The Laws.

It is the nature of the human mind to seek to find patterns.
These patterns are often condensed into rules which are said to be universal.
When rewards and punishments are attached to these rules we have the laws*.

How many books have been written which claim to outline the laws of human experience.
They would  even legalize love.

Laws make us feel secure.  They are certain and unchanging.  We are in control.

This is the nature of the legalistic religion of the Pharisees.
This is also the nature of fundamentalism in religion.
It makes us feel secure.

Jesus broke the law of the Jews on several occasions and said, "'The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath.'"  Mark 2:27 (NRSV)
By which he meant that humanity's wellbeing and happiness was more important than the rules.

So do not get hung up on the laws and the rules.
They may not be as important as we think.

Making rules is one of the ways that we make sense out of life.

But God does not obey our rules.
God is unpredictable.
We cannot control God.

The ten commandments are not laws to be rewarded or punished.
They are guidelines for living.

The laws were made for humankind, not humankind for the laws.

*Metaphysical laws not policing


(Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the  National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.)