Sometimes you should be careful about putting amateurs in charge of important things.
I imagine that this is how God feels about human beings trying to make law. The great Divine Law-giver, the shaper of righteousness and the definer of right and wrong, must shed considerable heavenly tears observing worldly legislative bodies writing what we call laws, trying to do what we consider good, all the while blaspheming the very nature and purpose of the Holy Law itself and denying the grace that gives it life.
What happens when men write laws? (And I use the sexist term deliberately – maybe there would be less trouble if there were more female heads and hearts in the process!) We strive to ban people’s right to band together for their common good, we embrace injustice and drive out those who are different from us, we encourage murder in the name of preserving life.
I’ve been told that it’s ok to heave hundreds of thousands of people into unemployment for the sake of the ideal of reducing deficits. Whatever it takes lest we overtax our wealth! And what kind of legislation is this?
This is not what God intends as law.
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.” Matthew 12:7-8
It is a sign of our brokenness that we lift ideals above people, that we are cold-hearted and indifferent to the needs of the poor, that our principles, philosophies and political positions are worshipped at the price of violence and the suffering of many.
This is not how God teaches us righteousness. The Law of God is not abstract, not an arbitrary pronouncement, not an altar on which goodness and kindness are sacrificed over some other-worldly code. No, the law of God is the path of healing and wholeness, the definition of community and love of neighbor, the promotion of what is best and the vision of good will for all. God’s law does not condemn the other, it cares for aliens and orphans and widows. God’s law does not justify violence but turns other cheeks. God’s law does not protect wealth or power over people, but protects the oppressed and judges those who oppress them.
God gives law that we might know life. How abominable that we use the law to take life away.
How faithless we are to the God who gives law.
You see, the divine law-giver is also the God of the Christ, the one who defines what is right and wrong and showers mercy on both. He does not merely write laws, he creates and renews persons; he does not save himself, he saves us. In all things, his Word reflects his Grace, and by that Grace he moves his Kingdom forward with hope and purpose.
And he invites us to do the same, that we might know, even in a small way, the same.
We just have to learn now how really to make law.
I imagine that this is how God feels about human beings trying to make law. The great Divine Law-giver, the shaper of righteousness and the definer of right and wrong, must shed considerable heavenly tears observing worldly legislative bodies writing what we call laws, trying to do what we consider good, all the while blaspheming the very nature and purpose of the Holy Law itself and denying the grace that gives it life.
What happens when men write laws? (And I use the sexist term deliberately – maybe there would be less trouble if there were more female heads and hearts in the process!) We strive to ban people’s right to band together for their common good, we embrace injustice and drive out those who are different from us, we encourage murder in the name of preserving life.
I’ve been told that it’s ok to heave hundreds of thousands of people into unemployment for the sake of the ideal of reducing deficits. Whatever it takes lest we overtax our wealth! And what kind of legislation is this?
This is not what God intends as law.
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.” Matthew 12:7-8
It is a sign of our brokenness that we lift ideals above people, that we are cold-hearted and indifferent to the needs of the poor, that our principles, philosophies and political positions are worshipped at the price of violence and the suffering of many.
This is not how God teaches us righteousness. The Law of God is not abstract, not an arbitrary pronouncement, not an altar on which goodness and kindness are sacrificed over some other-worldly code. No, the law of God is the path of healing and wholeness, the definition of community and love of neighbor, the promotion of what is best and the vision of good will for all. God’s law does not condemn the other, it cares for aliens and orphans and widows. God’s law does not justify violence but turns other cheeks. God’s law does not protect wealth or power over people, but protects the oppressed and judges those who oppress them.
God gives law that we might know life. How abominable that we use the law to take life away.
How faithless we are to the God who gives law.
You see, the divine law-giver is also the God of the Christ, the one who defines what is right and wrong and showers mercy on both. He does not merely write laws, he creates and renews persons; he does not save himself, he saves us. In all things, his Word reflects his Grace, and by that Grace he moves his Kingdom forward with hope and purpose.
And he invites us to do the same, that we might know, even in a small way, the same.
We just have to learn now how really to make law.
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