39 “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. 40 Yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
The dispute over “letter of the law” versus “spirit of the law” is clearly not a new one. Jesus tended to get most grumpy toward those persons who insisted that it was more important to obey the words as they were written rather than the intent behind those words.
“Keep the Sabbath holy, do no work” is pretty specific, with the Sabbath day understood as a day for putting aside all other things in order to focus on and honor God. However, the prohibition against working should not prevent one from saving a life. How better, after all, to honor God, than to save one of God’s children? Are we not told to love our neighbor? How can allowing them to die in order to obey the letter of the law be in any way construed as loving them? This was Jesus’ point at least, when he pointed out to the Pharisees that even they would rescue their donkey if it fell in a well on the Sabbath.
Looking at the Gospels, we can see that Jesus is trying throughout to get the Pharisees and Sadducees to understand that slavish devotion to the Law is not the way to the Father. Right living is. Hearing what Jesus is saying about caring for one another with compassion and mercy is. Mostly they didn’t listen. They weren’t willing or able to see that sometimes the higher law must take precedence.
Sometimes we don’t listen, either.
Loving God, we know we don’t always put the love commandments at the forefront when we are interacting with others or making decisions. Sometimes we just don’t listen. Give us ears to hear, Lord, that we might listen better, and do your will. Amen
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