Saturday, February 17, 2018

Feb 17: The Law was Satisfied, not Broken


Leviticus 4:1-5:19

Mark 2:13-3:6

Psalm 36:1-12

Proverbs 10:1-2


n today's NT reading, Jesus breaks convention thrice.  He calls, and then eats, with sinners.  He and His disciples do not fast.  Then He breaks the Sabbath rest, first by permitting His disciples to gather grain, then more egregiously by entering the synagogue and healing a man's shriveled hand.  All these actions are sinful according to the law, and would require extensive, involved and elaborate atonement fortuitously (I will not say coincidentally - there are NO coincidences in God's plans!) enough described in today's OT reading.  So why did Jesus do all this?


Today's lazy response would be "to protest the [insert cause here: patriarchy, racial structures, male dominance, government]" - which one might then use to justify sinful, self indulgent actions, to justify "sticking it to the man".  But was that Jesus's purpose?  


I take my clues from what He said: "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners".  The laws Jesus was breaking were put in place to achieve a goal - reconciliation with God.  But complete and perfect reconciliation with God was impossible - man was certain to sin after atonement.  So Jesus came to fulfill, to satisfy the law, to once and for all save the sinner, taking from him the impossible burden of complete and perfect atonement, and replacing it instead with the need to acknowledge Him, believe in Him, and receive that very atonement, which He makes in the sinner's behalf.  In our behalf.


How should we respond?  Certainly not with the indignation of the Pharisees, I don't think.  In today's proverb we read of a "wise son" - one who, I believe, sees, recognizes, acknowledges and responds to truth.  And the truth, according to today's psalm, is that God's "reaches to the heavens" and His faithfulness "to the skies".  He "preserve[s] both people and animals." We can "take refuge in the shadow of [His] wings" and "feast on the abundance of [His] house".  


If today we met Someone and found out He was ready to love us faithfully, preserve us, give us refuge and let us feast in abundance, how WOULD we respond?  

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