Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. Matthew 23:23-24
It may not be immediately clear what walnuts and rice have to do with the passage above or the lectureship which begins this morning. However, the illustration of the walnuts and rice speaks to the central place of the sermon on the mount to our understanding, acceptance, and practice of the whole Christian system. This is so because the principles Jesus revealed in this great sermon address the heart of the child of God. This principle applies to the entirety of the gospels as it is the image of Christ into which God seeks to transform us, and it is only in beholding His glory that this may be accomplished (2 Corinthians 3:18). This is not to undermine or minimize the rest of the New Testament, but it is to set us up for the greatest possible success as we progress through the finer details of Christian living revealed therein.
What Jesus demonstrated in His earthly life and taught in His earthly ministry is intended to shape the heart to be able to receive all those finer points of doctrine and practice which we may struggle to embrace and implement. This is where the illustration of the walnuts and rice come into play. The illustration involves three separate jars: one with whole walnuts, one with rice, and one which is empty. The task is to put all the walnuts and rice into the empty jar. The task is difficult though because both jars are nearly filled with their respective elements. If one puts the rice in first, the walnuts will not go into the jar. However, if one puts the walnuts in first, the rice will filter in around the walnuts allowing it all to fit.
The sermon on the mount, as well as Jesus’ other teachings and example, are represented by the walnuts. The finer details of Acts and the epistles are represented by the rice. If we try to fill ourselves and others with the finer teachings of Acts and the epistles without having first digested the big picture teachings of Jesus, we will not be able to fit it all into our hearts. We will become like the Pharisees who, while paying close attention to minute details concerning various behaviors, failed to honor “…the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.” (Matthew 23:13). However, if we first implement the heart of a disciple displayed in the beatitudes (e.g. poor in spirit, meek, hungry and thirsty for righteousness, etc.), alongside the emphasis on the heart of the commandments given as Jesus consistently discussed, when we come to those finer points of doctrine and practice, our hearts have plenty of room to receive and implement them. Put another way, we convert the heart first, and then the mind is ready to accept the rest as we progress in understanding.
This is one of the greatest values of the lectureship this week as we examine these Truths from a Mountain given in the greatest sermon ever preached. May we all open our hearts and pour these fundamental principles in, so that when we come upon that finer principle we may struggle to accept, our hearts will be receptive to the correction it brings. In this way, we will be transformed daily into His image (2 Corinthians 3:18).