Faith – A Full Tenth

By Brian Kelly

   To the crowds in the temple courtyard, Jesus denounced the scribes and Pharisees as Those who teach—Love of God and love for neighbor—but do not practice…

   And then—Eye to eye—to the scribes and Pharisees themselves, “Woe to You,” He said, full and withering, like the burning east wind…

“Hypocrites!”

   For you tithe the mint and dill and cumin, and Count yourselves blameless, Count yourselves as having given Beyond what is required.  But you have Not given a full tenth…

You Have Not given Anything.

You do All for appearances’ sake.  For your Own gain, your Own advantage, your Own glory.

To the neighbor struggling under a weight you turn Your back, for Not a finger will you lift, Not a cup of cold water will you bring to another thirsting, if there is Nothing in it for you, if it takes you A step out of Your way.

You tithe the mint, yet turn away from your neighbor, and so you put upon another to do what had been put before You to do.  You leave for another to give what had been for You to give.

   So from the one you Keep what is Not for you to keep.  And from the other you Take what is Not yours to have.

You cheat.  And you rob…

Woe to you!  For your bellies know No quiet.

You give a tenth of a potherb, and count yourselves Upright?  You give a tenth of a potherb, and count yourselves as doing Good?

God has told you, O man, what is good.  He has shown you what is tov A you:  to do Justly, to love Kindness, and to walk Humbly with your God. nd what is it God looks for from you?  The same that He seeks for you:  to do Justly, to love Kindness, and to walk Humbly with your God.

Yet you do not walk humbly…

You do not do justly…

You have No love for kindness.  No ahava for it.  None of the passion.  The very passion of a man for his wife and children to care for them, and to protect, and give himself to…

That beholds the family as wondrous…And beautiful…

That holds to the breast each one of them as dear.

But you Have Not that regard for your neighbor.  That familial regard that cares, that helps.  None for Any, but yourselves…

Woe to you!  For your hearts are far from God.

Do you Not understand that to give a full tenth is to give the best part?  The best of all you are, the best of all you have.  Within you. And without you.  To whatever the task at hand.  To whatever the need of another before you.   

Do you Not understand that the Tenth you give, the Tenth you offer, is a testimony?

   To your Mindfulness of God’s provision…

   To your Acknowledgment of His kindnesses…

To your Gratitude for His beauty…

A testimony to God’s worth for you, your love For Him.

  Yet you use the portion given you, Not to bind up, or heal, or lift, or soothe…

   But the good given for good you Twist.  Twist to take.  Take what you can.  All you can.

It is the heart with which a thing is offered, it is the heart in which a thing is done, that gives it its Value, that makes what is offered, that makes what is done, clean or Unclean, beautiful or Profane, full or Empty.

And what you offer, your Boast of a full tenth, testifies only to your contempt for God.  Your contempt for His love…

Woe to you!  For you Have Found No beauty in His eyes.

HIS WORDS BOLD and forceful, terrible for their Naked truth, were made all the more hateful to the scribes and Pharisees, for there was also in Jesus’ tone, and in His look…A great sadness.

And His words will be just as Hateful to us, unless we Give Ear to them and hear, not the blast of the east wind, but the sounding of the shofar:  The Call to turn and to look within one’s heart…

with Naked honesty.

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