Where do we go from here?

Deuteronomy 6:1-9

I had an epiphany yesterday.  It occurred to me that for all St. Paul seemed to write "against" the Law, this Law we Christians have been somehow "freed" from, this Law Jesus came to fulfill rather than to abolish, this same Law Jesus says will not pass away until "heaven and earth pass away" (Mt 5:18) - meaning "never", we have done all we can - ironically in the name of this same Jesus - to side-step or disavow the Law if not outright disobey it with no apologies, no regrets, and no repentance -  based solely on the writings of some people we never knew! 

So how have we come to understand the Law with such negative tones as if the Law somehow restricts us rather than liberates us?  This is the same liberation Israel enjoyed after being delivered from Egypt's bondage.  How has the Christian Church come to understand the Law as somehow equivalent to that same "bondage" from which Israel had been freed?  How is it we are somehow in that same "bondage" by the same Law which must surely be the "Word made flesh" and which "dwelt among us" and came to show us the Way?  How is it that even as Jesus teaches that a "house divided against itself cannot stand", we somehow pit Jesus AGAINST this same Law as a "house divided against itself"?

Someone once told me they didn't much care for the Law because it seems to convey the message that the Lord's love is "conditional"; that is, if you don't "do" this or if you fail to "do" that, the Lord won't love you.  Then, of course, is the favorite fall-back of many Christians: we are "saved" by grace through faith.  This is certainly what St. Paul says.  Cheaply and carelessly translated, all we have to "do" is believe Jesus is the Son of God.  All that other "stuff" is just confusing, overly burdensome, unnecessary, and not very realistic in today's world.  This same person told me he did not "have to" obey the Law because he was "already saved".  Really?  Did I also mention this person is homosexual?

Our favorite citations and examples (and his) of what seems overly burdensome are prohibitions against cross-breeding of animals, cross-breeding of produce in the field, and mixing natural wool with man-made linens as cited in Leviticus 19:19.  We've been casually familiar with this passage for years, and the best we've ever done with it is to try and use it as a prohibition against "race-mixing".  I agree it seems to be written as an afterthought and seems completely out of context as merely words written on a page.  If we do not honestly engage and study the Scripture as if we were having a heart-to-heart talk with our Lord, however, all they will ever be are mere words written on pages.

I think we've not honestly nor spiritually engaged this passage of Scripture and many others, quite frankly, because a literal reading (that is, just reading the words on the page) makes no sense to us.  We fail to see, for example, that we are tampering with Divine Creation in cross-breeding species and are saying to our Lord, 'What You made for us is not quite sufficient to our needs or to our liking; we can do it better.'  It is the same principle of disdain expressed in Numbers 11 when the people of Israel expressed pure "hatred" for the manna which kept them fed and sufficiently nourished.  It's not about things that don't go together, and it's not strictly about agriculture.  There should be no comparison to race-mixing unless we are willing to suggest some races of humanity are somehow less than human.  The passage, like the entire Law, is primarily about faith and what (or Whom) we choose to believe and depend on.

"The righteous shall live by faith."  If we were to suggest this sounds like a New Testament principle, we would only be partially correct.  It is indeed expressed by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians, but St. Paul was quoting the prophet Habakkuk through whom the Lord spoke these words: "There is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end and does not lie.  If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.  Look at the proud!  Their spirit is not right with them, but the righteous shall live by faith" (2:3-4).  So we should be able to see that faith as the foundational principle upon which our relationship with the Lord stands did not only enter into the world through Christ.  Faith was, like Christ Himself, "in the beginning with God" (John 1:2).

But this is about deciding "where we go from here".  The other night we were forced to confront the many facets of our being in trying to determine "who we really are", and last night we were forced to try and determine exactly "where we are" in our faith journey - or perhaps whether we are even on the faith journey.  But as I suggested to you last night, the Church as the Body of Christ is "dynamic"; it does not sit still because by its Divine Nature it is on the move.  We must decide whether we are moving with it.  It is not about making the Church move with us.  It is entirely about faith and whether we are willing to trust our Lord enough to follow Him.

We express disdain and genuine concern for the many inside and outside the Church who have suggested Jesus as "a way" but not "the way".  We have gotten our noses out of joint because even some bishops within the United Methodist Church have tried to tell us there are "many" ways, many religions by which we can express ourselves to our God and to our community.  And we should be concerned, I think, because if there are those who try to diminish or downplay Messiah's role in the Divine Journey, they should be watched and heard ... but with extreme caution. 

Can we not see, however, that when we start picking and choosing what portions of the Law we like, what portions of the Law "really mean what they say", and what portions of the Law are not applicable to us, we are telling the entire world that they can also take the Lord in part or in whole; that they can also pick and choose the parts they like and dismiss those parts they don't like - in the name of Grace and in the name of Jesus.  We are by our example showing the world that religion is no more or less important to us than a dinner buffet after church services.  We are "Sabbath" people, but we profane the Sabbath by these acts and so many others.  But it's ok, we say, because we are "saved".  All I can say to that is, we better hope so - but the Scriptures do not back us up in this very narrow vision of what living in and for Christ really means.

I think this is the conflict St. Paul tries to express in helping people to understand that the Law as the COVENANT of the Lord does not in and of itself "save" anyone.  That is, just claiming to be a Covenant people, a "chosen race" does nothing but to bring a curse upon those who claim it but do not live it.  This is like the "saved" people who claim the blood of Christ but do nothing but go on about their business as if Jesus is not a real part of their lives.

How can we claim to be "saved" by a "Savior" whom we do not believe nor trust enough to believe?  How can we even say we "believe" in Jesus as the Son of God if we dismiss Jesus as "the Word made flesh"?  How can what Jesus taught us mean anything if all we ever really wanted from Him was His liver on a stick - and His blood in a cup?

"The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want."  True?  Of course it is true the Lord is THE Shepherd.  Jesus Himself says He is the "Great Shepherd" whose voice is well known by His sheep.  All of this is to say that sheep follow, and shepherds lead.  Where will we be led?  And by whom?  And according to whose terms?  As "THE" Great Shepherd (that is, the only legitimate shepherd), does it make sense that Jesus would lead some of us this way and some of us that way?  What did Jesus teach us about the "lost" sheep?  Did the Shepherd not go FIND that lost sheep and BRING HIM BACK rather than follow that "lost sheep"? 

We may know the right answers, but we seem afraid to ask the right questions for fear that we may learn something we didn't really want to know.  But what we fail to realize is that if Jesus is THE WAY - that is, the ONLY way - this means there can only be ONE path.  This is, believe it or not, the very Law Moses defends to the people of Israel.  One Standard.  One - and only one - God.  And this Standard - this Law - becomes so much a part of us that we live it, we work it, and we rest in it.  With integrity and, yes, with faith, we defend it and we teach it.  We are, indeed, COMMANDED to do so.  And though we may not always understand it, we are expected BY FAITH to abide in it.

I don't know where the Lord will take the Holy Church from this moment, from this place.  I can only know that if we abide in Him faithfully and fully, He will abide in us.  And He will show us the way.  The only question left is: are we willing?