Choosing our direction

Now when He had spoken, a Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him; and He went in, and reclined at the table.

Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering." When He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile and to question Him closely on many subjects, plotting against Him to catch Him in something He might say. (Luke 11:37, 52-54 NASB)

The trouble started in the most innocent of ways. Jesus had spoken to a crowd. One of the Pharisees was present and invited Jesus to have lunch with him. At that time, Jesus was wildly popular, gathering huge crowds everywhere He went. Having Jesus to lunch was a little like winning a prize, I imagine, and the Pharisee invited some of his friends to join him and meet Jesus.

From the start, there was conflict. The Pharisees were unhappy that Jesus did not obey the laws about ritual cleansing before meals. Jesus quickly explained that there was a difference between cleaning the outside of our bodies and allowing God to cleanse our hearts. The Pharisees had been so intent on obeying the rules of law (especially the manmade ones) that they had missed the Spirit of the law. They were like dead men walking, leaving the odor of death everywhere they went.

The lawyers present quickly complained. "You're talking about us, too." Jesus agreed. Yes, He was talking about them, too. The lawyers not only weighed people down with unnecessary rules that they did not follow themselves, but they had the key of knowledge that could have unlocked the kingdom of God. They had studied the Scriptures since childhood, knew the Messianic prophecies, yet refused to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah. They actively prevented anyone else from knowing Him.

After Jesus left the luncheon, the Pharisees and lawyers began to be hostile. The wording implies that they weren't hostile while He was present. After He left, the enemy found a foothold and stirred up trouble. They seethed about the confrontation with Jesus, simmering like a pot of soup. Seething led to plotting. Plotting led to schemes, then, eventually, to murder. 

When God confronts us with our sin, we have two options. We can embrace His truth and allow Him to cleanse and change us or we can respond as the Pharisees did, with hostility and anger. Neither response is the end, however. When we respond with hostility and anger, rather than allowing Him to change us, it is only the beginning. Anger begets action. Action birthed in such inauspicious beginnings is never good, and it will take us places we never wanted to go. 

Our other option, the one I want to choose, is to embrace His truth and allow Him to change the broken parts of us. That response is not the end, either. When we allow God to change us, He makes us into something better. Someone more like Christ. That change, too, can allow Him to do things with us that we never imagined. 

Every day, we stand at a decision point that will bring us closer to Jesus or take us further away. We need to keep our goal in sight. If what we want is to spend eternity with our Savior, our goal should be to steadily draw closer to Him. Every decision we make should be made with that goal in mind, especially when our own sin is concerned. 

Let's do what the Pharisee did. Invite Christ to spend some time with us today so we can get to know Him better. If He shows us something about ourselves that we didn't want to know, (and He almost certainly will) let's embrace His truth and allow Him to make us what He meant us to be, then allow Him to do more than we ever imagined with our lives.

Extending Mercy

Woe unto you! for ye are as the tombs which appear not, and the men that walk over them know it not. And one of the lawyers answering saith unto him, Teacher, in saying this thou reproachest us also. And he said, Woe unto you lawyers also! for ye load men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe unto you! for ye build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. So ye are witnesses and consent unto the works of your fathers: for they killed them, and ye build their tombs. (Luke 11:44-48 ASV)

Jesus spoke to the lawyers concerning their failings, as well as to the Pharisees. Remember that "woe" basically means "you should be ashamed of yourself". The "lawyers" were the scribes. They studied the law in depth and taught it to the people The problem for which Jesus reproved them was that they added man's tradition to God's law and made following the law more burdensome than God intended. 

What they taught the people was "grievous to be borne" but the lawyers (or scribes) didn't bother to follow it. They had an appearance of piety, but, in private, they did whatever they wanted. They were not only false teachers but also hypocrites, for they tried to hold people to a standard they could not attain. They didn't even attempt to rise to the standard they had set. 

My grandmother used to say, "What's good for the goose is good for the gander." She had a variety of uses for that phrase, but she mostly used it to indicate that, if others should do a thing, so should I. Good for one, good for all. 

So it is with discipleship. Right is always right. If Jesus says we are to live a certain way, then we all are supposed to live that way. The life of a disciple is, in some ways, much easier than we have been led to believe. If we choose our actions based on the Golden Rule, we have a good start on acting like Jesus. Treat others as you want them to treat you. 

One of the problems we have is that we only want to treat certain people as we want them to treat us. If I want mercy but try to administer justice to those around me instead, I have failed to love my neighbor as myself. 

Recently, I spoke to a young man who was paying a ticket for a seat belt violation. "He could have got me bad," he told me of the policeman who had stopped him. The policeman had seen the other violations but had chosen to mention them instead of pile up fines for the young man. When he realized the seat belt ticket would not go on his record, he was thrilled. "I'd have had to go to the big house (prison) if it did." Then, he told me what I didn't expect, "You don't have to worry about me any more. I never want to go to that big house ever again. I've learned my lesson. I'm not taking any more chances." He turned to his friend, who was with him. "Even my friends are buckling their seat belts when they ride with me now." His friend confirmed it.

The young man had been given mercy when a more severe citation would have been justified. It was the kind of grace I'd like to receive. The policeman had acted with mercy, and that's how I want to be, too. Will the seat belt offender break the law again? Maybe, but maybe not. I'm not called to predict the future, but to respond in the present. 

We have the opportunity to extend either mercy or judgment to all those we encounter. Let's choose mercy, every time. After all, if the choice is between justice or mercy, mercy is what I want given to me.

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8 NIV)