This morning, and for the past several mornings, I have been reflecting on the following verses from Matthew 12:1-14 NIV:
[1] "At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. [2] When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
[3] He answered, “Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? [4] He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread---which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. [5] Or haven't you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? [6] I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. [7] If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent. [8] For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
[9] Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, [10] and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
[11] He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? [12] How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
[13] Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. [14] But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus."
In my mind, these two stories seem to illustrate the conflict Jesus had with the religious spirit that afflicted most of the Pharisees at that time. Basically religion always wants to replace worship with works, relationship with rules, and mercy and compassion with judgment. Jesus was specifically addressing the issue of religion in both stories repeated in these verses.
We see that both situations involved the definition of what was allowable on the sabbath, gathering grain or harvesting in the first, and healing in the second. The basic rule was that no work could be done on the Sabbath, and specifically no work that resembled creating, for God rested on the seventh day from creating. The Law, and the commentary on the Law (Talmud), was pretty specific in what was allowed and what wasn't but it also set the guidelines for applying it to one's life.
In both of these cases the religious observance was taking priority over the greater good (feeding the hungry and healing the lame) and this was one of the things that Jesus was correcting. The sabbath was meant as a time to rest and be aware of God's provision and blessing and interaction with them as a people. Instead, the people were focused on what they couldn't do, rather than focusing on God's goodness. If they had been focused on God's goodness, they would have recognized that the Messiah, the promised anointed one, was standing right in front of them, but instead they were focused on the letter of the Law.
It is interesting how we in general, as humans, respond to rules and regulations, or in this case, the Covenant of the Law. We tend to quickly forget about the real reason things are put in place, and focus on the keeping of the rule, regulation or the law. In doing so, we quickly lose our ability to embrace the underlying spirit or mentality that was meant to be the outcome or purpose in the first place. In the case of the Covenant of the Law, the whole of it can be wrapped into two simple statements or commands according to Jesus - 'Love God and Love your neighbors' (Matt 22:37-40). In fact Jesus said, "All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Mt 22:40), Both of these situations, from the verses above, are not that hard to understand and accept if your focus is on the positive relational purpose of Loving God and neighbor, but when focused on the minutiae of the specific laws, the purpose gets lost. The old saying, 'you can't see the forest, because of the trees' is directly applicable here.
Thus, in addition to showing people the Father, revealing His heart and words, Jesus was also working to bring people back to the original purposes of the Law and Covenants. Jesus was challenging their thinking and their actions, desiring true repentance for them. He was wanting them to be become aware of their need to change the way they thought and acted, but apparently most of the Pharisees were disinclined to change, instead focusing their belief that He was breaking the Covenant of the Law.
I can see the judgment of religion at work here. Judgment is so easy to embrace, especially when coupled with pride, especially spiritual pride. As one whose sole focus is keeping the letter of the law, anyone who doesn't do things the way your think they should is immediately judged wrong, or even a sinner! Once that judgment is made, all of their other motivations and actions are suspect, and they are assigned the lesser position of sinner and law-breaker, and thus not really worthy of your attention, or relationship. It is an ugly thing.
In summary, Jesus is putting His finger on something that is important for me to consider, my motivation. Am I motivated by love and desire for relationship? Am I focused on loving God and Loving my neighbor, or am I focused on keeping the rules? Do I go to church because of my relationship with God, or out of duty? Is my underlying motive to check off a list of tasks and rules of am I desirous of a real and personal relationship with the Lord? Am I quick to judge people, comparing them to my own idea of how they should act?
Lord, I pray that You will help me to see the grander purpose and embrace it! Help me to focus on loving You and my neighbors! Help me to recognize any area I need to change, so that I might effectively grow and mature.
No comments:
Post a Comment