瞎眼的嚮導 Blind Guides

「瞎眼的嚮導！你們濾出蚊蚋，卻吞下了駱駝。」（瑪23:24）

「物有本末，事有終始，知所先後，則近道矣。」《禮記．大學》一語道破福音中法利塞人的毛病；與及在現代競爭劇烈的商業社會裡，大部份人容易犯的毛病：就是急功近利，捨本逐末。

即使法利塞人與耶穌為敵，但慈悲的主仍然耐心地教導他們。因為他們是「以色列的師傅」（若3:10），有賴他們指導以色列人，在沒有聖殿可供人民祭祀上主的的時候，如何敬拜天主。即使這裡記載了耶穌基督向法利塞人宣佈的「七禍哉」，用語比一向的言論嚴厲，但請注意，基督並沒有像舊約先知一樣，宣佈懲罰。例如：「看，我必懲罰他們：青年必死在刀下，子女必死於饑荒」（耶11:22）。耶穌基督一心想望他們「回心轉意，得到生存！」（則18:32）即使祂好像對法利塞人宣佈「懲罰」（瑪23:33），但這些都適用於每一個人身上，並沒有針對法利塞人！

法利塞人已成了「偽善」的同義詞，但他們的問題出自更深的層次。法律的條文可見，法律的精神不明顯。文字是死的，不能應付時代的進化。精神是生活的，掌握到了，即使是千變萬化的社會現象，也可以萬變不離其宗地處理！可惜條文容易掌握，精神需要長時間的浸淫，纔能心領神會。「十分之一的薄荷、茴香和蒔蘿」容易量度，「公義、仁愛與信義」（瑪23:23）免不了空泛虛浮。於是法利塞人走捷徑，追求容易見到成績的，卻把重要的生活態度，束諸高閣！他們又怎能履行「以色列師傅」的使命呢？耶穌稱他們為「瞎眼的嚮導」，非常貼切！法利塞人可以心思細密地過濾出不潔的蚊蚋，免得自己被沾污；到頭來卻吞下有如駱駝般的不潔：不為受欺凌的孤兒寡婦伸冤，反而成了欺負他們的罪人（谷12:40），教人如何不婉惜呢？

主啊！祢是不可見的天父可見的肖像，是可見的智慧。求祢不要嫌棄我們鄙陋，賜我們在紛亂的俗世中，能懂得選擇重要的，棄絕次要的，好能更親近祢。亞孟。

“Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!” (Matthew 23:24)

“Things have their root and their branches. Affairs have their end and their beginning. To know what is first and what is last will lead near to what is taught in the Great Learning” (Liji, Da Xue) hits the bullseye in pointing out the fault of the Pharisees as well as the common mistake most people made in a modern competitive commercial society: in order to get results, people cut corners and consequently missing the essential.

Even though Pharisees took Jesus as their enemy, the merciful Lord still taught them patiently because they were “teachers of Israel” (John 3:10). When the Jews could no longer offer sacrifices to God, the Pharisees took up the mission to instruct them how to worship God after the Temple had been destroyed. Even though you find here that Jesus Christ pronounced “Seven Woes” against the Pharisees and the wording was more accusatory than previous discourses, notice that Christ did not pronounce punishment as prophets of the Old Testament did. For example, “I am going to punish them. The young men shall die by sword; their sons and daughters shall die by famine” (Jeremiah 11:22). Jesus Christ only desires that they “Turn back and live!” (Ezekiel 18:32). Even though He seemed to pronounce “punishment” (Matthew 23:33), it applies to everybody and not exclusively to the Pharisees!

Pharisees have become synonymous with “hypocrites”, but their defects lie in a deeper level. Letters of the law are visible but the spirit of the law is less obvious. Letters are dead and are unable to catch up with the evolution of ages but the spirit is live. Once one acquires it, he is able to handle even ever-changing social phenomena with its principle! Regrettably, it is easy to master letters but it takes time to acquire the spirit through immersion. It is easy to measure “tithes of mint and dill and cumin”, but “judgment and mercy and fidelity” are nevertheless vague. So the Pharisees cut corners to get easily visible results and put aside the important and essential life-attitudes (Matthew 23:23)! How could they discharge the duty as “teachers of Israel”? It was appropriate for Jesus to call them “blind guides”! Pharisees could be meticulous in filtering out unclean gnats so that they themselves would not be declared unclean. However, they swallowed camel-size uncleanliness: instead of defending orphans and widows, the Pharisees cheated and exploited them (Mark 12:40). How pitiful it is!

Lord! You are the visible image of the invisible Father. You are our visible Wisdom. We pray that You do not despise our unworthiness. Grant us the wisdom to choose, in this confusing generation, the essential and abandon the secondary so that we may come closer to You. Amen.

---

Picture Credit: creator.nightcafe.studio
《論盡神學》每日神糧