Ok, I've been kind of dragging my feet on this post, mostly because I think I've been looking for a way to explain it away. We tend to do that to any pieces if scripture that we don't like, don't we? We might get angry at Thomas Jefferson because he took a knife to the bible and cut out the parts he didn't like, but at least he was honest enough to do it. So after a couple of weeks of thinking through this particular scripture, I'm going to do my best to not explain anything away, but to just comment on it as I see it.
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear not the smallest letter, nor the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom if heaven." (Matthew 5:17-19 TNIV)
Are you keeping kosher? Do you keep the sabbath? Do you have the Torrah memorized, so that you might be able to try to keep trace of the over 600 commands?
Me either. And according to Jesus, that may be a problem for us.
One of the ways some people explain away this piece of scripture is to say that Jesus is about to update the law, to give us a new way to live. Even if that's what's going on here, I think you are about to see that the law that Jesus is about to hand out is even tougher than the law that came before it. When it comes right down to it, Jesus is teaching us that Disciples cannot just float through their faith or their life.
I don't want to over simplify this, but i want to give us a place to start. I think those of us particularly from the reformed tradition have leaned about as heavily on the concept of grace as we can possibly lean, and that's a good thing. But lets not forget that faith is grace mixed with action. Lets not forget that if our hearts have truly been transformed by Christ's amazing love, then there should be an outward display of our reaction to that love. And we're about to truly see what Jesus believes that reaction should be.
Buckle up!
0 comments:
Post a Comment