THE RULE OF LOVE…

This past weekend I preached on Luke 6:1-11. I hope you’ll read it if you haven’t already. Jesus is scrutinized by the Pharisees for violating many of the sabbath rules. There were many rules for what one could or could not do on the sabbath and Jesus’ disciples pluck and thresh grain (a violation) so they can eat it. Then Jesus speaks healing into a man with a withered hand (healing was not allowed on the sabbath… but Jesus only spoke healing words… so if he had a good present-day lawyer he could probably get an acquittal). Jesus reminds us that even on the sabbath that hungry people need to eat and broken people need healed.  

In Rev. Sarah Ciavarri’s book Finding Our Way to the Truth she says “what do we love more? The simplicity of always keeping the rules even when doing so destroys life? Or loving people even when it makes keeping the rules messy?... The problem with following the rules all the time is that we can miss the very people we are called to serve and lead” (page 44).  

Jesus didn’t overthrow the sabbath commandment. He re-framed it and all of the rules we follow. At the core of our belief about God and at the core of the Ten Commandments is love and life. Who do these rules serve and are they life-giving? 

Thinking about yourself and your own sabbath rest—what do you find life-giving? Is there something you can do today that will fill you up and remind you of God’s love? What do you find life-draining? Is there something you can stop doing today to make more room for God’s gift of life?  

Rules aren’t bad but we get to examine the motivation and what/who they actually serve. Luke 6 leaves us to wonder with Prof. Elisabeth Johnson: “is there ever really a wrong day to do something good?” I hope you will join me in doing something life-giving today.

In Christ,

PB