Go, and Learn What This Means

Matthew 9:9-13

First, the bad news--we ALL struggle with our inner Pharisee. I know no one wants to be one, and certainly not called one, but if the shoe fits... Being a Pharisee is a human response driven by the basic ambiguity of the world as it is. What being a Pharisee means is that when we confront the amorphous nature of human existence--its stubborn greys instead of clear black and white distinctions; its hazy wandering between right and wrong; and the reality that getting answers leads to more questions most often--we buckle down and simplify things. Where there is grey, we adamantly hammer home a black or white option; where there is situational fuzziness about right and wrong, we hammer home absolutes, no matter what the consequence; and once we find an answer, we stop thinking--it is what it is, period. The Pharisees simply applied this thinking to faith--it is not complicated, God gave us the rules--twice, mind you (Leviticus and Deuteronomy)--so keep them and that is being faithful. See? No mess, no bother; faith could not be more simple!

Second, more bad news--faith, like life, is never simple and refuses to fall into the neat, little boxes and compartments we construct for it. We make our distinctions--their side is bad, our side is good, then we meet one of THEM who seems to care as much as we do about the compassion, grace, and mercy, and our distinction falls to pieces. We know lying is wrong, then a child asks her mother if she ever did drugs while in college, and the mom knows that she did, but refuses to divulge this truth, lying to cover it, because her child does not need to know that piece of history at the moment. A person wonders why God does nothing to help the suffering, but hears a sermon in which the call comes for believers to work to end suffering, but then the person meets suffering that is beyond his ability to cope with, raising only more questions about suffering and God. No matter how hard any of these folks try to organize and orchestrate life, it refuses their efforts to fall under control. Simply, reducing things to lists and codes does nothing. In fact, it can do quite a bit of harm.

For instance, Jesus traveled, gathering a special group who would be the Twelve. As Jesus called them, he made no distinctions about whom he called, revealing a rather terrible ability to judge character--a terrorist, a couple of hot heads, an eventual traitor, a denier, a doubter, and, then to cap it all off, a TAX COLLECTOR--a minion of Rome who was at root of all Israel’s troubles--just ask any Israelite. The Pharisees are boom-fuddled. Here is a man--a rabbi--whom some name the Messiah--yet he cannot keep the simple rules of association, willy-nilly choosing to walk among the dregs--at least, as Pharisees name them--what gives?

The good news, that’s what.

First, Jesus does not dismiss the goodness nor the appropriate nature of the rules. Matthew, the man called here in this story, remembers well that Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law--on the contrary, I came to fulfill it!” But we need to see that fulfilling the Law is not the same thing as blind obedience to the Law. Fulfillment means getting deeper, getting behind the Law, per se, and grasping what lay at its heart. God gave Israel the Law--Jesus asks us to think about why. What was God thinking?

Which leads to the second bit of good news--love, that was what God was thinking--God was consumed by love for God’s children, so God fenced them in with rules that would and could shape a life lived in and through love. Any good parent or teacher knows this truth intrinsically. A child does not need wild abandon to become who they are; they need guidance, help, and parameters by which to grow. Neither do we as we seek to grow into faith. So, yes, spend some time with the commandments of God, but leave the Pharisee’s predilection for reductionism at home. Instead, don’t stop with just the list of rules, get into them to truly understand them. 

For instance, the codes on food--a healthy diet leads to a healthy body which houses a healthy mind, so, eat well, be well, and live well. The codes on the household--there are behaviors that will shatter the peace and unity of a home, so work for love--honor the elders--they got us here, thankfully care for them; instruct the children--yes, discipline can be holy, and disrespect can be devastating, so help the youngest find their place; and on through the lists. But in each case, see the love that shaped the dictum.

The Pharisees missed the point, blinded by obedience. So blind are they that when they see Jesus sitting at table with lost lambs, they cannot see the children of God in the room. They have no love. Hence, they have no compassion for anyone in that room. They see only a mess to be avoided. Jesus calls them to task. These are broken people in need of mending, not judgment. They are sick, they need healing. “Go, reread the rules you so treasure,” says Christ. “You are the ministers of health for these people--the Law says so--keep it--REALLY keep it.”

And so Jesus speaks to all of us here today, too.

There is no greater work for us to do than to also “God and learn what this means...” Our world, everyone we meet within it, and we ourselves need love to make it through the morass in which we live. We need love to navigate the ambiguity. Love gives us the space and freedom to deal with the amorphous nature of life. Love allows us to see that there is no need to label human beings in black/white terms--they are all children of God. Love allows us to dwell in a situational context where what is right and wrong flows along a spectrum of possibility--yes, lying is wrong, but the truth can also be a hammer that shatters someone--act accordingly. Love allows us to accept the wonder of eternal growth--that no answer is final, and that, yes, each answer brings more and more questions, but it is through those questions that we grow, deepen, and become. Love gets us through the minefield we call daily life. It connects us to help, and helps us to become help for others. 

So, release the inner Pharisees. Let them go. Life is not that simple and never will be. That is okay. All shall be well and all manner of things shall be well. Love will see us through it all.