With that in mind, here's a Jesus story!
Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone."
Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent.
He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.
Mark 3:1-5
Last Time on Pro Vita Sua...
What I've realized is that what faith is actually about is the things we can't possibly know, like the how of the statement "Jesus is God and Man". The point of the statement is to draw our attention to the paradox, or the Mystery. The goal is that we should experience the Mystery - a "Mystical experience". Knowing about the words is not the point. I guess maybe we could say getting the words right is not even the point... although the words are actually what direct us to the Mystery. Maybe that's what makes good and bad doctrine - good doctrine brings us to the Mystery, bad doctrine distracts us from the Mystery or covers it up. For instance, the doctrine that Jesus was not really a human being, but just looked like one, is a heresy, not because the words are literally or factually wrong, but because it eliminates the paradox. It totally destroys the Mystery, which is the whole point of the doctrine of the Incarnation (God becoming Man).
But on the flip-side to this whole thing is a strange implication... if faith is all about the things that we can't possibly know, but only experience as Mystery, what does that mean for the things we can know - the words, the facts, the claims, the liturgy, the commandments? Well, apparently these things exist for one purpose and one purpose only - to bring us to the Mystery. Once we have the Mystery, they fall away, fading into the background... they become unimportant. They have served their purpose.
Jesus understood this.
What is the purpose of the commandment? It seems like Jesus often broke the commandments, or bent them a little, or added to them. He touched lepers. His disciples ate without ceremonially cleansing their hands. It's not that they didn't respect the commandments; Jesus said "I come not to abolish the Law, but to fulfil it." But they apparently weren't too worried about keeping the commandments too strictly. If it was ever overbearing and unreasonable (as in the hand-washing thing), or if it ever got in the way of doing something good (such as healing a guy on the Sabbath), Jesus was willing to let the rules slide. Does Jesus not care about the Law? Of course he does! He even asks the people in the synagogue, "Which is lawful to do on the Sabbath...?" And then he proceeds directly to breaking the rules! How can he justify this?
[WARNING: The rest of this post may make some readers uncomfortable -
i.e. Here Be Dragons!]
By transcending the Law. Jesus saw through the letter of the Law to the spirit of the law... he saw the deeper meaning of the commandment, and he allowed the deeper meaning, the spirit, to direct his actions.
So what is the "spirit" of a commandment?
I've heard Old Testament scholars say that while a certain commandment says such-and-such, the spirit of the commandment is actually so-and-so. By which I take it they mean "God said [stuff], but what he actually meant to say was [other stuff]." So why doesn't God just say what He means? A problem in the chain of command, I guess??
But what are we doing here? We're taking one commandment, and replacing it with another commandment. The spirit of a commandment can't just be another commandment. What is it that's really behind the commandment, then? You got it - a Mystery! If we try to find and articulate what God means by a commandment (any commandment!), we're just running circles from one commandment to another. "What God really means", what's important about the command, is something we could never even dream of putting into words.
But this means that it's not really important that we keep or follow the commandments in the strict, literal sense... which means we're not really obligated to do so... which means... wait... God's commandments aren't binding!!!
What.
But the commandments have to mean something! We can't just ignore them and do whatever, can we? Of course we shouldn't do that, and Jesus didn't do that either! When Jesus encounters the spirit of the commandment, the Mystery inspires him to act. Healing a man on the Sabbath isn't just ok for Jesus, it's "Lawful". Even though it technically "breaks" the Law. But the Law inspired Jesus to act. Jesus said to his disciples, "A new command I give you - love one another!" An odd command - it doesn't actually spell out anything to do or not do. No, love is close to the heart of Mystery - we have a hard time saying what it means exactly, but it certainly has the power of inspiring us to action!
So how do we find this inspiration in the commandments? Follow the psalmist's example - "His delight is in the Law of the LORD, and on His Law he meditates day and night."
Now I don't usually have many positive things to say about Martin Luther. But it seems he had a point in one thing - when he cried "faith alone!" and his opponents said "but works too, right?" he replied "No! Faith alone. But our love for God should inspire us to obey Him, out of gratitude." Now Luther would probably have gone on to say that of course obeying God meant keeping the commands in sort of a literal sense, so it's not quite the same as what I'm saying here. But my point is that obeying the spirit of the command is not something we do because we are bound to it, but because the Mystery has inspired us.
Q: But doesn't a command carry some obligation?
A: Yes, but only insofar as it inspires action.
Q: It sounds like I only have to follow the commands I want to follow! Isn't the Christian life supposed to involve sacrificing what I want for the sake of God and others?
A: Yes! That's one of the miracles and Mysteries of Christianity - Christians sacrifice because we want to, because we're inspired to! Not because we're guilted into it. It doesn't make much sense, but it's not supposed to - it's a Mystery.
Q: But what if I don't feel inspired to do exactly what a particular command says?
A: Then don't worry about doing exactly what it says. Jesus didn't. Do what it inspires you to do.
But what if a command doesn't inspire me at all?
I don't understand this command at all. Following it doesn't seem right, or breaking it doesn't seem wrong. I feel profoundly uninspired by it, even a little dismayed.
Short answer: Don't worry about it. Jesus wasn't a big fan of worrying in general, and you shouldn't be either. But don't just assume you should ignore it - meditate on it. Wrestle with it. Chances are there's something about it which can inspire you to do something. After all, someone was inspired to write it!
What you should not do is shrug your shoulders and follow the command literally, "just to be safe." Because that is not safe. As we see so often from the Pharisees in Jesus's time, the overly strict and uninspired enforcing of commandments not only misses the point, it can often work against the spirit of the Law. The mark of the Pharisees is that they are uninspired - despite their deep knowledge of the Law, they are ignorant of its meaning, and their attempts to enforce it end up obscuring the Mystery and turning people away from God. God forbid that we should do the same!
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