Matthew 27:6-10: a reflection

6The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It’s not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is the price of blood.” 7They took counsel, and bought the potter’s field with them to bury strangers in. 8Therefore that field has been called “The Field of Blood” to this day. 9Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying, “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him upon whom a price had been set, whom some of the children of Israel priced, 10and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”

After Judas throws down the thirty pieces of silver, the chief priests face a scruple: It's not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is the price of blood. So they carefully buy a field with it instead. Notice the striking hypocrisy: they scruple over the technicality of where blood money may be kept, while having no scruple at all about the innocent blood itself, the murder they had engineered. They strained over a small point of law while swallowing a great evil; careful about the money, careless about the innocent life.

Notice the misplaced scruple: careful about a small technicality, careless about the great wrong. The priests were meticulous about where the blood money could lawfully go; they would not defile the treasury with it. But they had no such scruple about the far greater matter, the innocent blood they had caused to be shed. They strained over the small point while ignoring the great evil; their scruple was misplaced, focused on the technicality while blind to the enormity. It is a striking hypocrisy: meticulous about a small matter, untroubled by a great wrong.

That misplaced scruple is worth taking to heart, for we too can be meticulous about small matters while ignoring great wrongs. We can strain over small points of scruple, careful about technicalities and minor matters, while being careless about far greater wrongs; we can be meticulous about the small and untroubled by the great, as the priests scrupled over the money but not the murder. Do not be meticulous about small matters while ignoring great wrongs; watch that your scruples are not misplaced, focused on the small while blind to the great. Take care that you are not, like the priests, careful about technicalities while untroubled by great evil; give your attention to the weightier matters, not straining over small points while swallowing great wrongs, as the priests scrupled over where the blood money could go but had no scruple about the innocent blood they had shed; for a scruple that is meticulous about the small and careless about the great is a hypocrisy to avoid.

Lord, after Judas throws down the thirty pieces of silver, the chief priests face a scruple: it's not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is the price of blood. So they carefully buy a field with it instead. Notice the striking hypocrisy: they scruple over the technicality of where blood money may be kept, while having no scruple at all about the innocent blood itself, the murder they had engineered. They strained over a small point of law while swallowing a great evil. Show me the misplaced scruple: careful about a small technicality, careless about the great wrong. The priests were meticulous about where the blood money could lawfully go; but they had no such scruple about the far greater matter, the innocent blood they had caused to be shed. They strained over the small point while ignoring the great evil; their scruple was misplaced. Take that to my heart, for I too can be meticulous about small matters while ignoring great wrongs. I can strain over small points of scruple, careful about technicalities, while being careless about far greater wrongs; I can be meticulous about the small and untroubled by the great, as the priests scrupled over the money but not the murder. Keep me from being meticulous about small matters while ignoring great wrongs; help me watch that my scruples are not misplaced, focused on the small while blind to the great. Help me give my attention to the weightier matters, Lord, not straining over small points while swallowing great wrongs.