Jim Melnyk: “The Law of Relationship”
Once upon a time
there was this guy who could be a real troublemaker. It seems he was always a cause of disruption
wherever he went – in fact his mother probably nick-named him “Trouble” when he
was a kid. The people in charge who kept
watch over him were at times confused.
At other times they were angry.
Sometimes they were just jealous of this guy’s popularity. They were often awestruck by his words and
his actions – and anxious about his charisma.
He couldn’t – or
wouldn’t – be told what to do or what to say.
He was his own person, and that just flat-out offended some. If those in charge were to say “red,” there
was a good chance he would say “blue.”
If they said “up,” he would say “down.”
And when they said “no,” he would most likely say “Yes!” – Sometimes rather
emphatically. At times he could be the
proverbial pain in the lower back.
Sometimes it seemed
like this guy had personal distain for anything traditional – he would shake
his head when friends said, “But, we’ve always done it that way.” And it seemed like he had absolutely no
concern over matters of national security – endangering those around him with
his words and deeds. The community
leaders realized this guy was a clear and present danger – not just to their
authority, but to the community and even the nation.
Why couldn’t this
guy just behave himself and toe the party line?
What was it with Jesus that made him seem so contrary to conventional
wisdom?
Let’s face it –
Jesus as we experience him in the gospels isn’t someone to shy away from a good
argument. In fact, a good bit of his
ministry is surrounded by in-house debates with various religious and political
leaders. The debates with many of the
Pharisees, though often barbed, are debates among equals – with sincere
religious beliefs involved by all. And
Jesus is the one who tends to get in most of the verbal digs – like when he calls
his detractors things like hypocrites and white-washed tombs, or when he
jokingly asks teachers of the Law, “Haven’t you ever read the Scriptures?”
To be sure, a lot of
their arguments or debates center on how the Torah – the teachings – of Judaism
are to be understood and lived. However,
we must remember that neither Jesus nor the Pharisees understand Torah to be
relative or whimsical in nature – something to be followed if we feel up to it,
or obeyed when it suits us and ignored when not. Both Jesus and the Pharisees see the Law –
see Torah – as foundational to their relationship with God – a way of
faithfully responding to the God who creates and redeems Israel and the
world. Both Jesus and the Pharisees
follow a tradition of interpreting what has been handed down through the ages –
seeking an understanding of the ancient teachings in the midst of their
everyday lives.
And so we come to
understand – to know – through Jesus and yes, even through the Pharisees once
we move beyond the sniping at them that takes place in parts of the gospels, we
come to understand that while the Law is not meant to be relative – changing in
every circumstance – the Law is meant to be relational. Torah is meant to be a way of honoring God
and honoring one another as God’s people.
It is never designed to weigh down, or break down and destroy, the very
people God both created and gifted with Torah in the first place. First and foremost Torah – and for
Christians, the Gospel – calls us into right relationship with one another and
with God. We see Jesus embracing Torah –
not one consonant or vowel will be removed Jesus tells us.
And so we find
ourselves caught in a tension here. On
the one hand we can’t pick and choose which parts of Torah – which verses of
Scripture we will follow and which we won’t – and yet here is Jesus, telling
his detractors not to get bent out of shape over his disciples not following
the letter of Law. What do we do with
that, troublemaker Jesus?
Long before Jesus
ever comes on the scene wise teachers of Torah understood there is a deeper
level of meaning – a deeper truth, we might say – to the precise letter of the
Law. Undergirding all of the Law –
undergirding all of Torah – undergirding all of Creation, for that matter, is
the grace – the favor – of God. God
creates a world because God chooses to, not because God is compelled to do so –
and that is grace. God creates human
beings in God’s own image – simply because God chooses to – not because God is
compelled to do so – and that is grace.
And God constantly woos humanity, trying to win our hearts – as Julian
of Norwich says, out of love – and that too, is grace. So don’t ever let anyone tell you there is no
grace in the Old Testament!
It is by the grace of God that we
are created and have our being. It is
grace which calls our hearts to God, and grace which opens our hearts to
God. By grace God called Israel out of
slavery in Egypt. Grace gave Israel the
Law as a way of living in faithful relationship with God. Grace called the prophets and placed God’s
words in their mouths. It was the grace
and love of God that became incarnate – the Word became flesh and dwelled among
us. Human beings tend to forget all
that, and need to be reminded. “It's
a good thing that God is still a God of covenant—taking the initiative, choosing,
guiding and forgiving” (Heidi Husted, Synthesis Today, 8/19/2015).
Jesus knows his faith tradition – he is conversant
with the Scriptures of his day. He
recalls the psalm attributed to King David during one of the most painful
moments of David’s life: “Had
you desired it, [God,] I would have offered sacrifice, but you take no delight
in burnt-offerings. The sacrifice of God
is a troubled spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise”
(Psalm 51:17-18, BCP). We know Jesus has
participated in the sacrificial liturgies of the Temple throughout his life. We know the Temple is an important focus in
his life – he shows up there a lot. Jesus
understands – knows – that it’s what undergirds one’s Torah observance that
makes it a right sacrifice to God. Torah observance, without the relationship it
is meant to nurture –without our openness to God’s grace, becomes empty; just as
our Christianity, when we fail to follow the teachings of Jesus – when we fail
to see the boundless scope of God’s grace – becomes empty as well.
Our lectionary framers skipped an important
part of Mark’s gospel in today’s reading and we miss out on a commentary about
how our traditions can get in the way of our relationships – how we can get so
focused on doing one thing that is right, that we miss doing something even
more important. Jesus talks about an interpretation of the tradition allowing a
person to designate money they would have used to care for parents as an
offering to God – a holy loophole of sorts – thereby ignoring the commandment
to honor one’s father and mother.
Jesus is saying, “How can we truly love God
when we turn our backs on the very people God has called us to love?” Jesus and many of the Pharisees, both,
understood that there are weightier matters of the Law – that sometimes one
teaching gets put aside for another – that worship of God loses its direction
when we fail to love each other – when we fail to love as Christ loves us –
when we fail to mirror the boundless grace of God.
We know that further along in all three of
the synoptic gospels – in Matthew, Mark, and Luke – Jesus, when challenged to
name the greatest of all the commandments, responded with two: “Love the Lord
your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with
all your strength,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The two are tied together and cannot be
separated – they are two sides of a single coin. Our love for God drives our love for our
neighbor, and our love for our neighbor is the tangible expression of our love
for God. As the author of James writes, “…be
doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.”
I saw a bumper sticker the other day that
carried words often wrongly attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. “Preach the Gospel – if necessary, use words.” While Francis may not have actually said
those words, he certainly taught them.
Our lives should be a teaching about the love of God for this world that
speaks out louder than any words we could shout. And who knows – as we live out the gospels in
our lives we might just get called troublemakers – choosing to be faithful to
the teachings of Jesus. But then, if so,
we would certainly be in good company.
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