Luke keeps hammering on this theme of the Sabbath day. Why?
It’s one of the areas the Pharisees and the religious leaders of the day showed their hypocrisy. He is beating away at their (and our) preconceived notions of how God deals with us. He is forcing us to consider the question: Which is more important; to follow traditions or to do what is right? Which is better; to act righteously or to receive righteousness?
The Pharisees are not merely Jesus’ whipping boys. They are not some kind of literary foil that Jesus used show how different his message is. They were real people, many of whom meant well. They display our own tendency to want to make our relationship with God about following a set of rules or guidelines instead of a relationship of mercy and kindness rooted in God’s love for us.
Micah 6:8 says, “He [that is, God] has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
In Hosea 6:6 God says, “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” When Jesus quoted this passage he said, “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’”
The Christian life is not a to-do list to check off showing how good we are. “Went to church? Check! Didn’t steal anything? Check! Didn’t break the speed limit (by much)? Check! Didn’t worship any other gods? Big check! Didn’t have any impure thoughts . . . ? We’ll skip that one for today!” It’s also interesting how Christians will try to show how good we are by the things we don’t do. I’m sure you know the list of taboo behaviors: smoking, drinking, cussing, chewing tobacco, doing drugs, etc. As Adam Ant cynically sang in his song Goody Two-Shoes, “Don’t drink? Don’t smoke? What do you do?”
The problem is that Christian life is not about what we do. It’s about what God has done. Now, to be sure what God has done will have impact on what we do! Make no mistake justice, kindness, humbleness, mercy and love should be hallmarks of our lives – evidence of having been affected by God’s love for us. But the center of this relationship with God is not a set of behaviors that we adopt in order to please God. Instead, God was pleased to love us and bring us into his “wedding feast.” He reached out to us and included us, and that changes us.
It sounds too easy, doesn’t it? It’s not. Part of that change that God works in us is that he separates us from the things of this world that would distract us from him. That’s the separation a husband and wife feels when one of them does not believe, and the believer prays and prays and prays for the others conversion. It is the costliness of giving up everything for the sake of Jesus, perhaps even one’s life. It’s the pain of renouncing behaviors we once loved because we’ve been loved so much better.
We each have to ask ourselves, “What is my hypocrisy? What is it that God is showing me in my life?” But over all of that remember, remember, remember this all starts and ends with God’s love for you. God’s grace is the foundation we stand on. See what changes as we live from grace as well!
Father, show me my sin that I may know your grace; grow my faith that I may see your face. Amen.
It’s one of the areas the Pharisees and the religious leaders of the day showed their hypocrisy. He is beating away at their (and our) preconceived notions of how God deals with us. He is forcing us to consider the question: Which is more important; to follow traditions or to do what is right? Which is better; to act righteously or to receive righteousness?
The Pharisees are not merely Jesus’ whipping boys. They are not some kind of literary foil that Jesus used show how different his message is. They were real people, many of whom meant well. They display our own tendency to want to make our relationship with God about following a set of rules or guidelines instead of a relationship of mercy and kindness rooted in God’s love for us.
Micah 6:8 says, “He [that is, God] has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
In Hosea 6:6 God says, “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” When Jesus quoted this passage he said, “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’”
The Christian life is not a to-do list to check off showing how good we are. “Went to church? Check! Didn’t steal anything? Check! Didn’t break the speed limit (by much)? Check! Didn’t worship any other gods? Big check! Didn’t have any impure thoughts . . . ? We’ll skip that one for today!” It’s also interesting how Christians will try to show how good we are by the things we don’t do. I’m sure you know the list of taboo behaviors: smoking, drinking, cussing, chewing tobacco, doing drugs, etc. As Adam Ant cynically sang in his song Goody Two-Shoes, “Don’t drink? Don’t smoke? What do you do?”
The problem is that Christian life is not about what we do. It’s about what God has done. Now, to be sure what God has done will have impact on what we do! Make no mistake justice, kindness, humbleness, mercy and love should be hallmarks of our lives – evidence of having been affected by God’s love for us. But the center of this relationship with God is not a set of behaviors that we adopt in order to please God. Instead, God was pleased to love us and bring us into his “wedding feast.” He reached out to us and included us, and that changes us.
It sounds too easy, doesn’t it? It’s not. Part of that change that God works in us is that he separates us from the things of this world that would distract us from him. That’s the separation a husband and wife feels when one of them does not believe, and the believer prays and prays and prays for the others conversion. It is the costliness of giving up everything for the sake of Jesus, perhaps even one’s life. It’s the pain of renouncing behaviors we once loved because we’ve been loved so much better.
We each have to ask ourselves, “What is my hypocrisy? What is it that God is showing me in my life?” But over all of that remember, remember, remember this all starts and ends with God’s love for you. God’s grace is the foundation we stand on. See what changes as we live from grace as well!
Father, show me my sin that I may know your grace; grow my faith that I may see your face. Amen.
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