Laws

Did Jesus set out to stir up controversy?

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, ‘Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat.’ He answered them, ‘And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, “Honor your father and your mother,” and, “Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.” But you say that whoever tells father or mother, “Whatever support you might have had from me is given to God”, then that person need not honor the father. So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of God. You hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said: “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.” Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, ‘Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.’ Then the disciples approached and said to him, ‘Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?’ He answered, ‘Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.’ But Peter said to him, ‘Explain this parable to us.’ Then he said, ‘Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.’ - Matthew 15:1-20

Today's Gospel reading makes me wonder if Jesus intended to challenge the Pharisees and scribes, or if the provocation was all their doing.

Why are your disciples not following the law?, they asked. 

Jesus responds by calling them hypocrites for not understanding the law they claim to defend.  But how would they understand?

Everything they were taught, and all they knew, was based on strict guidelines, this is good and this is bad.  Theirs was a system of black and white where every new thing had to be evaluated against the old laws to see if it complied.

So, when they saw the disciples eating without purifying themselves first, they thought it an affront to God.

But Jesus told them they were blind to the truth.  They were focusing on the wrong things.  God, he says, is more concerned about what we say and do toward each other than what we do for Him.

You could understand how they would take offense at this.  How could what we do be more important than what God wants?

But how do we know what God wants?

It makes sense to me today that God would expect me to live my life helping my neighbor, acting out of love for one another, rather than acting solely to adhere to a law developed to guide me to a right life.

If the purpose behind the commandments is to keep us on the path of love, then that should take priority.

But in the model of the world the Pharisees adhered to, people couldn't be trusted.  They needed laws to follow.

Imagine a world where there are no laws, and we are left to interpret for ourselves how we should act.

Do we trust one another enough to live that way?

The disciples had Jesus to guide them, and so do we.  Is that enough?

More to come...