Nov 5: Not My Problem

Paul was not bragging when he talked about the toil and drudgery he endured while proclaiming the gospel. He makes a point of his working so as not to burden anyone. He worked to support himself, rather than asking the new Christians to support him—just the opposite of what the scribes and Pharisees were doing, according to the gospel. Jesus accused them of laying heavy burdens on people, without helping them to bear those burdens. So what kind of burdens did the Pharisees impose?

The Pharisees and scribes were very familiar with the laws of their Jewish religion. Almost every detail of daily life was covered by some law. And they could be very persuasive about strictly keeping those laws. Originally those laws and regulations were meant to set the Hebrews apart from other peoples, to be a sign of holiness. For example, the Ten Commandments are based on loving God above all else (first three commandments) and loving your neighbor (last seven.) But over the years, rabbis added more and more details to the laws, until it was almost impossible to keep them all straight.

But what if someone needed help on a Sabbath? If you broke a Sabbath rule, even for a good reason, you could not go to the Pharisees to get an exemption. They would say, “Not my problem.” Remember the times Jesus cured the sick on the Sabbath, and how they condemned him for working on the day of rest.

Jesus, however, came to remind us that holiness is more important than scrupulosity. If we truly live the ideal of loving God with our whole being and loving our neighbor, we will find that love is much easier to bear than the fear of doing something wrong. Jesus also gave us his Holy Spirit to help guide us in the path of holiness. And through his death on the cross, Jesus gave us forgiveness if we do commit a sin. All we have to do is confess the sin to experience that forgiveness. So keeping the law of love is no problem.

Tom Schmidt