Tag Archives: Commandments

God’s Norms Not Ours

Eastertide

May 26, 2019

Scripture Reading: John 5:1-9
After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
 Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’ The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk.’ At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.
Now that day was a sabbath.

The title listed for the above scripture in my Bible is Healing on the Sabbath. I think Healing when the Time is Right would be a more fitting title and would get at the heart of the issue, that John is trying to address. The author may be trying to illustrate that Jesus thought the strict observation of the Sabbath could be altered if necessary, to serve a greater purpose. I do not think God provided the guidance of the Commandment as a test to measure our worthiness. The Commandments do serve a purpose in providing common-sense rules to live in relationship with others including with God. It is those loving relationships that are important.

Does it bother you as much as it does me that the man has been ill for 38 years and seems to have had no one offering to help him into the pool? That may be the case, but it also may be the case that begging has become comfortable for him and he is not interested in changing his career. Jesus asked the crucial question, ‘Do you want to be made well?’  The man does not answer the question; he makes an excuse. Jesus healed him anyway.

It is too easy for us to follow well defined rules and not live our love of God, ourselves, or our neighbors. It is easy for us to see not wanting to change our norms in a poor beggar, but we all suffer from the desire to invest ourselves in activities that we can check off and feel comfortable about doing.  What do we accomplished when we are not helping the man because we self-righteously obeyed a rule? Jesus is challenging his followers to accept responsibility for the irresponsible attitudes and actions that can be the byproducts of our ridge application of rules. Racism comes to mind and any of the isms where we perceive ourselves as better than another or that, after years of practicing an ism, it becomes accepted as a normal value.

Prayer: Lord, guide us to separating the norms of our lives we create from the way you modeled life for us. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Love is an Obligation

choose-loveLiving in the Spirit
September 4, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Romans 13:8-14

 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet’; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. —Romans 13:8-10

What is a debt? According to Merriam-Webster*, a debt is a neglect or violation of duty. Think fault, sin, or trespass. This is the meaning that is used in the Lord’s Prayer in some translations. We probably most often think of the word “debt” in association with money or barter. It is something that one person is bound to pay to another or perform for his or her benefit an obligation. A debt is something we owe.

Paul is saying the only thing we owe to anyone is to love them. The bank that holds our mortgages might take umbrage with that statement. Paul would respond that fulfilling an obligation is love. In my book Houses Divided, I spend some time talking about what love is because I think we have love all mixed up with emotions and our lack of understanding about what love is thus becomes a source of division.  If we want the very best for another no matter what the consequences are for us, we love them. Parents demonstrate this everyday as they strive to nurture a child to become self-reliant, knowing full well that at some point that child will leave home and begin a separate life with perhaps children of their own. Jesus demonstrated the fullness of his love for us by going to the cross.

I perhaps hammer on intentionality too much because it is so important. We need to own our own behaviors. The way we don’t commit adultery is to intentionally remember the obligation to our spouse. The way we do not commit murder is to intentionally remember that no matter how angry or hurt or frightened we may be the target of our emotions is also a child of God and we have made an obligation to God to love them as much as we love ourselves. In extreme circumstances, that is the basis of self-defense, but only after all other options for safety have been attempted. The rule of being intentional in our application of love plays out in all the other commandments.

Prayer: Your intentional love of me, O Lord, sustains me and gives me the strength to love intentionally also. Forgive me for the times I fail to love as you would have me love. Amen.

*http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/debt

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.