Enjoy the Silence: Day 8

Day 8: Matthew 12:9-13

Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue,

And a man with a shriveled hand was there.  Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” 

He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?

How much more valuable is a man than a sheep!  Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”  So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just a sound as the other.

It is interesting to me that they teachers asked if healing was lawful on the Sabbath.  I know it was supposed to be a trap, but it seems to be indicative of a deeper issue.  As people, we can get so focused on what is lawful that we miss what is good. 

Why is it that we focus so much on being correct that we don’t always do what is right?  I see American Christians more likely to “protect the sanctity of marriage” than the importance of a human life as they drive right past a starving homeless man on their way to a protest.  Like Christ said, “How much more valuable is a man…”

Sometimes I wonder if we haven’t missed the big picture.  The prophets point to this same problem.  People get so focused on the ritual of religion that they miss the beauty and creativity of our God.  Every person is like a painter’s masterpiece; yet we give more wonder to the lifeless canvases than they living, breathing human being in the room next door. 

Screw if healing on the Sabbath is lawful!  When we are caring for our neighbor, God will never be upset.  How much more valuable is a man!  How much more valuable is a man than a sheep, or a painting, or some religious ideal.  These ideals are only part of how God wants us to live our lives.  There is so much more to it, yet we miss it because we are too worried about if it is ok to heal on the Sabbath. 

Fences

I have notices something over the past few years.  Christians build fences like crazy.  We are so afraid of screwing up that we give ourselves boundaries that God never gave us.  God gives us boundaries, but room to move.  Our fear has us giving ourselves smaller boundaries.  We build a fence within a fence.  

We have had this problem for a long time.  In the book of Genesis, we catch a glimpse of our fence-building heritage.  “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?’ The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'” (Genesis 3:1-3)

Earlier, God had given the command that the serpent is talking about.  “And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.’”  Nowhere in there does God say they can’t touch the fruit.  Either Adam or Eve built a fence inside God’s command so they didn’t go against what he said.

All that work ended up being for nothing.  They still ended up disobeying God’s command.  I’m not saying we shouldn’t try to do as we’re told.  But I worry that if we box ourselves in too much we can easily convince ourselves that the restrictions God places on us are unrealistic.  It’s where that “Christians can’t have any fun” stereotype comes from. 

I think it’s time we start tearing our fences down.  We need to see what God really asks us to do.  Enough alienating ourselves from others; it’s no help to anyone!  Time to tear them down.