Joseph T. Sneed - "The Weightier Matters of the Law, Judgment, and Faith" (October 10, 1971)

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	(soft organ music)	0:03
	(choir singing in foreign language)	1:22
-	The scripture lesson for today is taken	6:22
	from Matthew 23rd Chapter Verses 15 through 23.	6:24
	Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites	6:31
	for you traverse sea and land	6:34
	to make a single proselyte,	6:36
	and when he becomes a proselyte,	6:38
	you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.	6:40
	Woe to you, blind guides, who say,	6:45
	"If anyone who swears by the temple, it is nothing,	6:47
	"but if anyone swears by the gold	6:51
	"of the temple, he is bound by his oath.	6:53
	"You blind fools for which is greater?	6:57
	"The gold or the temple	7:00
	"that has made the gold sacred?	7:01
	And you say, "If anyone who swears by the altar	7:04
	"it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift	7:08
	"that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.	7:12
	"You blind men.	7:17
	"For which is greater the gift	7:19
	"or the altar that makes the gift sacred?	7:20
	"So he who swears by the altar swears	7:23
	"by it and by everything on it.	7:26
	"And he who swears by the temple swears by it	7:30
	"and by him who dwells in it.	7:35
	"And he who swears by heaven swears by the throne	7:37
	"of God and by him who sits upon it.	7:40
	"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites	7:44
	"for you tithe, mint and dill	7:48
	"and cummin and have neglected	7:49
	"the weightier matters of the law.	7:52
	"Justice and mercy and faith.	7:54
	"These you ought to have done	7:57
	"without neglecting the others."	7:59
	(organ music)	8:04
	(choir singing in foreign language)	8:11
-	The Lord be with you.	8:46
	(audience chants indistinctly)	8:48
	Let us pray.	8:50
	All mighty God we come before you now	8:58
	to offer our prayers of gratitude.	9:01
	We thank you for our roofs, which do not leak in a rain.	9:05
	We thank you for airplanes, which don't crash.	9:09
	For ships, which never sink.	9:13
	For air to breathe,	9:17
	which really is not polluted.	9:18
	For parents who actually are not hypocrites.	9:21
	For young people who are not irresponsible or unfaithful.	9:25
	For politicians who are not crooks.	9:30
	Although oh Lord, you have taught us	9:34
	to be concerned about corruption on many sides.	9:36
	We rejoice and give you thanks for that great number who	9:40
	have sincerely responded in faith and obedience	9:44
	to the call of Jesus and who daily seek	9:47
	to realize the meaning of His gospel for their lives.	9:50
	We give you thanks for those newsmen who are more interested	9:55
	in printing the truth than they are	9:59
	in being either popular or sensational.	10:01
	We are grateful for laymen who see themselves as ministers	10:05
	and as a part of the mission of the church	10:09
	in a secular world.	10:11
	We thank you for all who witnessed to the truth,	10:14
	to brotherhood, and to justice in their daily vocations.	10:16
	Oh God, for all surprising blessings,	10:22
	for the blessings which come in unexpected guises.	10:26
	For the blessings we thought at first we didn't want.	10:30
	Even for blessings which made us choose	10:35
	a higher way of life.	10:37
	We give you thanks.	10:39
	And now God, we pray for our fellow men	10:43
	because Christ loves them	10:46
	and has asked that we pray for them.	10:48
	We ask grace and strength	10:51
	for all who are persecuted for righteousness sake.	10:53
	We ask love for those who think they are being persecuted,	10:57
	but who are not.	11:01
	We intercede for those who have lost the awareness	11:03
	of your personal existence and daily love.	11:06
	May they be shown the steps	11:10
	which will lead them to discover you as father	11:12
	and to acknowledge Jesus as Lord.	11:15
	We pray for those who understand themselves	11:19
	as being only high-grade animals.	11:21
	That they may come to see their relationship to you	11:24
	and to know that they have an eternal destiny,	11:27
	which gives a new meaning to this earthly existence.	11:30
	We pray for those whose lifestyle is derived entirely from	11:34
	the animal side of their natures,	11:38
	that they may begin to respond also to the side	11:40
	of their selves which makes them members	11:43
	of your divine family.	11:45
	And now oh Lord, as we pray for ourselves,	11:50
	we do so for the same reason we intercede	11:52
	for our fellow men.	11:55
	Jesus loves us and encouraged us	11:57
	to bring our needs to you in prayer.	12:00
	Our needs are numerous.	12:04
	We need your help to keep us from thinking	12:06
	that we can mysteriously harvest the fruits	12:09
	of education without planting the seeds	12:12
	of study and self-discipline.	12:15
	Help us to understand how to sow	12:17
	the seeds which will produce a proper harvest.	12:19
	We need your help in maintaining	12:23
	a proper balance in everything.	12:25
	Give us grace to be childlike without being childish.	12:28
	Give us to be simple without being naive.	12:33
	Enable us to be wise as serpents while remaining	12:37
	as harmless as doves.	12:40
	Give us continually a sense of our dignity and importance	12:44
	as children of God,	12:47
	but keep us from acting like arrogant prima donnas.	12:49
	Keep us from becoming damned fools	12:53
	by mistaking lust for love.	12:56
	Help us to be discerning enough not to be misled	12:59
	into accepting obscurity of thought	13:02
	as a substitute for a profundity of meaning.	13:05
	In everything may we have the spirit of Christ	13:09
	and may we truly make our own the prayer,	13:12
	which he has taught us all to pray saying,	13:14
	"Our father who art in heaven,	13:17
	"hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come.	13:20
	"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.	13:24
	"Give us this day our daily bread	13:28
	"and forgive us our trespasses	13:31
	"as we forgive those who trespass against us	13:33
	"and lead us not into temptation,	13:36
	"but deliver us from evil	13:39
	"for thine is the Kingdom	13:41
	"and the power and the glory forever."	13:42
	Amen.	13:46
	It is indeed an awesome experience for me.	14:10
	The newly appointed Dean of the Duke Law School.	14:16
	A law school and a university whose motto is	14:21
	(speaking in foreign language).	14:25
	To appear in the pulpit of a chapel	14:30
	of this university to deliver the sermon on layman's Sunday.	14:35
	Mixed with this all	14:42
	is a pressing sense	14:45
	of unworthiness because not only	14:47
	am I not what most would call a religious person,	14:52
	but also because as a teacher of tax law,	14:58
	I'm only one step removed from that of a publican.	15:05
	A publican whose inability to love his enemies	15:11
	was used by Christ in his Sermon on the Mount	15:16
	to chide his listeners with a rather invidious comparison.	15:21
	I should add that my sense of unworthiness and awe	15:28
	is not relieved in my case	15:33
	by a willingness on my part	15:36
	to follow the example of that other publican, Zacchaeus,	15:39
	who to gain Christ's favor gave half	15:44
	of his goods to the poor.	15:48
	I'm not about to give half of my goods to the poor	15:51
	and indeed I'm doing well even to measure up to a 10th.	15:54
	I stand before you merely as one who	15:58
	in the discharge of his duties from time to time finds	16:03
	that there is much in the Bible	16:08
	that is very helpful.	16:11
	My purpose then in this sermon	16:14
	is to give some illustrations of this assistance.	16:18
	And the text, as you know,	16:24
	is in the 23rd Chapter of St. Matthew Verse 23,	16:28
	which according to the version I prefer,	16:33
	not the version which was read to you a moment ago,	16:36
	reads woe unto you scribes and Pharisees,	16:40
	hypocrites for ye pay tithe of mint,	16:45
	and anise, and cummin	16:51
	and have omitted the weightier matters	16:53
	of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith.	16:57
	These ought ye have done and not to leave the other undone.	17:03
	Now this indictment of the scribes and Pharisees	17:12
	is but one of the seven charges	17:15
	that Christ made against these representatives	17:18
	of the then religious establishment.	17:21
	In making these charges, Christ was lamenting both	17:25
	the harmful influence of these men on others,	17:29
	as well as their attentiveness to religious details	17:33
	while failing to heed what he describes	17:39
	as the weightier matters.	17:43
	In the preceding chapter of St. Matthew,	17:47
	the Pharisees and the Sadducees	17:50
	that sought my clever questions	17:53
	one of which you may recall was put by a lawyer	17:56
	to entangle Christ in his talk.	18:00
	What they sought were doctrinal contradictions	18:04
	and uncertainties.	18:08
	Things that are near and dear to the heart of all lawyers.	18:10
	But Christ avoided their traps	18:14
	by I might say some rather astute and clever answers.	18:18
	And in this 23rd chapter, he mounts his counter attack.	18:22
	An attack delivered more in sorrow than in anger.	18:27
	The 23rd verse, my text, expresses	18:34
	the substance of his indictments.	18:39
	Christ says the scribes	18:43
	and the Pharisees tithed meticulously	18:44
	offering a 10th of even sprigs of herbs,	18:49
	but neglect the important aspects	18:54
	of law, judgment, mercy, and faith.	18:57
	They are superficial.	19:02
	Form has become more important than substance	19:05
	and they have in short forgotten	19:09
	what they were supposed to do.	19:12
	There is no excuse for this kind of forgetting,	19:16
	although it is a daily failing with most of us.	19:20
	But what of these weightier matters?	19:26
	What is the meaning of law, judgment, mercy, and faith?	19:31
	Is the verse only referring to the truths	19:39
	of the faith served by these scribes and Pharisees	19:41
	or only to the Christian faith?	19:47
	I think not.	19:51
	Moreover at the risk of condemnation	19:53
	by biblical scholars who I'm sure will not	19:55
	be particularly concerned about what I say in any event.	19:59
	I believe these weightier matters provide assistance	20:04
	in understanding many of our daily problems.	20:08
	Not only in life generally but in our academic life.	20:12
	I shall make my points by reference	20:18
	to a single statement appearing	20:20
	in the bulletin of the law school.	20:23
	Now this is pretty dry business.	20:27
	Bulletins of law schools.	20:29
	The statement is as follows.	20:33
	Second and third year students may also take courses	20:35
	offered in other divisions of the university	20:40
	upon the condition that the student	20:44
	is engaged simultaneously in at least 10 semester hours	20:46
	of courses in the law school.	20:52
	Credit limited to a total of six hours toward	20:55
	the JD degree will be granted for those courses	20:57
	where in the judgment of the Dean	21:01
	the courses contributed to the student's education	21:05
	in the law or professional interests.	21:08
	Now what in the world have law, judgment, mercy,	21:12
	and faith to do with this?	21:16
	Well let me commence with law.	21:19
	To me, law refers to the objectives,	21:22
	the purposes revealed and what follows	21:25
	the thou shalt in a command.	21:28
	My bulletin example reflects a desire to permit,	21:33
	not require, enrichment of a student's law school education	21:38
	by taking courses outside the law school.	21:43
	It also reflects something else.	21:47
	Namely the belief that this enrichment should be just	21:50
	that and not a substitute or surrogate for legal education.	21:54
	Hence the limitations on the number of hours	22:01
	that may be taken and the requirement	22:03
	of the consent of the Dean.	22:06
	The weightier matter of law therefore requires all	22:10
	of us to understand the purposes	22:14
	of the rules by which we're governed without regard	22:18
	to whether the rules are imposed by ourselves or others.	22:22
	Of course, some rules are plain nonsense,	22:27
	and some are directed toward very foolish ends.	22:32
	But Pharisaical adherence to all rules	22:37
	or nihilistic refusal to obey	22:42
	any are equally stupid.	22:45
	What is required in all cases	22:50
	is an intelligent analysis to determine	22:54
	the purposes intended to be served	22:57
	by whatever rule is in question.	23:00
	Such analysis is I believe giving proper regard	23:04
	to the weightier matter, the law.	23:10
	Now understanding the purposes	23:14
	of the law often seems easy	23:16
	in the absence of a concrete situation to which	23:20
	it is to be applied.	23:24
	For example, to return to my bulletin illustration,	23:27
	should a law student who wishes	23:32
	to take a course in Greek history	23:35
	be permitted to do so under the rule we're discussing?	23:38
	Does it make any difference whether he has ever taken	23:44
	the course in the law school	23:46
	in jurisprudence or legal history	23:48
	or whether his undergraduate degree was in the classics?	23:52
	Can the entire matter be disposed of	23:57
	by asserting either that Greek history has no application	24:01
	to the rendering of legal services in a modern society,	24:06
	or on the other hand,	24:12
	the assertion that since much of our cultural heritage	24:13
	was derived from the Greeks, a course in Greek history	24:19
	obviously enriches legal education?	24:23
	I don't think either one of those kind	24:27
	of blanket assertions really solves the problem	24:28
	of how to respond to the request to take Greek history.	24:33
	Thus it seems to me what appeared to be	24:38
	a fairly simple, straightforward rule	24:41
	in the bulletin no longer seems so.	24:44
	And as we multiply the hypothetical or real issues,	24:48
	our sense of direction,	24:53
	our sense of attachment to the purpose of the rule,	24:54
	becomes less dependable.	24:58
	And as it becomes less dependable,	25:01
	there is a temptation to cling to absolutes	25:05
	in a formal manner.	25:09
	So to speak to, as the Pharisees did, tied	25:10
	with respect to herbs rather than	25:14
	to work our way through the problem.	25:19
	And in the context of the rule we are discussing,	25:23
	the bulletin rule, the absolutes would be either	25:26
	to ignore the content of the course altogether	25:30
	and accept basket weaving one were it offered and requested,	25:34
	or to insist that the link between	25:39
	the course being substituted for a law course	25:41
	and an ordinary law course be extremely close.	25:45
	As for example, the connection between labor economics	25:49
	on the one hand and labor law on the other.	25:53
	I don't think either one of those absolutes can	25:57
	be relied upon in the administration	26:00
	of this little rule in the bulletin	26:03
	and it is here that we come to the second	26:06
	of the weightier matters, namely judgment.	26:10
	Judgment, as I am using it,	26:15
	refers to the capacity to avoid absolutes	26:18
	and yet remain faithful to the law and its purposes.	26:24
	To know how to fit a specific situation	26:30
	to the purposes of the rule in question.	26:35
	Now let me say that in my view, judgment is a gift.	26:39
	It is not a process necessarily.	26:45
	It is a gift which some possess and some do not.	26:47
	It may be thought of as the ability to perceive justice	26:52
	and indeed in one of the translations	26:57
	of the verse you will notice that	26:58
	the term justice is employed.	27:00
	Now with respect to the Greek history requests,	27:03
	to which I was referring,	27:07
	it seems to me on the basis of what I have told you	27:09
	that we cannot really arrive at a satisfactory answer.	27:14
	We need to know more.	27:19
	We would need to ask additional questions regarding	27:22
	the use to which the student sought	27:26
	to put his knowledge of Greek history.	27:29
	We would have to probe his motives	27:32
	and inquire about the quality of the course	27:36
	that he is planning on taking.	27:39
	And only after all of that,	27:43
	would judgements' pointer become loosened	27:46
	from its absolute lock sufficiently	27:51
	to commence its search or what I would call	27:54
	the pull of justice.	27:58
	Now quite obviously this little simple example makes plain	28:02
	that the matter of judgment imposes large economic costs	28:07
	on a system of law.	28:15
	To act justly in applying the law	28:18
	to a specific case requires a large expenditure	28:21
	of human energy, which could be spent on other matters.	28:28
	Each of us at one time or another	28:34
	has concluded that the act of judgment within	28:37
	a particular context the search for justice, if you will,	28:42
	within that context while simply too costly.	28:47
	Put differently, we have concluded	28:52
	that justice in that situation was simply too expensive.	28:56
	Individual situations we say to ourselves must	29:02
	be governed by general rules.	29:05
	Even when the result frequently	29:08
	is neither in keeping with a spirit of the law	29:11
	nor the wishes of the individual's concern.	29:14
	Only in this way, we say,	29:18
	can other tasks considered	29:20
	more important to be accomplished.	29:22
	Now I don't think Christ's teaching	29:26
	invariably condemns this kind of choice.	29:29
	Indeed not to consider the claims of competing needs.	29:33
	Needs competing with reaching justice in an individual case.	29:39
	Would I suggest be to fail.	29:44
	To heed the weightier matter of judgment	29:47
	in this somewhat expanded setting.	29:50
	What is condemned in all events however,	29:54
	is a refusal to engage in judgment.	29:58
	When this is done,	30:04
	we are guilty and must accept the characterization	30:06
	as that of scribes and Pharisees.	30:13
	We have in that situation omitted a weightier matter.	30:17
	But even if we understand that law	30:26
	and its purposes, and even if we possess	30:32
	the gift of judgment,	30:37
	this is not enough.	30:40
	Christ speaks of mercy.	30:43
	And in doing so	30:47
	once more He demands more	30:50
	than most of us can give.	30:55
	Almost angrily we cry out law	30:59
	and judgment yes, but mercy no.	31:03
	That is too much.	31:08
	So one might feel when a student, for example,	31:11
	toward the close of his third year in law school turned up	31:14
	with six hours in Sanskrit	31:19
	for which he had failed to obtain any consent to take.	31:22
	And which at this late hour	31:26
	he sought to have applied to his degree in law.	31:28
	Now neither law nor judgment dictates	31:32
	an ascent to this request.	31:36
	The student neither chose his course wisely,	31:39
	nor did he read his bulletin at all.	31:43
	And after all, we say,	31:47
	lawyers should be able to read	31:49
	and understand fairly straightforward rules.	31:52
	And moreover, a refusal of this request	31:56
	would probably not contribute to any	32:00
	development of outrage on the part	32:06
	of a portion of the student body.	32:09
	And it would help probably in the strengthening	32:11
	of the administration of the rule.	32:14
	So what makes mercy necessary?	32:17
	I'm not sure.	32:22
	A Christian answers because Christ our Lord asks him	32:24
	and for others, the answer is not so clear.	32:29
	But I believe all of us recognize	32:34
	that those upon whom even just burdens fall	32:38
	have a right to expect	32:43
	that their call for mercy often will lead	32:46
	to the easing of that even just load.	32:50
	It is not that they deserve it.	32:55
	It is that a merciful response	32:58
	is necessary to preserve and strengthen our own belief	33:02
	in our capacity to transcend ourselves.	33:09
	In this way, truly do the merciful receive mercy.	33:16
	Nonetheless mercy is an excruciatingly difficult demand.	33:24
	Must every plea for mercy be granted?	33:30
	Are only those which are argued well?	33:34
	Are only those from the most inept and downtrodden?	33:39
	I cannot say.	33:45
	Save only that the latter probably have the best claim.	33:47
	Nor can the merciful accept gratitude	33:55
	or expect gratitude.	33:59
	Very perplexing to the merciful always	34:03
	is the tendency of the recipient of mercy	34:05
	to regard his good fortune as a matter of right.	34:08
	To regard one might say his treatment	34:12
	as the result of judgment rather than mercy.	34:16
	But the heart cannot harden.	34:21
	Mercy is indeed a weighty matter.	34:25
	In fact, it is only by the strength of faith,	34:30
	the last of the weightier matters,	34:34
	that the springs of mercy can be kept flowing.	34:37
	By this I mean that only with a belief in the necessity	34:41
	of mercy can one tolerate	34:45
	the recipient of mercy who insists he receive not one	34:49
	bit more than he was entitled to as a matter of right.	34:53
	But faith, of course, plays an even larger role.	34:58
	To return to my bulletin example.	35:03
	Only a belief in the soundness and good sense	35:06
	of the rule can sustain the effort	35:11
	that judgment and mercy demand in its application.	35:14
	Without faith of this sort,	35:19
	the hearing of petitions makes no sense.	35:22
	And if an institution insists upon the maintenance	35:26
	of a senseless rule, adherence to it neither can	35:28
	be nor should be expected.	35:33
	In essence, it must be said that faith	35:38
	in the meaningfulness of the human endeavor	35:42
	is necessary for there	35:47
	to be law, judgment, and mercy.	35:50
	At this point, I can lead you no further.	35:57
	What makes the human endeavor meaningful?	36:01
	Is there a larger order	36:05
	into which my little bulletin rule neatly fits?	36:07
	Is there a larger order in which our total life fits?	36:12
	I think so but there are doubts	36:17
	and perhaps more importantly	36:22
	there are doubts about our doubts.	36:24
	In the end, it seems to me,	36:30
	we must both believe in a larger order	36:34
	and accept our human condition.	36:38
	There is no other choice.	36:43
	If there is a larger order, our faith is justified.	36:47
	And if there is not,	36:54
	our faith makes our hapless plight more tolerable.	36:56
	It seems to me we're in the position	37:05
	of the colonial legislator	37:10
	in the pre-revolutionary period	37:14
	in a story that is attributed to Alistair Cooke,	37:18
	but I'm sure he got it from somewhere	37:23
	and one with which you're probably familiar,	37:26
	but it is nonetheless a beautiful story.	37:29
	The story is that the legislators of this particular colony	37:34
	were meeting in the afternoon	37:40
	in their assembly hall and unknown	37:43
	to them an eclipse was scheduled for the afternoon.	37:47
	And as the day became darker and darker,	37:53
	some knelt and wailed that the end	37:59
	of the world was coming	38:02
	and pleaded with God for salvation and forgiveness.	38:05
	And there was in biblical terms weeping,	38:11
	and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.	38:13
	And finally from one corner of the room came	38:17
	a clear voice and said,	38:21
	"Gentlemen, let's consider our plight.	38:23
	"If the end of the world is not coming,	38:29
	"we should go about our duties.	38:33
	"And if the end of the world is coming,	38:37
	"then let the Lord find us doing	38:40
	"the duty that he had assigned to us.	38:43
	"Let there be light and let us do our duty."	38:49
	And so let our faith be our light.	38:55
	Only with it can we see our way	39:01
	to treat properly the weightier matters	39:07
	of law, and judgment, and mercy.	39:12
	Amen.	39:16
	(organ music)	39:35
	(choir sings in foreign language)	40:06
	(gentle organ music)	42:05
	(choir sings in foreign language)	44:33
-	Oh Lord, here we present our money	48:40
	and ourselves dedicating each through	48:43
	the extension of judgment, mercy,	48:47
	and faith throughout the earth.	48:49
	Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with us all.	48:54
	(choir singing in foreign language)	49:05
	(bell chimes)	51:06
	(uplifting organ music)	51:27

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Joseph T. Sneed - "The Weightier Matters of the Law, Judgment, and Faith" (October 10, 1971)

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4v69dd14

Date:

October 10, 1971

Speaker:

Sneed, Joseph T.

Contributor:

Duke University. Chapel

Identifier:

UA.17.01.0003 RR-0592
ref6387_fby
uachapelsermaud
duke:627886
dcrau002579
ark:/87924/r4v69dd14
f83f318e-a712-4eba-ad9e-122b4a399e53

Digital Collection:

Duke Chapel Recordings

Source Collection:

Duke University Chapel recordings

Related Resources:

See below

Language:

English

Location:

United States
North Carolina
Durham (N.C.)

Format:

Provenance:

The Duke University Chapel Recordings were transferred to the Duke University Archives beginning in 1970.

Rights:

No Re-Use

In Copyright

Rights Note:

This material is made available for research, scholarship, and private study. Copyright in this material has not been transferred to Duke University. For reuses of this material beyond those permitted by fair use or otherwise allowed under the Copyright Act, please see our page on copyright and citations: https://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/research/citations-and-permissions.

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Joseph T. Sneed - "The Weightier Matters of the Law, Judgment, and Faith" (October 10, 1971)

Transcript

Item Info

Related Item

Duke University Archives