ACC ~ Mark 12 v38

WHY BEWARE?

HEGEMONIUS: The Pharisees looked to the “tithing of anise and cummin, and left undone the weightier matters of the law.” [1] While devoting great care to the things which were external, they overlooked those which bore upon salvation of the soul. For they also paid much attention to “greetings in the marketplace,” [2] and to the “uppermost seats at feasts.” [3] To them the Lord Jesus, knowing their perdition, made this declaration: that they attended to those things only which were external, and despised as strange those things which were within, and did not understand that he who made the body made also the soul. THE DISPUTATION WITH MANES 21. [4]

[1] Mt 23:23; Lk 11:42.

[2] Mt 23:6; Mk 12:38; Lk 20:46.

[3] Mt 23:6-7; Mk 12:38-39; Lk 20:46.

[4] PG 10:1462; ANF 6:194*; PG 10, 1429, sometimes attributed to Archelaus. The religious professionals were attentive to outward observances but not those inward things upon which salvation depends.