Fools and blind men, which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold?
Jesus explains with stern rebuke the Pharisees’ false and foolish way of thinking: they had placed the holiness of the temple below its gold, forgetting that it is the temple that makes the gold holy, not the gold that makes the temple holy. This word exposes the blindness of materialism, when spiritual values are replaced with what is material. The Pharisees did not understand that worth is not in the material thing, but in the holiness that comes from God. Jesus calls them “fools and blind,” because they saw the outward shine, but did not perceive the presence of God, which truly makes everything holy. This word reminds us that without God’s presence no one and nothing is holy, even if it is made of diamonds, gold, or any other most precious thing.