Tangible and Intangible, Luke 11:42

"But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone."

     This statement is very important; Jesus is pointing out that the Pharisees were hypocritical in that prided themselves on their ability to flawlessly keep every little letter of the law, but yet they neglected to keep the giant, vastly important things of the law, such as righteous judgment and the love of God. They kept the tangible things of the law, yet neglected the spiritual things of the law, those things which are not necessarily tangible to us as human beings.
     But Jesus does not go on to say that they ought to strive to keep the spiritual, intangible aspects of the law as hard as they can, and if they happen to partially or wholly neglect the earthly, tangible aspects that it would be overlooked because they had kept the former. No, Jesus says, "These things you ought to have done without leaving the others undone". To God, the tangible, earthly aspects of the law were just as important as the intangible, spiritual aspects of the law. Those living under the law were to keep both.

     Though we, as Christians under the new covenant, are not bound by the law, it is vitally important that we understand the implications of this passage. We too, even as Christians, can have a tendancy to become legalistic in our thinking and our behavior. We can focus so much on the tangible, earthly aspects of a relationship with Christ that we start to over-emphasize going to church, singing worship songs, etc. People who see this over-emphasis may get the impression that we are saying that unless they do these things they are not saved. But this isn't so. It is by faith alone that we are saved. However, we are not to simply have faith and not act upon that faith. This would be the opposite extreme, to focus so much on the spiritual that you neglect the physical, which in God's eyes, is just as important.
     But it is not by our own efforts that we accomplish the physical, tangible things of faith. Simply, those things come as a natural byproduct of that faith. Thus James tells us that faith without works is dead, that such a faith cannot save you. It is not that it is faith and works that saves, but that it is faith that works that saves you. It is a living hope, an active faith, a love and a relationship that we have with our God and Savior which brings us into His kingdom. To have a supposed faith that does not produce good works (fruit) would be like saying you believe that women should have the right to vote and yet deny by your actions that they should be able to do so. It would be like saying you have an apple tree that produces awesome apples, but yet there is never one apple to be seen. What you call it doesn't make it what it is. It is what it is, and its fruit will be the proof of its identity.

     This life of faith is not a hard one where one must consider all the things they must do in order to prove their faith. In fact, it is simply a loving relationship between God and man, and such love that a person has for God will naturally be displayed by his or her actions. Jesus taught that if we love Him, we will do what He commands. And He has commanded us to love Him, and to love one another. By this all men will know that we are His disciples: That we love one another.