As a Christian, the scriptures have given me tremendous comfort. Yet, equally, Gods message is there to warn us away from behaviour that not only offends God, but is also as harmful to others as it is self-destructive. While there are varying methods of bible interpretation, one key to discerning the true meaning of a passage is objectivity. In respect of objectivity, consider those moments when reading scripture stops you in your tracks. At the very least, we have to be willing to believe that the scripture might be an indictment upon our own current attitudes, choices and behaviour. We have to resist the defensive tendency: trying to exonerate ourselves of blame immediately. Instead, wW should allow God to work through the least self-serving interpretation to excuse or accuse us of wrong. An example of this is seen in Lukes observation about a teacher of the Law, who vetted Christ about the Greatest Commandments. He agreed with the first part of Christs uncompromising answer (You shall love The Lord Your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength) Luke Yet, in respect of the other key commandment (you shall love your neighbour as much as you love yourself), he felt a challenge to his own choices and behaviour. The recognition that his own pillar of the community standing concealed a comprehensive moral failure might have led to an admission that he pretty much always placed his love of self before others. It might have led to a plea to Christ to give him understanding, help and show compassion towards his patent weakness. But, for a teacher of the Law to make such a public admission of wholesale guilt would involve a humiliating loss of credibility. It would be an admission that, contrary to his public image, on the inside, he had no more moral pedigree than common criminals. Even they can treat their families well, master their skills to achieve results ( albeit harmful ones) and love those who love them back. It would be an admission that he had mastered little more than a mind-set of concealment and selective scrutiny of Gods Word to mankind. Ouch! As a Bible teacher, I am painfully aware of how such an admission would play out. The ensuing public accusations of hypocrisy would make anyone flinch. So, for this teacher, there was far too much status to lose. As a result, Luke observed an attempt of the teacher to absolve himself. He did so by trying to alter the scope of his duty towards others: And who is my neighbour?, he asked. Humans do this with duty all the time: being selective or glibly unconcerned about those who deserve our help and those who we think dont; those we accept and those who we dont. For a moment, think of the many bullied school-children, abused foreigners, refused insurance claims, customer service failures, overbearing bosses and delinquent employees. In each case, a self-serving limit on the scope of our obligations can allow people to treat the rights of others with contempt. In fact, in every civil claim that reaches court, the arguments of lawyers will always test the scope of duty that we owe towards others. It is this kind of self-excusing reaction in the fact of a known obligation that damns us, rather than the refusing to meet our moral obligations. We question whether we have the same duty to work for the betterment of women, foreigners, our youth, an estranged partner,or a hostile work colleague. And who is my neighbour?, we ask, do I have the same duty towards these as I do towards my friends? Christs answer is an emphatic Yes! Love your neighbour as much as yourself is a law with no exclusion clauses. And it is at this time, rather than hiding from responsibility, they we should resolve to seek His help to change. We can put our hands up, saying remorsefully, Guilty as charged. Guilty? Yes! Condemned? No! As the wise author of Proverbs put it: Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. (Prov. 28:13) Only if we try to absolve ourselves of duty, do we call down final judgement on our own heads. There is no remedy for unyielding rejection of that insight that we receive about our duty towards God and man: Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. (John 3:18 - 21) Do you or I accept the intense (and often painful) light of moral scrutiny or the selfish darkness of hiding from our duty towards God and neighbour? Therein lies the decider of our eternal fate. Amen.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 13:39:00 +0000
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