Our reading today has us continuing through the Law of Moses and how Israelites are to behave. This move beyond what the Israelites were to do vertically to what they are now to do horizontally. God gave them strict laws on how to treat one another, and especially the poor. It is funny that even then, God was letting us know that the poor will always be among us. Things happen, people make all the right decisions and things go wrong. We have a common misconception that hard work and discipline pays off; however, many poor people were both and tragedy struck in a way that crippled them financially and socially. We have the “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” mentality. This mentality is fine for those who have not tasted the sweet nectar of grace known as salvation, but it is a travesty of love for Christians to have such a mentality.

God gave the Israelites one another and if a man was found in need there was a certain response. Now this is Law; however, look at what YAHWEH appeals to. It is because what He had done for them in their deliverance from oppression that He appeals to. He appeals to His grace and kindness to get them to understand how they are to relate to one another. This is a gospel picture my friends.

We then see Jesus casting out demons, healing the sick, and touching the leper. Touching a leper is a post in and of itself, but needless to say, lepers were social outcasts and for Jesus the holy one to go and touch Him, shows us the real heart of God even in the Law.

Let me explain something here. COMPASSION is the mark of the believer, it is a defining factor that we have been born from above. Studying the bible, memorizing scripture, going to seminary, reading the latest great books, speaking in theological language, sharing the Gospel and even being a good family are good things, but compassion is a great thing. He says this in Matthew 12

12:1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.” 3 He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? 6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

Our Lord is compassionate towards the have nots, shoot, you and I were have nots. God didn’t save us because of ourselves. He didn’t save us because he “peeked down into the corridor of times and saw us choosing Him”. That position is the foundation for haughtiness. We were dirt, trash, filthy rags, good for nothing but the furnace! However just like He told Israel, it wasn’t because of something they had done, it was because He loved them.

We weren’t good people needing a nudge, a boost of some sort, we were hell bound and needing saving completely and that is why we are to be compassionate, we above all the world have experienced this compassion and we are to express this compassionate God to a cold and dead world!

Jesus touched the leper, feed the poor, restored sight to the blind, touched the prostitute, gave strength to the lame, casted demons out of the possessed, ate with sinners and tax collectors, raised the dead, loved the outcast and unclean, He took on the role of being responsible for others. We see this in Leviticus where God demands such a response and we see this in the life of Jesus flushed out (the Israelites didn’t follow this law, just read in later OT books). He has now given us this responsibility and there are NO CONDITIONS, Jesus knew some of the people were probably responsible for their condition and He extended them grace, we have no excuse to do anything otherwise!

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January 30, 2010 Daily Reading

After the children of Israel refused to listen to God for themselves and asked Moses to serve as a mediator, God began to give them rules and regulations for living as a unique kingdom among the kingdom of the world. These rules cover everything from how to treat animals to how to treat other people. They were told how to approach God and how to stay away from other gods.

But, in the midst of the rules and regulations, we get a glimpse of what could have been, as God dines with Moses, Aaron, Aaron’s sons, and 70 other leaders from among the children of Israel. (Exodus 24:9-11) In the midst of exclamations of God’s holiness and the people’s sin, God make himself known in a person way and to serve a meal to some of those sinners… “and he did not lay his hand” on them.

God had every right to stay away from them… to not allow them in his presence. He had every right to destroy them. They deserved to be punished for their sin… for their grumbling… for their complaining… for their lack of faith. But, instead of punishing them, God chose to serve them dinner.

Could this be a glimpse of how God desires to relate to people? Unfortunately, these people had rejected God and refused to know him personally. (Exodus 20:18-19)

As we turn to Matthew, we remember that God has now come to man… not in lightning and thunder and smoke and fire, but in meekness… in the form of a servant. (Philippians 2:5-11) Jesus never lost sight of who he was or what is purpose was. And, so, he once again reminds his followers that he would suffer, die, be buried, and rise again.

And how do his followers respond? The began seek power and position for themselves. Still thinking that Jesus would be an earthly king, James and John’s mother asked Jesus if her sons could rule with him.

In response, Jesus tried once again to teach them about his “upside down” kingdom. “Do you want to be leaders?” Jesus asked, “Then serve one another.”(Matthew 20:25-28)

Did Jesus mean that leadership is a new type of service… a super-service? No. Jesus meant that servants are the real leaders, and those who follow will be serving right alongside of them. Or, to put it another way, do you want to know who to follow? Jesus would say to follow those who serve.

Jesus demonstrated exactly what he meant. As he was walking along the road, he stopped to serve two blind men… two blind men who had nothing to offer him in return.

God continues to serve others… and calls us to serve others along with him.

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Today’s reading led me to focus on our New Testament reading. Jesus had crossed over and is now in a port town on the northwest side of the Sea of Gailee. Immediately the people recognize Him and they went throughout the town calling people and bringing them to Jesus so that he may heal them. So much so that even touching a piece of His clothing lead to healing.

But even in the midst of this religious tradition took over. As people are being healed and made well. A little side bar here. We have to understand exactly what healing does. It isn’t simply that people get there limbs back functioning or their eyes opened, or even the flow of blood stopping, or grow back limbs. To be crippled and sick made you an outcast in Israel. You were ceremonially unclean and for the most part the people would believe either “you sinned or your parents”. Other than that if you are obeying the Law of God you should be healthy and prosperous. These paralytics, mute, blind and sick individuals were social outcast. They had nowhere to go, their families often left them, they were unable to work, unable to have families and were left to beg in the city streets. The religious leaders of their day would outright ignore them, thus the apathy that clouds the mind of the pharisees in this section of scripture. How often today are we the same way? But…

So, as many were healed that day, here comes the religous leaders. Instead of giving praise to God, instead of recognizing bones being set straight and families restored and social outcast now being reconciled to their communities, they ask “why don’t your disciples follow tradition”.

Jesus’ response is hilarious. He asks “why do you break the COMMANDMENTS of God”. You see their tradition had so clouded their minds that they believed that their tradition had greater authority than God’s word! And often times today our tradition have more authority than God’s word. Our tradition of what we should watch, or what we should wear, or how we should educate our children, or where we should go to “church” or make-up, or dating or…… you see, Christ has given us a NEW COMMANDMENT. That commandment is “love one another”.

But like the religious leaders our tradition usurps the authority of God’s commandment even to the fact that when we see people accepting the social outcast of our days, and loving the unlovable, and receiving the unreceivable we look and say “how can they do that, don’t they understand our tradition”?

Religious tradition and heritage can be healthy, it just has to be put in the right perspective. God’s word is authoritative, not our traditions. And whenever our tradition usurps the authority of God’s word we should repent and put our traditions in check. This goes for all of us. Lets not be too quick to make our traditions God’s word and ignore the work and power of God in the lives of others, regardless of how “unorthodox” it looks to our tradition. We may end up missing an opportunity to see Jesus working, much like the religious leaders did in Gennesaret.

Healing, Religion, Tradition