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Our Responsibility For Others: Law and Gospel
8 Comments | Posted by Lionel Woods in Leviticus, Love, Mark, Mercy, Service
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!
8 Comments for Our Responsibility For Others: Law and Gospel
Javetta | February 17, 2010 at 2:36 pm
chas pike | February 18, 2010 at 10:53 am
i was hoping to hear you speak more of mark and less of matthew this time around, but that’s okay. so we are in mark, are we? a couple of things that strike me about the opening of mark,1) the opening line, “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God”, this opening line gains more weight when balanced with the original intended ending of the book, at 16: 8, where we are left with the empty tomb, and Christ is alive and out there somewhere, the story still being told. 2) peter recognizes Jesus as the messiah in this chapter. we are given the picture of a desperate israel, impoverished, fomenting rebellion, subjugated, awaiting the promised messiah, and peter says to Jesus in 1:27, “…everyone is looking for you” or in other translations, “everyone is expecting you”. 3) this, i think, is very important: the first miracle of the gospel. Jesus performs an exorcism in the synagogue. the author is telling us that the priesthood, the temple, and israel, is corrupted by evil. the first thing he does is send satan out of the church.
this is all i have for today, but even though i am laying low, i will be back.
chas pike | February 19, 2010 at 9:27 am
i have always felt alone as a christian. this forum reinforces that isolation.
Steve Scott | February 22, 2010 at 4:21 am
All,
Well, I’m way behind on my reading, currently at the Feb 1 post. I started school on Jan 26 and picked up today at Jan 29, reading three days worth. I notice from the blog schedule that it seems we’ve all hit some kind of brick wall with the commenting, and jumped ahead to this post to see where people stood. There are only a few posts scheduled the rest of the year.
Are we done? Can this be revived? I was looking forward to doing a few posts, but that won’t happen for at least a few more days as I have some midterms. Is everybody still reading the bible plan every day? Thanks for your input.
Steve Scott | February 22, 2010 at 4:23 am
Chas,
“I have always felt alone as a christian. this forum reinforces that isolation.”
Please pardon me if I’ve missed other things previously from February, but could you elaborate a bit more on this? I have often felt alone as a Christian, too, and I was wondering if we had something in common.
chas pike | February 23, 2010 at 10:32 am
steve, i am unable to engage christians in conversation about the text of the bible. i do not find this in the churches i attend, and i thought that here in the presence of mdiv’s i would be able to ask, and converse about the text. it is easy to reduce everything to Christ, agree, and ignore the particulars. i am discouraged as a christian, and this forum has added to my grief. that is my issue to deal with in my own heart, and i have resolved to live with it and to not further alienate myself by participating in online bible studies. perhaps i expect too much from my fellow christians. without discussion,(read-not merely simple agreement) where is the learning? where is the discovery? where is the life of the text? where is the holy spirit. thank you for asking. i am sorry that you too sometimes feel alone as a christian and i will pray for you. myself, i never feel more alone as a follower of christ than when i am among other christians.
Javetta | February 23, 2010 at 11:00 am
Chas-
If I may, let me just say a few things…
1. In order to enjoy a discussion, learn, teach, or engage over the bible, there does not always have to be a disagreement. There have been times and there will be more times when such things will ensue.
2. The chief purpose of this forum was not to debate/argue over the bible. It is a DEVOTIONAL that is supposed to encourage Christians in the faith, and it is a ploy to get people reading through the bible (as most Christians have never done so). That’s it. There are plenty of other forums that have been created for debating the Scriptures.
3.I am very sorry that you feel alone in your walk, but if that has always been the case maybe you should examine yourself. Maybe you intimidate people. Maybe you haven’t been gentle in your approach. Maybe people have no idea what you are talking about. I know that when I read your comments I am left scratching my head and thinking, “What?” Forgive me if I am not as theologically astute as you, but from the looks of things nobody is because they can’t engage with you.
4. Perhaps maybe you should make a more concerted effort to gently and patiently help people understand your point of view and bear with them and try to understand yours.
chas pike | February 23, 2010 at 8:13 pm
thank you javetta. i agree.
Often times, I think this kind of compassion–biblical, godly compassion–escapes us because we fail to meditate on God’s compassion toward us. We mostly concentrate on the end result (that we are saved. I am very guilty of this, and reading this post has brought that to my attention. This is something to pray about…