People living in LAW law land Episode 1

I've purposely capitalized the first Law, and small capped the other. The reason is, through the next few posts I want to reflect on the difference approach and emphasis that we are to place on God's LAW, and man's law. I hope that will be self evident, but thought I'd better make that clear.

Matthew 12: 1-8 It is the Sabbath. Jesus is on His way to the synagogue (as was His custom –Luke 4:16). He and the boys have been on a whirlwind preaching tour of Israel. It's probably a hot morning and the disciples are likely dog tired and overwhelmed by all they have been experiencing. Their world view is undergoing a complete over-haul. As they follow Jesus, they go along a path through one of the many grain fields that dot the landscape. Inadvertently, they reach out their hands and drag them along the ripe and inviting wheat. Grabbing a few heads of the harvest, they rub the heads together between their hands releasing the seeds from their husks, blow away the chaff and pop the nutty tasting produce into their mouths. Suddenly from the sidelines they hear the shouts of "HA HA – caught you". Now, at first glance it's tough for us to see the big deal here. A simple seemly inconsequential action suddenly becomes a federal case or worse – a God breaking, event. The ironic part is, it started as a good thing. Ex 20:8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, six days you shall labour, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God…therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy". The Sabbath was intended to be a communion and worship time, a time of rest, reflection and weekly restoration of our healing relationship with God. God gave the Sabbath to His children as a gift to ensure that rest and refreshment was possible. But over the course of centuries, increasing debates between religious leaders redefined the definitions of Holy, rest and Sabbath and so that they became a barrier, burden and distraction, away from God. The result was just over the law of the Sabbath, there developed up to 600 different points of law. To the level was eating half an olive was not considered work, where as eating a whole one would certainly be - however, if the man was able to eat the same half an olive twice, would that be considered work, and the answer, yes. If a man collected water from falling rain in a bucket and carried it, that was not work, but, if he collect that same water, but, it was collected from being poured down a wall, that was work. Those interpretations and qualifications of law would change from Rabbi to Rabbi. People were more concerned with what law they might be breaking that would bring them under the condemnation of the system rather than on the freeing moments of reflection on the God who made and loves us.

People were enslaved to the process of 'keeping the law' rather than the ultimate meaning of serving God and ministering to people. Jesus reminded them that even their primary hero King David, 'fudged the law' when it came to serving the needs of people –
his immediate need of hunger with no other resource available trumped the law that the offering showbread was only for God.
Jesus makes this following statement that continues to reverberate throughout the halls of time and creation, "But if you had known what this means, "I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT SACRIFICE, you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath".

A primary LAW of God is compassion. Jesus is not evaporating the necessity of sacrifice – He himself is soon heading to be the sacrificial Lamb of God, in order to bear the sins of all those who are perishing. Obedience and sacrifice is not to abandoned, however, the activity of obedience or sacrifice as ends in themselves are meaningless – and worse, debilitating. Unless our obedience and sacrifice is enveloped by compassion, which places people and their freeing relationships with God and others (in that order) it becomes a barrier rather than a bridge.

Thought: How do I participate in freeing people to realize their potential? Am I expecting that they adhere to the law, or am I willing to remove the barriers that enable others to experience and express God's LAW of the giving and receiving compassion.

Anyway, I was just thinking.

Neil