I always enjoyed fractions in math class. Halves and thirds and quarters broke units down into understandable chunks. Maybe that’s why when I learned that a tithe in the Bible usually refers to one-tenth it made sense. Laying aside ten percent to give away sounded reasonable.

The tithe sounded judicious to the Pharisees as well. They were extremely good at fractions, setting aside one-tenth of even their spices to check the giving box. But Jesus was not impressed.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

Parsing out ten percent is easy. Encouraging justice, showing mercy, and remaining faithful to the ways of the Lord takes work. People are messy, and it requires humility to get in the dirt with those who need help. Shunting off a bit of my stuff is painless, but helping my neighbor becomes terribly inconvenient.

One reason I give money is so that I can walk away from the need in front of me. Someone else will take my gift and solve the problem, while I go back to football on TV. But Jesus won’t let me off the hook. Tithe, he says, but pay attention to the bigger picture. I need to give, but I also need to notice. Because in the end, being good with fractions misses the point of being good with people.

Matthew 23 in Through the Bible in 2024

Photo by Scott Rodgerson