Jesus is the reason for any rules or laws which we have. They do not exist for the sake of mere arbitrary obedience. They point us toward God. They are individual opportunities to choose God over ourselves. We need to understand them properly or we risk being self-righteous like the Pharisees. We often try to strategically obey and check off of a list all of the laws which are easiest for us, which don't challenge us to true change, and which give us a sense of satisfied pride. When we understand that all law is meant to point us toward relationship this risk disappears. We discover a freedom which we didn't know before.
He said to the them, “Have you not read what David did
when he and his companions were hungry,
how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering,
which neither he nor his companions
but only the priests could lawfully eat?
Our pride would prefer to see people remain hungry rather than eat this bread. But the bread can be eaten because the men are in the service of the king and also consecrated to God. They are on a mission. They are working toward a deeper relationship with God for themselves and for the people. Holy bread is actually appropriate to this purpose even though a surface reading of the rules might suggest otherwise.
As with the holy bread, the temple is sacred. It is so important that priests can be active for its sake even on the Sabbath. The importance of temple service takes precedence even over the command to keep holy the Sabbath. What would otherwise be excluded as work is necessary for a holy Sabbath because of the importance of the temple. The Sabbath is a time to give ourselves to deeper relationship with God. But the temple is the focal point of where this relationship is possible in the Old Testament. Without God's presence among his people the Sabbath can't have its full meaning.
I say to you, something greater than the temple is here.
Jesus is God's presence among us. He gives meaning to our Sabbath rest. He is the reason why we may receive even the bread from heaven which no man has any business eating except by mercy. Jesus himself is the lamb without blemish. The doorposts of our hearts are marked with his blood. The angel of death passes by and we are permitted to receive the very life of God. The Pharisees would be very frustrated with this idea, with this utter dependence on mercy. These are not mere boxes to be checked. This is a gift to be received. It cannot build selfish pride. This is what the whole law can be when read in the Spirit and not the flesh.
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all (cf. Joh. 6:63).
We worry about transgressing. We worry about being too bold and overstepping proper limits. But if our desire is really relationship with Jesus he will keep us in bounds. Just as Moses is right to approach the bush but needs to be told where to stop and when to remove his sandals so too will Jesus keep us safe as long as we put him first with a childlike faith.
How can we respond to an invitation so generous as this? Only with the very things which we are first given.
How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will take up,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
No comments:
Post a Comment