Christians ignore the difficult

Laughter is the best approach. God must have a great sense of humor to put up with the people who claim to follow Jesus and his teachings. People who claim to believe the whole Bible surely have never read it.

I have been retired from full-time pastoring of a church for over 25 years. I have tried to use those years to see more clearly, love more dearly and follow more nearly. My focus has been on Jesus from Nazareth, the one I call “Lord.” How am I to understand the man from Galilee as I try to follow him? To gain understanding, my focus has left the virgin birth and Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. My attention is now more drawn to the way he lived and what he taught.

Jesus had huge respect for Old Testament Law and made a concerted attempt to be a dedicated keeper of the law. He never rejected Israelite law. Radical interpretation of the law was his point of conflict with the religious establishment. He constantly debated the meaning of the Law of Moses as found in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Out of one of his debates he declared, “I came not to destroy the Law but to live the Law fully.” On another occasion, he was asked about the greatest of commandments. His answer was simple. “Love God and love neighbor.” He claimed that those two challenges summarize the entire content of the Law. He then proceeded to redefine the meaning of “neighbor.”

I find few people who have ever read Leviticus or Deuteronomy. Jesus was obviously completely familiar with these writings and had digested them through vigorous debate and discussion. In these ingenious writings are found two kinds of law. The first was the purity codes and the second were the property codes. In the purity codes there are specific and detailed descriptions of what a person of faith must do to appear in the presence of a holy God.

The priests were obsessed with the purity codes. Further, the priests were the keepers of God’s gate. They were very tough gatekeepers. They controlled the Temple, the home of God.

Jesus lived many miles from the Temple among the poorest people of all of Palestine. Few could make the trip to Jerusalem and the Temple. Jesus firmly believed in coming to God in purity, but made the issue of purity a matter of the heart. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” In setting out that standard, Jesus did not do away with the requirement for purity before God. Many, including me, believe he raised the standard to a level that cannot be attained through mere ritual. This was the basis for his sharp conflicts with those who controlled Temple worship.

While Jesus showed keen interest in the purity codes, he paid more attention to the property codes. The property codes could not be clearer. “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine, with me you are but aliens and tenants.” According to the law, the priests were God’s real estate agents. Priests were required with equity to distribute the land to the people of Israel. Those whose land produced in abundance were required to share with those who did not do as well. According to the Law, after seven years, all debts were canceled and all slaves were set free. After 50 years all land was to be returned to the priests for a new, complete redistribution.

For a somewhat primitive economic system, the Levitical and Deuteronomic codes were ingenious. The driving force behind the property codes was an unassailable conviction that there were to be no poor people among the Israelites. Of special concern were widows and orphans. According to the property codes no one was to be left behind in poverty and need.

Jesus lived and taught among poor Jewish people who had been left behind in the economy of the area. Not only were the people poor, they were weighed down with debt. In the teachings of Jesus, his parables and aphorisms, the poor are never judged for being poor. Rather, the responsibility for poverty belongs to the rich, who live in luxury and leave the poor in their poverty. When Jesus began his teaching ministry, he declared the coming of the kingdom of God. By this he meant a jubilee celebration that featured a complete redistribution of wealth. He made it plain that it was impossible for a rich person to enter heaven. The rich in Jesus’ teachings were hopeless because they were in such drastic violation with the property codes of Leviticus and Deuteronomy.

America is a modern version of the economy of Jesus’ times. The wealthy are getting wealthier and the poor are getting poorer. The gap is getting larger and larger. Jesus in his parable about Lazarus and the rich man called the gap a chasm that could not be bridged. Lazarus, the poor beggar, was in heaven and the rich man was suffering the pains of hell.

American Christians claim special status for the Bible and then conveniently ignore its teachings. Churches harbor the rich without challenging them and walk past the poor without admitting that they are neighbors. We build prisons and shelters to keep poor people at bay.

I began by saying that God must have a sense of humor. I suspect the God of compassion also weeps tears by the bucket full.

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.

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