Thoughts for another day

July 18, 2013.

Today's verse: Mark 7:8. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. (KJV)

(Pls. read the above before you read further.  Thanks)

An insightful reading of Scripture reveals that God has always ordained a life of ease for His most precious creation – man.  But man in his ‘crookedness has always strived to make things difficult for himself and we’ve seen this from the beginning when despite having the entire garden for himself and all of the things God made for him, he did that which God asked him not to.  Thus from a life of ease, where all he needed to do was to live at the feet of God, he moved to a life of labor and work, without which he would have no food to eat.

After some time since he was created, God moved to make known to him, the purpose of his being created, by bringing him out of the land of Egypt and gave him the Law to keep.  By keeping it, God would be there to solve any of the problems he would have.  But no sooner had God given him the Law, man broke it immediately.  In this it’s to be noted that man’s ways and God’s ways are opposite to each other.  Also, in giving the Law, God wanted man to walk on the fine path by which he could always commune with Him.  But, man made them more obscure by adding his own traditions and interpretations which would only complicate life.

Now after much time had passed and when Jesus walked the surface of the earth, the Law and its understanding was so confusing and rigid that it seemed rather hypocritical, for e.g., on a Sabbath a man could rescue a donkey fallen into a pit, but he couldn’t rescue a man in a pit!!!  If someone needed help, he would have to wait till the Sabbath was over and manage the crisis until then, but he wouldn’t get immediate help which could have erased his problem.  In the spiritual sense, the outer frills were more esteemed than the content of the inner soul, viz. a man could be a scoundrel but if he had money to dress well and be in pomp, he would be respected.   Our Lord saw through this and also that only the poor were subject to the letter of the Law and that’s why Jesus worked even on the Sabbath, roundly proving that God annulled all their false notions and their traditions.  In this Jesus gave the downtrodden the hope they needed and the right approach to God’s law and the life to lead thereby.  He does the same with us today…are our minds, eyes and ears open?