What Have We Been Carefully Taught That We Need To Unlearn?
Good Morning Friends,
Today’s reading suggests to us that, before Christ, the laws required the regular sacrificing of animals to atone for our sins. It all seems rather foreign to us today and frankly how this was practiced 2000 years ago I doubt was pleasing to God even way back then. And I think this was so because the practice, though obedient to the law, had become more of a ritual and as a result failed in a spiritual sense to really cleanse the minds of the sinner. If the sacrifice had meant total forgiveness and cleansing, it should have resulted in a change in lifestyle and behavior. But that was not happening. Now we might say the same thing about the sacrifice of Jesus, for we still have free will to reject even that which is good for us. But there is a fundamental difference here that we must understand. God the Father would never be pleased with any ritual that did not realize at least the potential of our sanctification. And animal sacrifice only gave a shadow of the potential to come. That is why God provided, in the great mystery of it all, His son Jesus to exact for us a new covenant. Now for carrying this plan out, people, even his own family, thought Jesus crazy. If we had been there we might have come to the same conclusion for few today grasp the potential of the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross in turning around the thinking of humans to a new way. And so today we contemplate a reboot of sorts and a clearing of our memory, so we might understand properly even as we ask. What Have We Been Carefully Taught That We Need To Unlearn?
Scripture: Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who approach. Otherwise, would they not have ceased being offered, since the worshipers, cleansed once for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sin? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘See, God, I have come to do your will, O God’ (in the scroll of the book it is written of me).” When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “See, I have come to do your will.” He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. And it is by God’s will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Hebrews 10:1-10 (NRSV)
Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
Mark 3:31-35 (NRSV)
Message: Friends, we have much to unlearn in our bias toward others and the ritual habits that have become part of our behavior that no longer or perhaps never did really serve a divine purpose. Part of our spiritual training in this regard has been neglected. Some of the teaching we have received is inadequate, and we need the Holy Spirit to draw out of us what has been badly taught even by those closest to us. You see, the most difficult part of spiritual training is not to put the right thing into a person but to get the wrong thing out of them. And here is the rub. When the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts, God must be embarrassed for us, and therefor convicts us, for we think we know so much already of what it would be well to leave unknown for it is unknowable. We are a self-conceited lot. We are puffed up. We have learned lessons of worldly wisdom and carnal policy, and these we need to unlearn and deny before we can be fit to be called children of God. And so, I am writing about this because today’s readings magnify the will of God and the mission of His only Son on the cross in this regard. That Jesus came into the world, from the very beginning of time to die for our sins and be resurrected is difficult to fathom. The magnitude of this event’s depth and breathe should blow our minds to embrace a new path to holiness instead of the lies we have been holding on to. It all comes down to this…. Jesus was born to die so that we might be sanctified. He abolished the first covenant so that a second covenant of love could be established. But the religious leaders and even Jesus’ own relatives had been carefully taught to hate and fear anyone who would change the balance of power and alter the laws. It had been drummed into their heads. So, think for a moment what you have been taught. Maybe you and I need to rethink our desire for riches and our view of community and who we consider family and who we rejected and accept and how we serve in healing and brining wholeness and love to others. This I believe is what God is calling us to be and do. So, we must let go of the past and its bad habits so that we can move into the future as a united family that loves each other despite differences. If we bear the name of Christ, we should not advertise the works of evil. We do not want God to look bad because of us. The world may even call us crazy for this but if we are privileged to serve and are called to this purpose of renewing our minds then it is the sanest action we can take. Ponder this awesome wonder of God’s grace and embrace in the Spirit of God a new reality.
Pray we realize that God has placed the resources within our reach for our success in unlearning as well as learning. Pray we give thanks for the birth and sacrifice of Jesus for us and the birth of a calling in us to be sanctified. Pray we beseech God’s blessings and help in honoring God by the way we live. Pray we embrace the opportunities given us to love and to serve each other. Pray we realize that we do not always have to please other people. Pray we are not afraid to show our weakness. Pray we realize that success is not the opposite of failure. Pray we let go of what is no longer working. Pray we realize that we do not have to postpone joy. Pray we realize that fitting in does not always help in belonging to something valuable.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 