Grace AND Truth

I too am challenged by Audra's quote: "The problem with most Christian parents is that they are trying to raise their kids to practice a Christian morality rather than be Christ-minded." And then I come across Jesus in Matthew 5.

Jesus: "Don't suppose for a moment that I have come to demolish the Scriptures...I'm not here to demolish but to complete...Unless you do far better than the Pharisees in the matters of right living, you won't know the first thing about entering the kingdom."

Impossibility. Disorientation. What am I to do with Jesus' words? Unless I do far better than the Pharisees? Jesus words are a hand grenade thrown into my Christian-morality-based worldview. What does he mean when he sets the bar so high in matters of right living? Who can I follow as a model?

Oh, that's right. I'll follow Jesus - since he knows so much about God's kingdom. But wait...if he came "not to demolish the scriptures" and the way of right living, why does he:
- break the Sabbath rules?
-talk to foreign women?
-hang out with tax collectors?
-not berate one caught in adultery? (although as my husband point out, he did uphold the law - he told her to go and stop doing what she was doing)
-verbally cut down those who are working on matters of right living?

He must know something more - something I tend to forget. He must know that "right living" is more than rules of behavior; the lines are not always black and white. Right living seems not to be a list of facts to be believed or tasks to be done so my life appears a certain way. Rather right living seems to have to do with my connection to and relationship with God. Right living seeks his heart and his agenda in each situation rather than defaulting to a list of predetermined procedures. Right living seeks his eyes regarding matters. Right living seeks to create, not codify. (And it is a lovely dance of both grace and truth.)

As I was thinking about all this yesterday, I came across an story in a book I am reading that struck me. "One monk told me, 'This is because the minute you write something down, you set it in stone. And that's dangerous, because then someone will want to enforce it.' Because they operate as families, Benedictines can claim a culture that is primarily oral rather than written, more dependent on lived experience than explicit codes of conduct." And isn't that what Jesus did? Of course he "upheld the law" but he did it in a way that was dependent upon lived experience (with the Father and with people) rather than the Pharisees explicit codes of conduct.

So, I confess I am a Pharisee so often by nature and by culture. I take the easy way out and follow rules rather than Jesus. I follow a Christian morality that is falsely labeled "godly" rather than actively pursuing this Man who lived, breathed, and died God's kingdom. Lord Jesus, have mercy on me, a sinner.