At one point, Jesus and his buddies go through a grainfield and pick themselves a little lunch. The Pharisees, predictably, were outraged. They were outraged because Jesus & company did this on a Sabbath; their actions were fine six days of the week, but not ok on the Sabbath. Now, I'm not sure what impoverished hungry people were supposed to do on the Sabbath if they weren't allowed to glean then, but that's another issue. Jesus, predictably, had a good answer for the Pharisees' criticism, pointing out that the Sabbath was made to benefit people and that He himself ruled the Sabbath.
I typically nod my head at this point, thinking about how legalistic the poor Pharisees were and how wise Jesus was and I move on. But the other day, I sat and thought about it. It almost seems like Jesus is saying that sometimes it's ok to break lesser rules in order to follow greater rules. But I don't think that's quite the point. And then I thought about how we treat cancer. Normally, if a doctor decided to inject me with radioactive chemicals capable of destroying my kidneys within hours, and continued this treatment until all my hair fell out and I lost tons of weight because I couldn't keep any food down, I would condemn the doctor and ask him if he'd ever heard of the Hippocratic oath. But if I had cancer and the treatment killed the cancer, I would be eternally grateful to the doctor. In normal situations, doctors try to "do no harm." But at times, in order to preserve life they must take action which seems to destroy it.
This is why we can't let ourselves be tricked into following a set of rules and think it's a genuine spiritual life. Rules conflict. Rules don't apply. Rules can keep us from the greater good. Jesus conveyed that message over and over. And I'm not trying to say we just throw all codes of conduct out the window here. Jesus and company were hungry - they needed food more than rest. When you have cancer, you're in an extreme situation. That's why it's about relationship, not rules.
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4 comments:
You know, my prof told us this week that Jesus actually was a Pharisee, a teacher of the law, and that this is a development among theologians that has only been recognized in the past twenty years, but an idea that is not recognized among churches? Do you know anything about that?
Interesting that anyone would consider Jesus to be a Pharisee, considering that He was constantly in battle with them. But even if they had been His "roots," He certainly rejected their attitudes and behavior. So I have to question the professor's belief and agenda.
I haven't heard that particular theory, but I would be interested in hearing what documentary evidence it's based on.
Pulling back a little, though, I have to say that it wouldn't make much of a difference to me if Jesus were a Pharisee. And I think that's the key question: what impact does it have on my pursuit of God/Jesus/Holy Spirit? Because even if Jesus was a Pharisee, or an Essence, or a Zealot, He was also God. And He offers all of us the gift of the Holy Spirit so that we might do things that are even greater than His deeds.
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