Breaking the law?

Matthew 5: 17-20 and Adam Hamilton’s “half truths”

Exodus 20:8 says “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.”  It is one of the 10 commandments and we have all heard it before, but what does it mean to you?  Does it mean you go to church or that you get to sleep in?  Does it mean you don’t work on Sunday? What about people who have to work on Sunday?  Is it ok to choose another day as your Sabbath?  What about church meetings on Sunday afternoons?  Is that work? 

When we ask these questions we are beginning to do the work of interpreting scripture.  We ask the question.  What does this mean?  What was God’s intention?  What did it mean to the people whom it was originally given and how do I apply it to my life today?

When I was a child, keeping the Sabbath meant that the grocery store was closed and Dad wasn’t supposed to mow grass on Sunday.  We were to get up and go to church and spend the rest of the day relaxing.  This was all well and good except Mom still had to cook Sunday lunch.  And of course, my sister and I still had to wash all the dishes!  The real interpretation was more like, go to church and don’t let strangers see you work on Sundays!

In early biblical times, Sabbath was intended and created to be a day of worship of God but also a day of rest.  A way for God to help us remember our blessings come from God and not our own efforts.  A time to remember to not be a workaholic, to not wear ourselves out and to remember that those people who work for us need rest too- including the animals.  It was God’s provision for self-care; teaching us to respect God, respect others and respect ourselves. 

Not too long after the 10 commandments were given to the Israelites, people decided that the principle of rest and worship weren’t specific enough and because people are often not willing to respect God

and respect themselves, they needed more instructions.  In order to truly apply it to their communal life and enforce it, they needed to define it.

They defined Sabbath as sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday.  Then they set out to define “work”.  Israel’s religious leaders, the Scribes, came up with all kinds of ideas including: doing nothing that caused or needed a flame like building a fire, lighting candles or lamps, no cooking and eventually, no electricity.  They weren’t to drive, lift, write, or even provide medical care.  They continued to interpret the word of God contained in the law of Moses in such a way that it became impossible to fulfill it and it lost its true purpose and meaning.

It became work in and of itself just to try to remember all the things you couldn’t do. 

No wonder Jesus caused such a raucous!  Not only did he purposefully, publically and continually break the Sabbath by allowing the disciples to pick grain and healing on the Sabbath but he broke a slew of other laws as well like, not ceremonially washing his hands, eating with sinners, not fasting and touching people who were considered “unclean”.   Jesus broke the law, or at least rebelled against the way the religious people had always interpreted and understood the law.

And yet, in our scripture today, Jesus tells us that the law will be in effect until heaven and earth pass away.  He even says anyone who breaks the law or teaches someone else to break the law will get into big trouble. 

Ok, so this gets me a little confused.  Jesus says the law is still in effect but yet, he is constantly breaking the law.  Can he get away with it because he’s God?  Is it like a parent telling us to do what I say and not what I do?  No, of course not!  But it is a clue that we are supposed to think about it, ask those questions again and interpret the scripture. 

What does it mean?  What was Jesus trying to tell us?  Why did he say it and to whom was he saying it?  Our clues come from the next set of scripture verses that we didn’t read this morning.  Matthew 5: 21-48 consist of a series of teachable moments for Jesus.  He takes the laws and cultural ideas of the time concerning murder, adultery, divorce, keeping promises, retaliation and who we are to love and reinterprets them in new ways.  Jesus isn’t breaking the law but He is breaking from the traditional interpretation of the law. 

He spends these 27 verses teaching us that it isn’t about just following rules and holding others accountable for following those rules.  It is about being in relationship with one another.  When you are angry- your family bond, your bond of friendship or whatever the relationship, is broken.  When we are angry we often disparage someone’s character and cause enough social and emotional damage that they may be as good as dead in a community or as we have seen in instances of bullying it may lead someone to take their own life. 

The same goes for adultery, divorce and breaking promises.  All these break relationships, break communities and do not show respect for God or for neighbor.  It isn’t just about following the rules, it is about our community and our interconnectedness as children of God and respecting others as people who are created by and loved by God. 

Matthew likes to tell the story of Jesus in a way that shows Jesus as the ultimate Rabbi and teacher.  The one who knows the intended meaning of scripture and is the authority on how to live our lives in a way that holds us most closely in line with what God intended. 

Matthew repeatedly, tells us that Jesus said things like “ you have heard it said…. But I say….”.  Jesus is constantly interpreting scripture differently than what was traditionally understood as true. 

Let’s get back to the topic of Sabbath keeping.  The law says “Keep the Sabbath holy” but in Mark ch. 2, Jesus tells us that the Sabbath was made for people not people for the Sabbath.  The Sabbath isn’t about being able to follow the rules it is about re-centering our lives on God and giving us space to rest our minds and our bodies while also giving us space to build and nurture our relationships with God and each other. 

All the time, I hear people complain about kids having sporting events on Sunday and when I was a waitress I constantly heard people chastise me for working on Sunday- even though they, my customers, were why I was working on a Sunday.  In their eyes I and the kids on the ball field are breaking Sabbath by working on Sunday.

It isn’t that soccer games on Sunday are bad.  It isn’t that restaurant employees and grocery store employees are breaking the rules for working on Sunday; as long as they are taking time off to rest, to spend time with their family and friends, and to worship their creator.  Where the Scribes got it right is that often times we don’t do it on our own.  We push ourselves too hard, we become too focused on accomplishment and quantity over quality.  We need rules to help us live into the principles that God teaches us.  But it isn’t just whether or not we can follow the rules but can we apply the principle behind the rule to our lives. 

What we also have to remember is that it is up to all of us to read and ask these questions of scripture.  What does it mean when the Bible says X?  Why would God tell us to do this or not do that? 

What is it about this scripture that brings me hope, encourages me or challenges me?  How can I apply this to my life? 

It isn’t enough to just say “The bible says it and that settles it”.  Because each one of us uses our experiences, our traditions; what our parents, grandparents, and church have taught us and we use our minds and our ability to reason to understand what scripture says and how we apply it to our lives.  And because understanding and interpreting are based so much on our life perspective, it is difficult to look at scripture and definitively say this is what it means and there is no other right understanding.  This is very challenging for those who need scripture to be black and white/ right and wrong/ clear and unwavering.

But, the Bible is the living word of God.  It is constantly teaching us, guiding us, convicting and encouraging us in new and exciting ways and in the present context of our lives.  It is amazing that when we read scripture in a prayerful way we often feel like it was written for us and our current situation.  We are constantly interpreting scripture and applying that meaning for our lives. 

Usually when we read scripture if we don’t know what it means, we look for foot notes, we look to see what others think it means and we pray about it and ask God, how God wants us to apply it to our own situations.  While it is simple, it is also complex.  When we don’t understand or wonder what it means for our lives, we can look to Jesus and ask not just What would Jesus do but What would Jesus say about this text?  How would Jesus have me apply this text to my life? 

When we look to Jesus; his mercy, compassion, grace and his great desire for us to be in relationship with God and each other, telling us to not just love those who love us, but love our enemies, telling us to not just refrain from murdering but to live with kindness not malice in our hearts. 

When Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is to Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and mind and your neighbor as yourself this gives us a lens in which to interpret the rest of scripture. 

Yes, the bible says it- so how can I learn from what the bible says so that I can be in a better relationship with God and with my neighbor?  How does this lesson help me to love God more, love my neighbor and love myself? 

This is the crux of scripture.  Not something to put on a bumper sticker, not something to be used to put others down and judge what is right or wrong for someone else, but how can I dig deeper than just following the rules?  How can I, a broken person, living in a broken world, with others who are broken, find wholeness and holiness in Christ?

Thanks be to God for giving us Jesus to show us the way!  Thanks be to God that Jesus is our way, our truth and our life!  Thanks be to God that we have scriptures, we have the ability to read or listen and to ponder and pray for meaning and guidance to apply them to our life.  Praise be to God that words written thousands of years ago are still alive and breathing meaning and purpose into every corner of our lives.  Praise be to God!