Kassiquan

 WHO ARE WE

 

The Gospel reading today was taken from John 8:1-11, the narrative of the woman caught in adultery and taken to Jesus by the religious leaders of Israel.  Most of you may be familiar with this event that took place, the religious leaders, men said to Jesus that the law of Moses stated that the woman before them was to be stoned to death.  This means that the woman was criminally accused.  The religious leaders, according to John’s gospel were putting Jesus to the test – hoping Jesus would agree with their views?  I wrote about the above event in John 8 earlier in my blog titled, Throwing Stones (kassiquan.blogspot.com).  Today, I am not looking at “throwing stones” but, maybe I am.

I am sure you are familiar with the adage, “religion and politics do not mix.”  Looking back at Israel’s history from the time the people left a life of slavery in Egypt to their stop at Mt. Siani, the people had reunited in worship of God - religion, who gave them a law to govern them - the ten commandments and additional laws – amendments.  God was worshipped and the people were governed by God’s laws until they asked for a king (1 Samuel 8:1-9).  God was rejected as their king the people no longer wanted.  Religion and politics were separated.  The laws of the king the people followed and the laws of God in their worship had soon become meaningless.  Micah 6:8 says, what God required, of his people “You have been told, O mortal, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: only to do justice and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.”  This is exactly what Jesus implied he had come to do, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19).

In light of what is currently taking place in these United States, and in the name of Make America Great Again, who ARE we?  Religion and politics certainly do not mix.  Religion has become more of “practice” than of a life of faith in God and following his commandments, “Love God with all your heart, soul and mind and your neighbor as yourself.  Jesus said these were the two greatest commandments on which the whole law and the prophets depend (Matthew 22:34-40). In Luke 10:25-37 a lawyer attempted to justify himself by asking, “Who is my neighbor?”  Jesus then proceeds to tell of the “Good Samaritan,” the people about which the Jews hated and shunned and who were not allowed to step foot in their Temple in Jerusalem.

Jesus was a threat to the religious leaders.  They called Jesus a “friend of tax collectors and sinners,” (Matthew 9:9-13; 11:19 & Luke 7:44).  Jesus said that we are not to be like the religious leaders: “Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice.   They tie up heavy burdens [hard to carry] and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them.   All their works are performed to be seen (Matthew 23:3-5).  No where in the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John do you read of Jesus condemning, accusing and being judgmental toward tax collectors and sinners; the crippled, lame and the blind, lepers, epileptics and demon possessed.  Jesus, while on the cross even had mercy on those who condemned him and hung him on the cross, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

You ask why did I write about the women who was caught in adultery?  Yes, it was a crime.  But Jesus showed those leaders, and everyone standing with them quick to condemn that they were no better than the woman they threw down before Jesus.  They saw the splinters in the woman’s eyes but failed to see the logs in their own eyes (Matthew 7L35).  We may not all agree on some of the actions taken by our government and many people may praise their actions, but I give praise to no man.  I do not put my trust in man or woman in politics.  Me and Politics just do not seem to agree.  But as a citizen of the United States, I am called to respect those in authority and “do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. ⁴ They tie up heavy burdens [hard to carry] and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them. ⁵ All their works are performed to be seen” (Matthew 23:3-5).  The Bible says in Jeremiah 17:5-8, “Thus says the LORD: Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, who makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD.  He is like a barren bush in the wasteland that enjoys no change of season, but stands in lava beds in the wilderness, a land, salty and uninhabited.  Blessed are those who trust in the LORD; the LORD will be their trust.  They are like a tree planted beside the waters that stretches out its roots to the stream: It does not fear heat when it comes, its leaves stay green; In the year of drought, it shows no distress but still produces fruit.”

The question I ask again, WHO are WE?  “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many.  How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:13-14).