So What Am I To Do?
Seems like Jesus was constantly getting under the skin of the religious crowd of his day. He didn’t just upset the apple cart, he gave away the apples. But I have to think that we lose some of the impact of the conflicts simply due to not living in those times.
Reading the Bible can be a challenge. It’s hard to cast our modern mind back into the times and ethos of Jesus’ days to make sense of some of what we read. A good example is understanding what the point was of all the laws the Jews who wanted to do stuff just right had to follow.
When I have read through the Bible, the OT books of the Law seem to pile on more and more detail in an attempt to answer the question, “So, what all am I supposed to be doing?” That translates into more and more laws to follow with the goal of earning God’s smile. But the load carries with it plenty of downside.
Every faith-based person wants to live right, but what are they supposed to do?
Scott Johanningsmeier in a book called Jesus Was, likens the burden of the Law to when his eldest daughter entered into kindergarten. She was a rule-follower and earnestly wanted to know ALL the rules so as not to step out of line. In short, the little girl was scared of messing up and getting into trouble. Here is what he writes…
So I did what a father does. I told her, “There are really only two rules you need to follow. The first is to listen to your teacher and do what she asks you to do. The second rule is to be nice to the other kids. If you do these two, then you will be fine, and you will not break any of the school rules.”
That sounds a lot like Jesus when he distilled the over 600 laws down to two. He was tested by a Bible expert what was the greatest commandment, and, instead of just one, he laid out his top two:
Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
What am I supposed to do? Love God and love people.
Johanningsmeier continues,
The intimidation my daughter felt at hearing the school rules is something we all feel, especially when it comes to obeying the commandments. There are a lot of commandments in the Bible. Have you read them? Even if you tried, you would find yourself getting bored and confused. My daughter’s teacher understood the rules and could give her instructions to follow.
The religious teachers of Jesus’s day knew the commandments and likewise gave instructions on how to follow them. But even that became confusing. As the religious leaders worked to help people understand and follow the commandments, they eventually had a system with 613 laws. They came to this number because they found 613 laws in the Pentateuch, the first five books in the Bible, and there are 613 letters, in Hebrew, in the text of the Ten Commandments.
The religious leaders were able to divide the commandments into subgroups. There were 365 “do not” passages, one for each day, and 248 “do” passages, one for each part of the human body based upon their understanding of anatomy. Within the subgroups, they even divided the commands into binding and nonbinding commands.
Wow! Just imagining addressing that encyclopedia of obligations makes me want to walk the other way, and I assume many good people quietly did, or skated on the rules. In an attempt to tip-toe carefully through life without offending God, the religious leaders instead created, over time, systems and checkpoints no one could master.
This was a big deal for the early church: Were they really free in Jesus? Did the Law no longer measure God’s approval? Paul’s letter to the church at Galacia is filled with reminders, challenges, and reprimands to Jesus-followers that any return again to the Law for their justification is doomed to fail. Re-reading the short letter with all this Law stuff in mind shows Paul battling for the very heart of Jesus’ message of life and liberty.
So, back to Jesus. When he boils down all the well-intentioned moves to be on the right side of God, he puts the cookies on the bottom shelf. Like Scott told his daughter, Jesus tells all of us to simply Love God and Love People.
All of the details of doing faith in life fall into place beneath these two headings. Rather than obsessing over what to do and not to do with our faith life, God says, “You are free! Live like it’s true.”
So, imagine your decisions today passing through those two gates. It’s worth asking if your choice of the moment reflects your love for God and will this help your active love for others? I have to believe my choices would be altered if that were the case. My selfishness and resentments and envy would necessarily take a second place, and first would be sights set higher.
Where the problem comes in is trying to objectify these two commands to love God and others. What am I supposed to practically do as a Jesus-follower? Then Peter in his first letter challenges readers to step up their moral game.
But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written, “Be holy for I am holy.”
It’s natural to want details on what that looks like, so well meaning Christians in an attempt do the best they could in living a godly life and being holy and put shoe leather on this verse, slowly built a set of new laws governing behavior, not unlike the Jewish laws. You might have grown up with sanctions that today you have deconstructed as you better understand grace in life. And each flavor of Christianity endorses a different set of rules, expectations, common agreements, while looking sideways at believers who do life differently.
Examples abound. I recall being stunned by these differences while on a rugby tour in Wales during college. I met some Welsh ruggers who loved Jesus and invited me to their pub for beers and smokes and fellowship (after they had thrashed us on the pitch). A storm raged outside, but the smoky, packed pub was warm and fun and filled with Jesus. As a fairly new believer immersed in a pretty conservative group, this shook my tree. What behaviors I saw as central changed in a different culture, but what was truly important shined through.
Religion and its systems can so complicate a faith life with rules and conformity and structured ways to stay on God’s good side, not to mention staying in the good graces of whatever group you are with. I need to decide, based on the Book, what standards to follow, but when the group I’m in demands conformity in gray areas, what gets lost is the freedom we truly have in Jesus.
All this can lead to religious exhaustion which grows into cynicism and then, so often, to abandonment of faith. A person may still go through the motions, but the heart grows cold and the closeness is only a memory. Jesus understands all this. At the end of Matthew 11 he cuts through all the religious rules and regs.
Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.
So as for me, I want to take him at his word and not worry about the fallout from the religious conclave. Here’s a slice of what I observe in Jesus.
Jesus loved stories and a good party,
he migrated to the ones outside the popular circles and made friends broadly,
he crossed gender and social and ethnic boundaries,
he asked lots and lots of questions and didn’t mind getting in trouble,
he lived out what he taught and challenged norms,
he spoke truth to power and called out hypocrisy.
Most of all he declared the inauguration of his kingdom, an upside-down one where might doesn’t equal right and wrongs can’t be justified because of the outcome, no matter how good they seem.
You and I are free in Christ, not to do whatever we desire but to live like our Savior, loving God and loving people.
When Paul writes in Romans 12 that we must resist the pressure of the world to squeeze us into its mold, that “world” includes all the religious stuff slapped onto Jesus, like so many sticky notes of bias, prejudice, politics, advantage, power, desire, and any other add-on to the good news. I know I’ve been guilty of doing just that and am intent on transforming my mind and heart as I keep my eyes on Jesus.
So, what am I to do to live this faith thing in my time and place?
Here’s a place to start in this Love God and Love Others orientation: Read or listen to the Sermon on the Mount (Matt.5-7) every day for a week or so. Try using a version different than you are used to, like the Message or the New Living Translation. Ask God the Spirit to open your eyes for one thing each day to put into practice within your daily routine. Ask the God who speaks to inform you as to what to know and how to live it out. Listen in your prayer time for his whisper or nudge.
And never forget that in Jesus, you are forgiven, free, given a new name and set on a course that is life to the full. Let’s go!
How about some music
Lame jokes for the week…
I asked Kelly how she lost her husband, and she told me this sad story:
“My husband Todd needed a blood transfusion, but his blood type was not on record, so the doctors asked me if I knew what it was, as they urgently needed to know to save Todd's life.
Tragically, I've never known his blood type.
"Sadly, I only had time to sit and say goodbye. I'll never forget how supportive Todd was. Even as he was fading away, he kept on whispering to me, 'Be positive, be positive!'
"That was my Todd. Always thinking of others."
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Two priests died at the same time and met Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter said, "I'd like to get you guys in now, but our computer's down. You'll have to go back to Earth for about a week, but you can't go back as humans. What'll it be?"
The first priest says, "I've always wanted to be an eagle, soaring above the Rocky mountains."
"So be it," says St. Peter, and off flies the first priest.
The second priest mulls this over for a moment and asks, "Will any of this week 'count', St. Peter?"
"No, I told you the computer's down. There's no way we can keep track of what you're doing. The week's a freebie."
"In that case," says the second priest, "I've always wanted to be a stud."
"So be it," says St. Peter, and the second priest disappears.
A week goes by, the computer is fixed, and the Lord tells St. Peter to recall the two priests. "Will you have any trouble locating them?" he asks.
"The first one should be easy," says St. Peter. "He's somewhere over the Rockies, flying with the eagles. But the second one could prove to be more difficult."
"Why?" asked the Lord.
St. Peter answered, "He's on a snow tire, somewhere in Central Oregon."