The Pharisees and
religious leaders had a dilemma to solve. On the one hand, they had a
miracle to contend with that arguably could only have been performed
by and through God, where a man born blind was made to see. On the
other hand, they had an interpretation of Scripture that told them
that the One performing the miracle was a sinner, having broken the
law, and that God does not "hear" sinners, performing
miracles through them. Sin was, to them, transgressing that law, and
they had all the evidence they needed to establish the fact that He
had indeed broken the law.
A number of
rationalizations were used in an attempt to resolve the problem.
He performed miracles,
such as casting out demons, by the power of the devil.
The miracle was somehow
faked.
The solution they settled
on just happened to satisfy their own prejudices and hatred for the
man in question, not unlike the Medieval practice of tossing one
suspected of being a witch into a body of water. Witches floated, and
others did not. If you were not a witch, you sank and drowned, but
at least the people knew you were not a witch! Comforting thought...
They therefore condemned
the man to death, figuring that if He truly was of God, God would
rescue Him. In the back of their minds though, they KNEW He was not
of God, and that God had let the prophets of old be put to death by
the people of those times without God's intervention. But they did
not dwell on that. They had a hatred of Him, and hatred blinds a man
from certain realities he does not want to deal with. Hatred corrupts
the mind and thinking process.
So the miracles were
rejected in favor of the law, specifically the belief that sin
resulted from breaking the law, despite the evidence used by Jesus to
show that this was not necessarily so, citing the examples of pulling
an animal out of a pit on the Sabbath, and how the priests "profaned"
the Sabbath by working at the temple on Sabbaths, and how David and
those with him ate the showbread that was specifically unlawful for
David and company to do so.
But these religious
leaders did not want to give Jesus His just exemption for working on
the Sabbath. They were the administrators of the Law, and their
hatred and prejudices prevented them from wielding the Law in a just
manner, being consistent with the Law.
Often, the worst
violators of law are the administrators of law, for who else is going
to judge them according to the law?
Fast forward roughly 2000
years. Some churches have developed and adopted a legal code derived
from that old covenant law. They in turn used law as a means of
ruling and controlling those within their churches, wielding it in
similar fashion as those religious leaders did in Jesus' time.
As a result, sin is
defined as transgressing their law, derived from the old covenant
law, specifically in some cases the 10 Commandments, making it easier
to enforce it, pointing out that it originated with God, ergo it is
"God's Law."
The ironic turn of events
is that now, Jesus is embraced with the claim He actually kept that
law that He was put to death for breaking. Yet both the religious
leaders of Jesus time, and the religious leaders afterwards embrace
the belief that sin results from transgressing the Law.
Both groups of religious
leaders reject Jesus' appeal to His Sabbath exemption.
Both groups resort to
what I like to call, "flipping the legal coin" in
determining their verdict.
The religious leaders of
Jesus' time declared Him guilty, having rejected His legal claim of
exemption.
The religious leaders of
today declare Him innocent of breaking the law, despite His own
admission for having broken the law, thereby rendering His claim to
exemption irrelevant and immaterial.
Both groups have a vested
interest in maintaining the belief that sin results when one breaks
or transgresses their law.
If you embrace the
understanding that Jesus conveyed regarding "righteous judgment"
then the power base derived through the administration of "law"
slips out through the fingers of those in a position of power. The
individual becomes empowered to now determine what is appropriate for
himself, and what is not. His conscience as led and influenced by the
Holy Spirit becomes his Law.
Can't have that now, can
we...
The understanding that
sin originates in the mind, and thus condemns the person then and
there does not serve the administrators of law whose power and
control is derived through controlling the actions of others.
Sin must be the
transgression of the law.
************
It is important that you understand; Everything on this blog is based on the current understanding of each author. Never take anyone's word for it, always prove it for yourself, it is your responsibility. You cannot ride someone else's coattail into the Kingdom. ; )
Acts 17:11
************
It is important that you understand; Everything on this blog is based on the current understanding of each author. Never take anyone's word for it, always prove it for yourself, it is your responsibility. You cannot ride someone else's coattail into the Kingdom. ; )
Acts 17:11
************
3 comments:
Look.
Whenever the stockmarket numbers in China turn RED, I cheer. Turning green I weep. In China the color red is associated with luck and the leading party. (and one does not want to associate the Red flag and party color with depreciation, hurt and financial misfortune.)
In the USA the meaning of the colors is exactly opposite.
Colors at home
The red light at the traffic light has no intrinsic meaning at all.
We do stop however
The green color also has no intrinsic meaning in itself.
We do drive however.
The meaning of the colors is in the "contract" or "covenant" that we entered to do these actions of "stop" and "drive" whenever we see the light turn red or green. The color has no intrinsic meaning.
Now. For the advanced people.
In Germany people do not cross when lights are red. Even if no traffic can be seen in miles. In neighboring countries people think you are stupid when you do not cross the road if no traffic is coming even if the light is red. Who is right? Who are the sinners? Are the crossers in breach of a "social contract/covenant/the law" or are they THINKING with free moral agency as God commanded? I set before you "life and death". NOW CHOOSE.
Now Jesus in the case of the blind man seems to me somewhat of the Taxi driver driving a Laboring woman, in clear and present danger, to hospital on a road with no traffic. But the traffic light are all RED. (sabbath as interpreted by man)
Now what do you do. Drive or Stop?
I set before you life or death, says the God of the old covenant!
Now the other day. I heard a great maestro teaching Chinese children violin in a masterclass.
It sounded really and profoundly terrible, even to the untrained ear.
What happened was that they played ALL the notes EXACTLY RIGHT from the paper.
The maestro commended them on their studies of the NOTES/( the boundaries of musical law).
However he went into great length explaining to them that the real MUSIC is produced or occurs BETWEEN the notes. The music is not the notes. The notes just signal the divide between the one and the other. This maestro was teaching understanding of music. Not the understanding of the notes.
nck
Law is not an end in itself.
Amen nck. Very well said.
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