jesus - the counter-example

In a climate where some are clanging about to justify their hardness as they bring others under the law, John Michael Talbot brings this wonderful reminder. I will quote it in its entirety. Today's patterns and Satans traps are not new.

Luke 6:6-11

Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or evil? To preserve life -- or destroy it? v. 9

In this Gospel reading, Jesus cuts to the heart of the question of religious law and tradition.

OPEN THE DOOR TO GOD'S KINGDOM

Often our laws and traditions start out doing good, but end by being so burdensome they prevent us from doing good. This often happens with church law and can also happen with the laws and traditions of local communities. It happened with the Pharisees. They began as a reform group - a group to fight laxity and indifference. And so they made laws dealing with every aspect of life, telling people the right way to follow God.

They added line upon line, and precept upon precept. What they ended with was a legal system so complex and externally demanding that it began to choke people’s hearts and spirits so that no one could follow the law, causing Jesus to say of them, "You shut the doors of the Kingdom of God in men’s faces, neither entering in yourselves nor admitting those who are trying to enter." (Mt 23:13) Today, we need to ask ourselves, "Do we open or close the door to God's Kingdom?"

Jesus told the man with the withered hand to "get up and stand here in front." He knew the thoughts of the Jewish leaders and that he was upsetting their religious system of human tradition and laws, yet he acted boldly and without fear. He challenged them (and us) to move beyond human traditions and laws and open the door to the kingdom of God to the whole world. He set a strong counter-example of right against their wrong.

WE MUST BRING HEALING TO OUR WORLD

We must now do the same. We must boldly and openly move beyond our mere external observances and set a spiritual counter-example, willing to bring healing even when the scribes and Pharisees of our world are offended and plot to try and silence us. It is a matter of right and wrong. It is a matter of life and death.