In Matthew Chapter 15,
Jesus gives the religious leaders another rebuking for their hypocrisy. But, once again, it was the Pharisees who started it. The scripture says, “Some Pharisees and teachers of the religious law arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked him, “Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.” Matthew 15:1-2 Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? For instance, God says, “Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’” Matthew 15:3-9 What I love most about this passage is that Jesus defines what honor is. Honor is not about following all kinds of lofty rules. Rather, honor is about doing what’s right, and having a weighted love and bearing a heavy burden for your parents. In this passage, Jesus makes clear that a person should not forsake taking care of their parents, so they can give their money just so they can give money to the church. Jesus calls the religious leaders hypocrites, which, by the way, seems to be his favorite name for them! Basically he says, “you are worried about what people put into their mouths, when you really should be concerned with how your words defile yourself.” Which brings me to the word “submit” as used in the scripture, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.” Ephesians 5:22-23 The English word “submit” comes from the Greek word “Hypotasso” - which is a military term meaning “to arrange troop divisions in a military fashion under the command of a leader.” However, in non-military use, it means “to have a voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming responsibility, and carrying a burden.” Blue Letter Bible Doesn’t the non-militant use sound much like “honor”, as Jesus described in taking care of ones mother and father? This beautiful analysis also reminds me of what Jesus promised, in Matthew 11, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 Boy, humans sure know how to make a mess of things! It’s such a shame that we twist God’s truth, by creating a play on of words. Love, for instance, has become humanistic. We think that the evolution of man has created emotional intelligence. When it’s really the other way around. God is love. Love does not come from the center of us. God created humans to reflect His image - to be like trees in the garden of Eden, bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit. So, you might say, why did Paul call a husband the head of the wife? Doesn’t that mean he should dominate her? Good God! No! Absolutely not! Don’t you remember what happened in the garden? “God created Adam (human) in his own image. In the image of God he created them (humans), male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27 “Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” Genesis 1:28 Humans, male and female, were commanded to govern the planet. Together, they were to take care of the earth and each other. “The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man. This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” Genesis 2:15, 18, 21-22, 24 You see, I believe this is what Paul meant when he talked about the husband and wife relationship under the direction of the Holy Spirit in the letter to the Ephesians. There is no power or dominion of one over the other. In fact, there is nowhere in scripture that says any man or woman should abuse one another. Even the militant version only suggests order. Let’s look closer at how Paul summarizes this topic: “As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband (as she respects herself). Ephesians 5:31-33 You see, love and respect are elements of honor. They both represent how we should treat another person. And we must remember “We are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:26-28 You see, it's only the life that exists without Christ that has a selfish mindset. This has to be where slavery comes from. Where one person makes up a reason to become an oppressor, and tries to intimidate and dominate and enslave another human. This type of behavior is absolutely demonic, and it does not belong in the Church at all. As followers of Christ, we have to be careful not to allow that type of mindset into the Body of Christ, especially from our leaders, because then we would just be sheep among wolves.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
April 2022
|