite their best attempts to follow a broken and unjust system, while we wring our hands over restaurant marketing. Thousands upon thousands of children killed, injured, and starving in Gaza, and we look the other way because our political allegiances tell us to do so or our warped eschatologies accept it as necessary. Surrounded by camels of injustice and suffering, we swat at the gnats of personal privilege, comfort, and power. This is the absurdity Jesus called out in the Pharisees and the absurdity that brings so many, both inside and outside the church, to frustration, weariness, and anger.
No doubt, some will be quick to point out that Jesus said to “practice the latter, without neglecting the former” as a means of justifying their personal concerns and debates as worthwhile. The point, however, is that all of our spiritual practices, questions, and conversations should be forming us into people of justice, mercy, and faithfulness. When the weightier matters are forsaken, the practices we perform, although they might be good in themselves, have clearly become empty and void of power or meaning. And here is the thing about straining gnats: the more that we strain, the smaller the gnats become. When we go chasing after them, they lead us further and further away from the most important things. Eventually, we’re trying to strain gnats that aren’t even there. We end up fighting over cliches, holiday greetings, and logos, all while the world bleeds. So let’s not be quick to dismiss those who are frustrated or even angry with the church. They just might be the voice of the Spirit reminding us that swallowing camels will always choke our witness.