Keeping the big rocks as our priorities
Matthew 23:23-26
Jesus said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you
hypocrites. You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the
weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity. But these you
should have done, without neglecting the others. Blind guides, who strain out
the gnat and swallow the camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you
hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full
of plunder and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the
cup, so that the outside also may be clean.”
Have you ever heard this phrase,
“Majoring in the minors”? Even if you
don’t know much about baseball, you can guess it probably means “don’t make
small things into big things,” or “keep your priorities straight.” Stephen Covey, who wrote, “The Seven Habits
of Highly Effective People,” uses an illustration of teach this lesson. A teacher stood in front of his class and
pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouthed mason jar. He first filled it will a dozen fist-sized
rocks and asked his students, “Is the jar full?” Everyone answered, “Yes!” He said, “Really?” Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the
jar causing the gravel to settle between the rocks and asked, “Is the jar
full?” One student was catching on, and
said, “Probably not!” The teacher
answered, “Good!” Then he poured a bag
of sand into the jar which filled the spaces between the rocks and gravel, and
asked again, “Is the jar full?” The
students shouted in unison: “NO!”
“Right,” replied the teacher, who next slowly poured a pitcher of water
also into the mason jar. The teacher
asked, “What’s the point of the experiment?”
One student said, “You can always cram more things into your life!” “Wrong,” said the teacher, “the lesson is if
you don’t put the big rocks in first, but rather the sand and the water, you’ll
never fit the big rocks in.” Putting in
the small things first, the sand and the water, is called majoring in the
minors.
In the gospel today, Jesus tries to
teach the Pharisees the same lesson. He
says, “You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin and have neglected the
weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity.” In other words, you have filled the mason jar
of your life with the gravel and sand of minute rules and regulations, and left
out the big rocks of love, mercy and justice.
You see, because the Pharisees were majoring in the minors, they would
never make it to the Big Leagues!
So, let me ask you: are you
majoring in the minors? But what are the
majors? Here’s my personal list of
majors, what I call the “Three F’s” – faith, family and friends. This is the only time in life when it’s good
to make 3 F’s! If you looked at each day
as a mason jar, what do you fill it up with?
Make sure first to fit in the big rocks of faith (prayer, reading
Scripture, Mass) family (supper at home, talking to your parents, calling your
siblings) and friends (keeping in touch, helping those in need, “a friend in
need is a friend indeed!”). AFTER you
fit in those big rocks, you can fill your day with the sand and gravel of
watching Duck Dynasty, playing Candy Crush Saga (don’t send me invitations!),
and posting your "world's cutest child pix” on Facebook. Unfortunately, though, many of us prefer to
major in the minors, and neglect the big rocks of faith, family and friends.
Folks, all
our mason jars are crammed full. The
only question is: what are they filled with?
Praised be Jesus Christ!
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