Love is the higher law .......... Parables 628

February 2, 1999

A group of religious teachers and Pharisees dragged a woman into the courtyard and dumped her in front of Jesus. “This woman was caught in the very act of adultery. The law says we should stone her to death. What do you say?”

Jesus held His tongue. I wonder if I could have done the same?

On a different day, another woman came into the synagogue where Jesus was teaching. She was crippled and bent over, unable to stand. Jesus called her over and then healed her. The worship leader was indignant. He yelled at the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

Jesus immediately retorted, “You hypocrites!” Had I been there, I wonder what I would have said or done, especially if someone had violated my religious convictions?

The more I read about Jesus, the more I am amazed at how He responded to people. He was often unpredictable yet each surprising instance underscores the fact that He understands human hearts. We tend to look only on the surface but He know our motivations.

For instance, Jesus knew the religious leaders of His day were not concerned about mercy. They did not care about the shame and pain of both the adulteress and the cripple. Their idea of justice was that everyone ought to keep the law to the letter and be punished to the greatest extent for all infractions. This notion motivated all their actions.

Jesus was not like that. He was deeply merciful, from the heart. However, His mercy enraged the Pharisees. To them, God’s laws were not suggestions but strict rules that must be kept. Why wouldn’t this man who called Himself the Son of God hold a hard line? Why would He be merciful to an adulteress? Why would He break the Sabbath to heal a mere woman?

Jesus did not defend His compassion. He knew God’s intention concerning the Law that He gave to Israel. As God’s Son, He had been involved in their formulation. Like the Father, He was interested in a response from the heart. He said the greatest commandments were to “love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself.”

The Pharisees did not understand that love is a ‘do’ command. They interpreted God’s Law with an emphasis on ‘do not.’ They failed to understand that God intended the Law as a measurement of their love, not as a set of regulations they could impose on everyone else.

Love is the higher law. It is also the law that Jesus lived by. For example, He did not drag people caught in sin into a public courtyard and heartlessly demand that they be punished. He knew the shame in their hearts. He also knew the power of God to change their lives.

In the case of the adulteress, Jesus also knew the Pharisees were using her to trick Him. They knew His reputation for mercy and used it in hopes that He would deny the legitimacy of the Law of Moses. They could use that against Him.

But in a surprising move, Jesus turned the trick back on them. He asked if any of them were sinless. If so, He said that person could cast the first stone. One by one they left. Then Jesus turned to the woman and said to her, “Go, and sin no more.”

As for the crippled woman in the temple, Jesus taught that the Sabbath was made for our benefit, not to put us in bondage or force us to be inconsiderate. Love is interested in helping and healing, regardless of the day.

The Pharisees pretended to love God by insisting everyone must keep the rules, but they had no regard for the needs of people. They topped it off by condemning Jesus for His mercy. Today, religious people can also become so zealous about rules that they forget mercy, even condemn those who remember it.

Maybe we need a fresh visit from Jesus.