THE WORD 4 ev 1

Today’s reading is John 9 (click here for link)

It is amazing how quickly the sinful mind can turn a blessing of God into something miserable. In the Bible we see that the Pharisees succeeded in turning the Sabbath day rest into a burden, rather than the blessing God originally intended it to be for his people. The Jewish legalism was ridiculously absurd. Even today, Orthodox Jews follow this rigid way of life. But Jesus saw it as complete absurdity. It was absolutely contrary to everything he was about.

Jewish law attempted to take the rather vague and very specific laws of Moses (found in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) and apply it to every situation of life—for every generation that came afterwards. But to do this required a obscene about of loose interpretation and construal. Over time the law was divided by the category of “father” and “descendent.” Laws designated as “father” were those originally given by Moses. “Decedents” were those laws that derived from it. For example, plowing was a ‘father’ law. According to the Mosaic law, on the Sabbath, a farmer could not plow his field because that was considered work. But what about a lawyer? Could he plow a field since it wasn’t technically work associated with how he made a living? What about simply making a hole in the ground? Well… to answer these questions several “descendent” laws were made. Digging was a “descendant.” In fact anything that cut or furrowed the soil was considered to be anti-Sabbath. Thus dragging a chair on the ground was a “decendent” because it would make a kind of furrow, and therefore was forbidden, but dragging a chair on a hard surface was permitted. Yes... you can see how tedious this is becoming.

Another ‘father’ law was carrying a load on the Sabbath, and this prohibition was attended by a host of ‘descendants.’ Any unnecessary item was not to be carried on the Sabbath because it was considered a “load.” Therefore, to wear an unneeded garment was prohibited, and so a tailor, for example, had to leave his needle and thread at home, and a scribe could not carry his pen. In fact, so absurd were these regulations, that Sabbath law even made protecting ones property impossible. A humorous example, which apparently caused a great deal of discussion, was what a man could or could not do if his home caught fire on the Sabbath. According to the Pharisaical law code, absolutely nothing could be carried out, except clothing, and only if it were put on one piece at a time. It could be worn outside, taken off, and then one could return for another garment. People must have come from miles around to watch the spectacle as the house of a devout Jew burned down when it happened on the Sabbath! I suppose a gentile could have made a killing charging $100 dollars for every item he carried out of his Jewish neighbor’s burning house.

Although we have only scratched the surface of the issue, you can easily see why our Lord viewed the regulations of the Pharisees as a heavy burden upon the people. Not to mention that fact that many skilled in the Law also were skillful in devising ways to circumvent most of the meticulous rules which they had laid down. Jewish lawyers were very good at finding loop holes and technicalities to squeeze through. In the end, what had been given for a blessing—a way of orienting God’s people toward their holy God in all they did—became just a generic form of legalism, a system that was more concerned with the means than it was with the end.

The Pharisees big problem was that even in following what they believed was a religion faithful to the OT, they had created God in their own image. They in effect were practicing a religion that attempted to control God. They were defining God, putting him in a box. They had become blind to the power of a God who cannot be confined to human expectations, a God who works in mysterious and surprising ways (just read through the OT and anyone “with eyes to see” will behold a surprising and shocking God). It is for this reason that they could not see Jesus as anything but a devil in John 9. He was absolutely the contrary to the god they worshiped.

And so it is with people today. “I like to think of God as …” someone says. But that is precisely the problem. It doesn’t really matter how you wish to think of God. God is who he is. He has made himself known in Jesus.

Are your eyes open to Jesus’ in your life? Or are you trying to close up the box on Him?

Pastor Aaron