Sermon: You of Little Faith

Delivered at Northside United Methodist Church in Greenville, South Carolina on June 23, 2024

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You of Little Faith

Audio Version

And when [Jesus] got into the boat, his disciples followed him.  A windstorm arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.  And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us!  We are perishing!”  And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?”  Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm.  They were amazed, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”

Matthew 8:23-27 (NRSV)

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Immediately [Jesus] made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.  And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray.  When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them.  And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea.  But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!”  And they cried out in fear.  But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”  He said, “Come.”  So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus.  But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”  Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”  When they got into the boat, the wind ceased.  And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Matthew 14:22-33 (NRSV)

Well, sometimes my life just don't make sense at all
When the mountains look so big
And my faith just seems so small

So hold me, Jesus, 'cause I'm shaking like a leaf
You have been King of my glory
Won't you be my Prince of Peace?

From “Hold Me, Jesus” by Rich Mullins

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, was afraid of sailing on the sea, in the same way that a person might be afraid of flying in an airplane in our day.  In 1735, Wesley was recruited to relocate to the Georgia colony to serve as a chaplain to the colonists and as a missionary to the native peoples.  In October of that year, he confronted his fear and boarded a ship heading across the Atlantic Ocean.  Over the course of the next three months, the ship on which Wesley sailed was caught in a number of storms.  In January of the following year, the ship was caught in such a violent storm that Wesley was sure he was a goner.  That day, he noticed a group of Moravians who responded to the storm not with terror but with faith.  While he and most of the other passengers panicked, the Moravians peacefully sang a psalm.  Deeply moved by the sight, Wesley longed for the kind of faith they had, a kind of faith he had yet to attain at that point in his life.¹

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In the Gospel of Matthew, we read that, as Jesus starts to draw crowds in Capernaum, He decides that it is time to move onward.²  He and the Disciples board a boat and set sail across the Sea of Galilee.³  The Sea of Galilee, which is also known as Lake Tiberias, is a freshwater lake that covers only sixty-four square miles.⁴  Despite the normally pleasant climate, the topography of the area can make it a very scary place at times.  The lake sits well below sea level in the Jordan valley, which acts as a funnel that concentrates wind, making the lake prone to sudden, violent storms.⁵  As Jesus and the Disciples sail across the Sea of Galilee that day, they suddenly find themselves caught up in such a storm.  As the wind and the waves batter the boat, the Disciples start to fear for their lives.⁶

Jesus, on the other hand, is in the hull of the boat, sleeping right through the storm.  The panicking Disciples wake Him up, crying, “Lord, save us!  We are perishing!”  Jesus, who is perhaps a bit groggy at the moment, asks them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?”  He then stands up and rebukes the storm, and the storm dies down as suddenly as it started.  The Disciples are awestruck.⁷

In Jesus' day, the Sea of Galilee is a scary place for more than one reason.  The sea, in general, is thought to be a place of darkness, evil, and chaos.  In people's minds, it is associated with the dark “formless void” from which God brought forth the Earth, achieving victory over chaos.^{8 9}  When Jesus calms the raging sea, He is demonstrating not only His mastery over the forces of nature but also His dominion over the forces of evil.  It is worth noting that the Greek word the Gospel writers use to describe Jesus' silencing the sea, which is translated into English as “rebuke,” is the same word they use elsewhere to describe Jesus' subduing demons.¹⁰

Personally, when I read the story of Jesus' calming the sea, I find myself wishing that I had the kind of faith that would allow me to rest easy amid the storms of life.  Truth be told, when I see storm clouds in the distance, I find that I have more in common with the panicking Disciples and less in common with the peacefully resting Jesus.  I've been through enough storms in my life to know that everything will work out in the end or that everything will get better in time, but still I am filled with dread when I see storm clouds approaching.

This morning, I would like to suggest that the story of Jesus' calming the sea has something to teach us about faith.  Specifically, I would like to suggest that this story hints at the possibility that a person can have a mature kind of faith that brings with it a deep, abiding peace.  After all, if Jesus chides the Disciples for having “little faith,” then He must also be suggesting that they have the potential to have great faith, the kind of faith that would allow them to sleep peacefully through a storm, as He was doing.  We might be tempted to think that it is easy for Jesus to sleep through storms since He is the Son of God, but, if such peace-bringing faith is not available to anyone who seeks it, then Jesus is completely out of line for chastising the Disciples for not having it.

One person who attained this kind of faith is St. Paul.  In the Acts of the Apostles, we read that, while Paul is heading to Rome as a prisoner, the ship on which he is sailing is caught up in a storm that lasts for several weeks.  He does not calm the storm, as Jesus did, but he does calm the hearts of the other people on the ship.  Though he is a prisoner, he takes on the role of a chaplain.  He encourages the crew members to not be afraid, assures them that they will reach their destination, and urges them to eat when they have not eaten in days.¹¹  While Paul is imprisoned in Rome, unsure if he will be acquitted or sentenced to death, he looks back on everything he has endured in his life, and he writes in one of his letters, “I can endure all these things through the power of the one who gives me strength.”¹²

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Later in the Gospel of Matthew, we read that one day, after Jesus and the Disciples minister to a large crowd in a remote place,¹³ Jesus tells the Disciples to go ahead of Him across the Sea of Galilee, so that He can dismiss the crowd and spend some time alone in prayer.  Night falls, and once again the Disciples suddenly find themselves aboard a boat in the midst of a violent storm.  As they struggle against the wind and the waves, they see what appears to be the form of a person walking on top of the water.  The sea is a scary place in their day, as I noted earlier, so they cry out in fear, assuming that what they are seeing is a ghost.  A familiar voice calls out to frightened Disciples, saying, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”¹⁴  Not only can Jesus command a storm to subside, He can also walk on top of a raging sea.

While Jesus is still standing on top of the water, the disciple known as Peter calls out to Him, saying, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”¹⁵  When a rabbi, like Jesus, calls disciples, like the Twelve, to follow him, he is essentially calling them to do what he does.¹⁶  Naturally, Peter wants to follow in his Rabbi's footsteps, even if those footsteps happen to be on liquid water.  Jesus invites Peter to join Him on the water, so Peter climbs out of the boat and starts walking on the water toward Jesus.  Peter walks on the water like a natural, for a moment, but, when he feels the wind blowing against him, he becomes afraid and starts to sink.  He cries out, “Lord, save me!”  Jesus catches him, saying, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”  The two walk back to the boat, and the storm dies down.¹⁷

Peter manages to walk atop the Sea of Galilee with Jesus for a moment, but, as soon as he starts to doubt, he starts to sink.  Typically, we assume that Peter is doubting Jesus, but, if Jesus is not sinking, then Peter has no reason to doubt Him.  Perhaps Peter doubts his own ability to follow in his Rabbi's footsteps and to do what his Rabbi has called him to do.  Jesus would never have called Peter to be His disciple if He did not believe that Peter was up to the task.¹⁸  If Jesus chides Peter for doubting, then He evidently believes that Peter is even capable of walking on liquid water with Him.

Like the story of Jesus' calming the sea, the story of Jesus' walking on water and inviting Peter to do the same teaches us something about faith.  In the Church, we are taught that Jesus is both fully divine and fully human.  In Jesus, we see both what God is like and what humanity is capable of becoming.  I once heard a friend of mine suggest that, though we have no hope of ever becoming divine like Jesus, we can always aspire to become the kind of human Jesus was.  I don't believe that any of us will ever be able to take command of the weather or walk on top of liquid water, no matter how much faith we have.  I do believe that we are capable of attaining the kind of faith that will allow us to rest easy amid the storms of life or even to stand tall in defiance of them.

So often, we, like the fearful, doubting Disciples, face the storms of life with “little faith.”  Sometimes, we struggle to believe that God will bring us through the storms or bring something good out of them.  Sometimes we doubt our own capability to withstand the storms.

As someone who is prone to anxiety, I wish I knew how to cultivate the kind of faith that would give me peace and boldness amid the storms of life.  When I see storm clouds in the distance, I typically do one of two things.  I might try to avoid the storm altogether by feebly attempting to exert control do not really have, or I might just take an Imodium and anxiously brace myself for the storm.  These strategies have not served me well.  Many people, myself included, use worry as a means of preparing themselves for the storms of life, but, truth be told, I've found that worrying about storms only serves to ruin perfectly sunny days.  I suspect that great faith is hard fraught.  Perhaps, if God brings me through enough storms in my life, then maybe, at some point, my first impulse when I see storm clouds approaching will be to trust and not to worry.

Again, I believe that each of us is capable of attaining the kind of faith that will allow us to rest easy amid the storms of life or even to stand tall in defiance of them.  I have not attained this kind of faith myself, but, like John Wesley sailing across the Atlantic, I know that other people have attained it, and I envy them.

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So what do we do amid the storms of life, if we, like the panicking, doubting Disciples, have “little faith”?

Notice that Jesus never suggests that the Disciples have no faith; He simply says that they have “little faith.”  There is a big difference between having a little faith and having no faith at all.  The Disciples do not have enough faith to keep their cool when they suddenly find themselves in a violent storm, but they do have enough faith to wake Jesus up and ask Him for help.  Peter does not have enough faith to walk on water with Jesus for very long, but, when he starts to sink, he does have enough faith to call out to Him for help.  So often we like to criticize the Disciples for not getting the picture, but at least they have the faith to cry out to Jesus in times of trouble.

If we, like the Disciples, don't have enough faith to face trying times with peace and boldness, then we, like the Disciples, can still cry out to Jesus.  When we are afraid, we can pray, like the late singer Rich Mullins, “Hold me, Jesus, 'cause I'm shaking like a leaf.”¹⁹

At the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, we read that the birth of Jesus is the fulfillment of the following prophecy from the Book of Isaiah: “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.”  The writer makes it a point to note that the name Emmanuel means, “God is with us.”²⁰  At the very end of the same Gospel, we read that, when Jesus commissions the Disciples to “make disciples of all nations,” He assures them, “I am with you always, to the end of  the age.”²¹  The Gospel of Matthew is effectively bookended with promises of Christ's presence.  We can cry out to Jesus in the storms of life, because Jesus goes through the storms with us.  He did not leave the frightened Disciples to face the storm by themselves; He did not leave Peter thrashing in the water when he started to sink; and He will not abandon us in the storms we face.

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In the Gospels, we read that the Disciples face two storms on the Sea of Galilee.  When they are caught in the first storm, they fear for their lives, so they wake a sleeping Jesus and ask Him for help.  Jesus rebukes the storm, and it miraculously subsides.  Full of wonder, the Disciples ask each other, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”²²  When the Disciples are caught in the second storm, they see Jesus walking on the water toward them.  When He climbs into the boat with them, the storm miraculously subsides once again.  At this point, the Disciples have their answer.  “Truly you are the Son of God,” they say to Jesus, as their wonder turns to worship.²³

There is a kind of faith that allows us to rest easy amid the storms of life and even to stand tall in defiance of them.  If we have not yet attained this kind of faith, we can still cry out to Jesus, who is with us in the storms.  Whatever storms you are facing in life right now, may you remember that you are not alone, for Christ is with you.  May you trust that everything will work out in the end, for “God works all things together for good.”²⁴  May you believe in yourself, for the One who has called you to follow Him believes in you.

Thanks be to God.


Notes:

1. Adam Hamilton.  Revival: Faith as Wesley Lived It.  2014, Abingdon Press.  pp. 62-64
2. Matthew 8:5, 18
3. Matthew 8:23
4. Wikipedia: “Sea of Galilee”
5. William Barclay.  The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Matthew, Volume One. 2001, Saint Andrew Press.  p. 365
6. Matthew 8:24-25
7. Matthew 8:25-27 (NRSV)
8. N.T. Wright.  Matthew for Everyone, Part 1.  2004, Westminster John Knox Press.  p. 89
9. Genesis 1:2 (NRSV)
10. Blue Letter Bible: “epitimaō”
11. Acts 27
12. Philippians 4:12-13 (CEB)
13. Matthew 14:13-21
14. Matthew 14:22-27 (NRSV)
15. Matthew 14:28 (NRSV)
16. Rob Bell.  Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith.  2005, Zondervan.  pp. 133-134
17. Matthew 14:29-32 (NRSV)
18. Bell, pp. 133-134
19. From the song “Hold Me, Jesus” by Rich Mullins
20. Matthew 1:20-23 (NRSV)
21. Matthew 28:16-20 (NRSV)
22. Matthew 8:23-27 (NRSV)
23. Matthew 14:22-33 (NRSV)
24. Romans 8:28 (CEB)

The Storm on the Sea of Galilee was painted by Rembrandt in the 1600s.  Christ Walking on the Sea was painted by Amédée Varint in the 1800s.

Sermon: The Spirit of the Law

Delivered at Northside United Methodist Church in Greenville, South Carolina on June 2, 2024

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

The Spirit of the Law

Audio Version

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.  When the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath.”  He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?  He entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests.  Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests in the temple break the sabbath and yet are guiltless?  I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.  But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.  For the Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”

He left that place and entered their synagogue; a man was there with a withered hand, and they asked him, “Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath?” so that they might accuse him.  He said to them, “Suppose one of you has only one sheep and it falls into a pit on the sabbath; will you not lay hold of it and lift it out?  How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep!  So it is lawful to do good on the sabbath.”  Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and it was restored, as sound as the other.  But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.

Matthew 12:1-14 (NRSV)

Give me words, I'll misuse them
Obligations, I'll misplace them
'Cause all religion ever made of me
Was just a sinner with a stone tied to my feet
It never set me free

From “More Like Falling in Love” by Jason Gray

One day, in 1866, Sheriff John W. Kirby formed a posse, and together they boarded a steamboat heading from Kentucky to Ohio and arrested Dr. Cyrus W. Farris on murder charges.  Following the arrest, Sheriff Kirby was charged with violating the Act of Congress of March 3, 1825, which forbade the willful obstruction or delay of mail delivery.  Dr. Farris was a postal worker, and, because he was arrested, the mail he happened to be carrying at the time was not delivered promptly.  The case against Sheriff Kirby eventually reached the Supreme Court, and the court ruled unanimously in favor of the sheriff.^1 2  Justice Stephen J. Field, who delivered the opinion of the court, stated that “all laws should receive a sensible construction” and that “general terms should be so limited in their application as not to lead to injustice, oppression, or an absurd consequence.”³  Basically, a law should not be written or interpreted in such a way that it will be applied in a ridiculous or unjust manner.

United States v. Kirby is an interesting case because it highlights the tension that occasionally exists between the way a law is written and the reason the law was passed.  In other words, it highlights the tension between the “letter of the law” and the “spirit of the law.”  The law that Sheriff Kirby supposedly violated was passed in order to ensure that mail was delivered in a timely manner.  It was never intended to give postal workers total immunity.

It seems to me that some of the conflicts between Jesus and the other religious leaders of His day highlight a similar tension.

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In the Gospel of Matthew, we read that one day, while Jesus and the Disciples are walking through a grain field, the Disciples pick some heads of grain and eat them, greatly offending a group of Pharisees who catch them in the act.⁴  What offends these Pharisees is not the fact that the Disciples have picked grain from a field that undoubtedly belongs to someone.  According to the Book of Leviticus, Jewish farmers are forbidden to pick their fields clean and are required to leave the edges of their fields unharvested, so that hungry passersby, especially impoverished people and immigrants, can pick some food to eat.⁵  The Disciples' picking grain from someone's field would be considered gleaning and not stealing.  What offends the Pharisees is that the Disciples have picked grain on the Sabbath Day.

The Jewish Law mandates the observance of the Sabbath Day.  One of the Ten Commandments, as it is written in the Book of Exodus, states,

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work.  But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work – you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.  For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.⁶

The Law prescribed a harsh penalty for people who failed to follow this commandment.  The Book of Exodus states that “whoever does any work on [the Sabbath Day] shall be put to death.”⁷  In the Book of Numbers, we read that a man who was caught merely gathering sticks on the Sabbath Day was condemned to death by stoning.⁸

The commandment forbidding work on the Sabbath Day was to be taken seriously, so naturally it was necessary to define what constitutes work.  Ancient rabbis counted thirty-nine melakhot or “categories of work” that the Law explicitly forbade on the Sabbath Day.  Among these actions are reaping, threshing, winnowing, and various forms of food preparation.⁹  Scholar William Barclay points out,

By their conduct, the disciples were guilty of far more than one breach of the law. By plucking the corn they were guilty of reaping; by rubbing it in their hands they were guilty of threshing; by separating the grain and the chaff they were guilty of winnowing; and by the whole process they were guilty of preparing a meal on the Sabbath day, for everything which was to be eaten on the Sabbath had to be prepared the day before.¹⁰

With simple actions that we would probably consider rather innocuous, the Disciples are guilty of multiple counts of violating the commandment to observe the Sabbath Day.

Considering the importance that has been placed on the commandment to observe the Sabbath Day, the strictness with which it has been enforced, and the work that has been done to define what is and is not permissible on that day, it makes sense that the Pharisees are appalled by the Disciples' flagrant violations of their Law.  They confront Jesus, saying, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath.”¹¹

Jesus defends the Disciples to the Pharisees by appealing to their knowledge of their holy scriptures.  Specifically, He reminds them of instances in which people seemingly bent or broke the rules of their religion out of necessity and were not considered guilty for doing so.¹²  First, He calls to mind an episode from the First Book of Samuel in which David, the military leader who would later become Israel's most beloved king, took sacred bread from a place of worship.  David and his soldiers would not normally be permitted to eat this particular bread, but they were famished, and the sacred bread was the only food available at the moment.¹³  Next, Jesus points out that, even though the Law forbids work on the Sabbath Day, priests have always carried out the duties prescribed for them by the Law on the Sabbath Day.  For example, in the Book of Numbers, we read that there are offerings presented on the Sabbath Day, to which the priests will have to attend.¹⁴

Jesus then heads to the local synagogue, where there happens to be a man with a deformed hand.  Trying to entrap Jesus, the same Pharisees ask Him if He thinks the Law of their religion permits acts of healing on the Sabbath Day.¹⁵  In their eyes, acts of healing are off limits on the Sabbath Day, like harvesting and preparing food.  Medical attention may be administered only if a person's life is in immediate danger.  The man with the deformed hand is clearly not in such dire straits.¹⁶  Jesus responds to the Pharisees by appealing not to their knowledge of scripture but to their reason.  First He asks them rhetorically, “Suppose one of you has only one sheep and it falls into a pit on the sabbath; will you not lay hold of it and lift it out?” Next He proclaims, “How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep!”  From these two points, He reasons, “So it is lawful to do good on the sabbath.”¹⁷

Jesus proceeds to heal the hand of the man in the synagogue, and the Pharisees who are present, perceiving Jesus as a threat to their religion, proceed to conspire against Him.¹⁸

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Jesus seems to have a rather cavalier attitude about the Law of His religion, at least in the eyes of the Pharisees.  I would like to suggest that Jesus is not flouting the Jewish Law, as the Pharisees doubtlessly think, but is instead trying to teach them something important about their Law and about biblical instructions in general.  The Pharisees, as they are portrayed in the Gospels, strive to follow the Jewish Law to the letter, and they expect other people to put forth the same effort.  Jesus, on the other hand, evidently wants them to look past the letter of the law and to consider to the spirit of the law.

Consider why God would command God's people to observe the Sabbath Day in the first place.  The Ten Commandments, which include the prohibition against working on the Sabbath Day, were given to the people of Israel while they were camped at the foot of Mount Sinai.¹⁹  Just a few months earlier, they were rescued from slavery in Egypt.  In Egypt, they were treated not as human beings but as machines, and merely asking for a break would be rewarded with a heavier workload.²⁰  God never wanted the people of Israel to treat each other or anyone else the way they were treated in Egypt, so God gave them the Sabbath Day.  The Sabbath Day was a gift to God's covenant people, intended to uphold their humanity and to remind them that they were worth more than what they produced.²¹

The Sabbath Day does not exist to prevent something that needs to happen from happening.  It does not exist to ensure that an animal that falls into a ditch on that day remains trapped and vulnerable until the following day.  It does not exist to prevent hungry people who do not already have something ready to eat that day from obtaining something to eat.  It does not exist to prevent people in need of healing from being healed on that day.  It does not exist to make people's lives more difficult or more complicated one day per week.  The Sabbath Day exists to prevent people from being dehumanized and exploited.  As Jesus says to the Pharisees in Mark's version of the story, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath.”²²

When the Pharisees accuse the Disciples of breaking the Law by picking grain on the Sabbath Day, Jesus says to them, “If you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.”²³  This is not the first occasion Jesus has urged the Pharisees to contemplate this saying.

One day, Jesus called a tax collector named Matthew to follow Him as one of His disciples.²⁴  Calling this particular person was a strange choice on Jesus' part, because, as a tax-collector, he would have been hated by the Jewish people not only as a crook but also as a traitorous collaborator with the Roman occupation.  That evening, while Jesus was enjoying dinner with Matthew and some of his fellow tax collectors and other so-called “sinners,” some Pharisees approached the other Disciples and asked them why their teacher would associate with such people.  Overhearing the Pharisees' question, Jesus said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.  Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’  For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”²⁵

Twice, when Jesus has clashed with the Pharisees, He has quoted the Book of Hosea, in which God says through the titular prophet, “I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”²⁶  The Jewish Law prescribes a number of different animal sacrifices that are to be offered as acts of worship to God on different occasions.  Some are offered on specific holy days; others are offered to atone for wrongdoings; and others are simply offered out of gratitude.  Some people evidently believed that, as long as they fulfilled their ritual obligations to God, how they lived and how they treated other people didn't really matter.  Prophets like Hosea fought back against that idea.

To prioritize mercy over sacrifice, as Jesus urges the Pharisees to do, is to prioritize the needs of one's neighbor over the rules of one's religion.  Associating with traitorous, thieving tax collectors might be discouraged in Jesus' religion, but Jesus understands that even so-called “sinners” need someone who will befriend them and bring out the best in them, in the same way that sick people need a doctor to bring them back to health.  Preparing food on the Sabbath Day might be forbidden in Jesus' religion, but Jesus understands that hungry people need to eat, regardless of what day it is.

Jesus will explain His understanding of the Law and of all biblical instructions most directly shortly before the end of His earthly ministry.  At one point, after His arrival in Jerusalem, a number of His detractors will start asking Him very loaded questions in the hopes of incriminating Him.²⁷  One scholar will ask Him which commandment in the Law of their religion He considers the most important.  First, Jesus will quote a particular part of the Book of Deuteronomy known as the Shema,²⁸ saying, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the greatest and first commandment.”  Next, He will quote the Book of Leviticus,²⁹ saying, “And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”  Finally, He will say, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”³⁰

With this statement, Jesus will reveal the spirit of the law in regards to all Biblical instructions.  Biblical instructions do not exist merely to be followed and enforced.  They exist to prevent harm and to promote love for God and one's neighbor.

Jesus has the utmost respect for the Law of His religion, but He understands how important it is to know not only what it says but also why it says what it says.  In the Sermon on the Mount, He said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”³¹  To “abolish the Law” is to undermine the Law through misinterpretation, but to “fulfill the Law” is to properly interpret the Law so that people can better understand it and follow it in the way God intended.³²

Quoting one of the Ten Commandments, Jesus said,

You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not murder”; and “whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.”  But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, “You fool,” you will be liable to the hell of fire.³³

Quoting the very next commandment, Jesus then said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’  But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”³⁴  Jesus is not replacing the commandments or making them more difficult; He is instead revealing God's will behind them.  The letter of the law states that we must practice enough self-control that we do not kill the people who make us angry, but God's will is that we love people so that we don't even harbor malice toward them.  The letter of the law states that we must practice enough self-control that we uphold our own marriage covenants and respect the marriage covenants of other people, but God's will is that we love people so that we don't even objectify them.

As followers of Jesus, we are not called to simply follow the rules we read in the Bible and to try to force everyone else to do the same.  We are called to love as Jesus loved.  Sometimes love will require us to bend or break the rules, as Jesus did when he healed a man on the Sabbath Day.  Sometimes love will require us to go above and beyond the rules, as Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount.  As followers of Jesus, when we approach any ethical matter, we need to consider how harm can be prevented and how love can be shown.

Far too often, Christians are guilty of acting like the Pharisees, as they are portrayed in the Gospels, or even worse.  Far too often, when confronted with complicated situations, Christians lazily quote Bible verses without taking into consideration why the verses were written in the first place.  Far too often, Christians apply biblical instructions in ways that are detrimental to other people.  Biblical instructions, according to Jesus, exist to help us to love God with everything that we are and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.  That said, any prohibition in the Bible is meant to prevent harm.  If we fail to keep in mind the reasons that biblical instructions exist, we run the risk of using them in harmful ways, and any harmful use of Scripture is a misuse of Scripture.  If we really want to follow Jesus, then we must learn to read Scripture as He read it, keeping our focus on love.

Amen.


Notes:

1. Wikipedia: “United States v. Kirby”
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Skyd4ze67fI
3. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/74/482/
4. Matthew 12:1-2
5. Leviticus 23:22
6. Exodus 20:8-11 (NRSV)
7. Exodus 35:2 (NRSV)
8. Numbers 15:32-36
9. Wikipedia: “39 Melakhot”
10. William Barclay.  The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Matthew, Volume Two.  2001, Saint Andrew Press.  p. 26
11. Matthew 12:2 (NRSV)
12. Matthew 12:3-6
13. 1 Samuel 21:1-6
14. Numbers 28:9-10
15. Matthew 12:9-10
16. Barclay, p. 34
17. Matthew 12:11-12
18. Matthew 12:13-14
19. Exodus 19:1-20:21
20. Exodus 5:1-18
21. Rob Bell and Don Golden.  Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for a Church in Exile.  2008, Zondervan.  p. 34
22. Mark 2:27 (NRSV)
23. Matthew 12:7 (NRSV)
24. Matthew 9:9
25. Matthew 9:10-13 (NRSV)
26. Hosea 6:6 (NRSV)
27. Matthew 22:15-33
28. Deuteronomy 6:4-9
29. Leviticus 19:18
30. Matthew 22:34-40 (NRSV)
31. Matthew 5:17 (NRSV)
32. Lois Tverberg.  “What Does It Mean to ‘Fulfill the law’?”  En-Gedi Resource Center.
33. Matthew 5:21-22 (NRSV)
34. Matthew 5:27-28 (NRSV)

The painting featured in this perspective was painted by Ferdinand Oliver around 1840.

Perspective: Surprised by the Spirit

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.
Comments are always welcomed.
If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Surprised by the Spirit

I have much more to say to you, but you can't handle it now.  However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you in all truth.  He won't speak on his own, but will say whatever he hears and will proclaim to you what is to come.  He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and proclaim it to you.

John 16:12-14 (CEB)

I make you uncomfortable
When I'm around
You always find a reason
To shut me out
You don't understand me
So you push me away
And you claim
Jesus lets you live that way

From "Unlovable" by Plumb

In the Acts of the Apostles, we read that one day the apostle Peter, a leader in the growing community of Jesus' followers, finds himself in hot water.  Some of his fellow believers in Jerusalem are appalled by some of his recent actions, so he shares with them a surprising story.¹

One day not long ago, while Peter was staying with a friend in Joppa, he withdrew to the rooftop to pray.  As he grew hungry, he fell into a trance and saw a strange vision.  A giant sheet was lowered to Earth from Heaven, and on this sheet were animals of all kinds.  A voice from Heaven called out to Peter, saying, "Get up, Peter; kill and eat."²

Peter was born and raised in the Jewish faith, so he was taught to faithfully follow the Jewish Law, including dietary rules found in the Book of Leviticus.  Many of the animals on the sheet lowered from Heaven were forbidden to eat or even to touch.³  Surprisingly, Peter was being instructed by God to do something he had been explicitly taught not to do, something contrary to the holy scriptures of his religion.  Naturally, Peter objected to the voice's instructions, claiming that he had never eaten anything "profane or unclean."⁴

The voice from Heaven called out to Peter again, saying, "What God has made clean, you must not call profane."  This verbal exchange happened three times, and then the giant sheet covered with animals was taken back up to Heaven.  Peter sat on the rooftop, trying to figure out what in the world he had just seen.⁵

Peter would soon realize that the strange vision he was just shown was not about food specifically.  It was meant to teach him that God will sometimes call him to do something he had been previously taught was out-of-bounds.

While Peter was still mulling over what he had just seen, some men arrived at the house and started asking for him.  The Holy Spirit said to Peter, "Look, three men are searching for you.  Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation; for I have sent them."  Peter met with the three men and learned that they had been sent by a Roman centurion named Cornelius, whom they described as "an upright and God-fearing man."  Peter invited the messengers to stay with him for the evening, and, the next day, he set out with them to Cornelius's house in the city of Caesarea.⁶

Cornelius was a "God-fearer,"⁷ meaning that, though he had not fully converted to the Jewish religion and started following the Jewish Law, he worshiped in the God of the Jewish people.⁸  He was also known for his generosity.⁹  All that said, there were a couple of things that would make Peter hesitant to associate with him.  First, Cornelius was a Gentile, a non-Jewish person.  In the same way that Peter had been taught to not eat any foods considered unclean, he had been taught to not closely associate with Gentiles, who were also considered unclean.  Second, Cornelius was a high-ranking officer in the Roman military, meaning that Peter's people would have considered him an oppressor.¹⁰

When Peter arrived at Cornelius's house, he saw that the centurion, his family, and his friends had all gathered to hear what Peter would say to them.  Peter, who had come to realize that his strange vision was not about animals or food but about human beings, said, "You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean."¹¹

Peter asked Cornelius why he sent for him, and Cornelius revealed that a messenger of God appeared to him and instructed him to send for Peter.  Peter then said, "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him."¹²

Peter proceeded to tell everyone gathered at Cornelius's house about the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  While he was still speaking, the Holy Spirit descended upon the centurion, his friends, and his family and empowered them to speak in languages they did not know previously, in the same way that the Holy Spirit descended upon Peter and Jesus' other disciples on the day of Pentecost.  Astonished, Peter asked, "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?"¹³

Peter concludes his story, asking, "If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?"  Those who had questioned Peter's actions now find themselves awestruck and full of praise.¹⁴

Peter's surprising story had some profound implications for the early Church.  The first followers of Jesus were Jewish like He was, and naturally they thought that the movement He started was for people of their own faith.  The Holy Spirit called Peter to reach out beyond the boundaries of his own faith tradition and to welcome people he had been taught to exclude, and his story showed his fellow believers that God's intentions for the Church were greater than they ever imagined, that not just their own people but all people were called to follow Christ.

Is it possible that Peter's story also has implications for the modern-day Church?  Is it possible that God is calling us to minister to others in ways that we were taught were out-of-bounds?  Is it possible that God is calling us to start including certain people we were taught to exclude?

I wonder how many Christians nowadays are capable of being led and taught by the Holy Spirit in the surprising way that Peter was, because so many of us assume that God will abide by our theology or our interpretations of the Bible.  Jesus told His first followers that they had not yet learned everything they would ever need to know and that they would need to continue learning from the Holy Spirit.¹⁵  The same is true about His followers today.

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For more thoughts on including those we've been taught to exclude, see my 2020 perspective "What Matters Most."


Notes:

1. Acts 11:1-4
2. Acts 10:9-13 (NRSV)
3. Leviticus 11
4. Acts 10:14 (NRSV)
5. Acts 10:15-17 (NRSV)
6. Acts 10:17-24 (NRSV)
7. Acts 10:1-2
8. William Barclay.  The Acts of the Apostles, Revised Edition.  1976, Westminster Press.  p. 79
9. Acts 10:2
10. William H. Willimon.  Acts (Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching).  1988, John Knox Press.  p. 95
11. Acts 10:24-28 (NRSV)
12. Acts 10:29-35 (NRSV)
13. Acts 10:36-47 (NRSV)
14. Acts 11:17-18 (NRSV)
15. John 16:12-13

The illustration of Peter's preaching at Cornelius's house is from The Story of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation by Charles Foster.