Bang, Bang, You're Dead

One of my pet peeves–and it's becoming more of a pet all the time–is the act of holding to the letter of the law. There are many deadly things about that practice, but one of those reared its ugly little head today, and although I'd gotten a glimpse or two before, today I really saw it for what it was.

Legalism is inherently self–centered. It's always asking, Am I doing what is right? Am I getting what I deserve? Am I earning what I want? Am I measuring up? And if it ever stops to look at other people, it always looks at them the same way it looks at itself. Are you doing what is right? Are you getting what you deserve? Are you measuring up?

Freedom allows us to serve one another. It allows us to consider someone else's interest–even above our own. I can allow myself to be a little less righteous (in my own eyes, and in the eyes of others) in order to lift someone else up. I can eat a little junk food with you, if my abstaining at this moment would make you feel guilty about eating it. I can shelve my super–spiritual lingo, if that will help you feel more comfortable. I can tell you about mistakes I've made; I can look like a fool. I don't have to be wise today–if that will help you.

The Pharisees brought legalism to a whole new level, and its epitome is seen in their reaction to Jesus healing people on the Sabbath. They would genuinely have preferred to see people suffer another day, rather than have Jesus do the "work" of healing them on the Sabbath. They were totally and completely blind to the plight of the suffering. Would they have wanted to be helped on the Sabbath, if they were in desperate straights? Hmmm.

So Jesus made a practice of healing a lot of people on Sabbath days. He was making the point that people come first. The law was made to help man; man was not created to adhere to the law. People come first. Always. To the extreme that Jesus was willing to be cursed for the sake of people. "Keeping the law," as such, meant so little to him that he was willing to hang on a tree, in spite of the fact that the law says that anyone who hangs on a tree is cursed. For us. He didn't do it just to do it; he did it because people came first. He'd break the Sabbath to heal a broken man, and he'd hang on a tree to save humanity.

Meanwhile, you and I cringe even at the thought of doing something someone else thinks is sin–or looks like sin.

We know Jesus fulfilled the law, and we know that with Jesus, people came first.

So when keeping your version of the law prevents you from helping people, what are you going to do?

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