Sometimes . . . OK, often, I get caught up with “doing things right” or following rules I make for myself. Just the other day I caught myself once again getting up in arms about “the principle” of a thing. As intermediary in someone else’s financial conflict, I was wrestling with the other party’s unjust expectations and apparent greed. It seemed clear as day that we were right and this person was wrong.
The Pharisees in Jesus’s time were obsessed with getting it right and following rules, many of which they’d made up themselves. As the self-appointed Sabbath Police, they railed on Jesus for breaking their interpretation of the Law.
When they spied His disciples eating in a manner that violated their rules, they criticized, “Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.” Then they set Jesus up in front of a man with a withered hand, demanding, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”(Matthew 12:2,10)
Well, Jesus healed the man right before their eyes. On the Sabbath. What gall! Pointing out their Sabbath-keeping hypocrisy (they’d rescue livestock but not people), Jesus concluded doing good on the Sabbath is lawful. Duh.
Instead of glorifying God for the healing, the enraged Pharisees stomped out and began plotting to destroy Jesus! In their minds, it was about rules and principle, not people.
The religious leaders couldn’t stand Jesus coloring outside the lines they had drawn. But Jesus knew the Father’s heart, so He had no problem recognizing whether something unwritten was OK or not. He knew the spirit of the law; they only knew the letter (2 Corinthians 3:6). Jesus didn’t arrive at the right answer through their religious approach of analysis and reason, devoid of relationship. No! Jesus knew His Father’s heart and His love for people, and out of that drew the right answer.
So back to my personal story. The idea of giving in to this other party was repulsive. It’d be unfair. It would be rewarding evil with good! (Oh, wait . . . I’ve read something about that somewhere.) Even as my reasoning and emotions cranked into high gear, in a back corner of my mind, another thought process was quietly trying to sprout. “What about this unreasonable person? What hurt has she gone through? What hole in her heart is she trying to fill by trying to extract undeserved money in this situation? How can I bring the love of God to her? What if God cares more about healing that person’s heart than about this business transaction? Hmmm . . .”
This second, otherworldly kind of thinking doesn’t come out of analysis and reason; it springs from relationship with God, from getting to know His heart. We should be well-acquainted with the Word. But to understand how to apply it, we need the Holy Spirit to reveal our Father’s heart. His heart, it seems, is focused not so much on black-and-white rules, principles, and codes of proper behavior as it is on loving people.
Wonderful insight, JB! Thanks for sharing it –