Grace and Law

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36)

We’ve seen a lot of crowds the last couple of weeks. Some of what we’ve seen distracts from the compassion we do have. I’d like to separate the peaceful protests from the radical politics, rioting, looting and burning that have infested the opportunity of unrest and try to see where the Gospel will bring healing.

I’m not trying to tell you what to think. We are people of good will and intent. Each of us have our own experience and learning we’ve done, and we all need to learn more, on this and other issues. I expect that we’ll wrestle through the wide variety of opinions and ideas that we have to get work done on solutions. But our expectations should be oriented in the right direction. It occurred to me this week that there is a real disparity between our anti-discrimination laws and all this unrest.

We’ve got loads of anti-discrimination laws. Just to pick a point of reference, the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 was 56 years ago. Since then, there have been numerous laws, rules, regulations and ordinances passed at every level of federal, state and local government. I spent over twelve years as an auditor of banks, local governments and nonprofits receiving state and federal grants, so I grew rather familiar with those laws. Racial prejudice and discrimination based on race are illegal in this country and have been for a long time. It’s against our church canons, too.

There are and have also been numerous initiatives to heal racial division, everything from desegregation orders to affirmative action to mentorship programs by governments, nonprofits and churches. Some of those have been extremely helpful, some have not, some have had bad unintended consequences. On the whole, there has been progress, I think quite a lot of progress.

And yet, we know it is still a big issue. The hundreds of thousands of people peacefully – peacefully – demonstrating, whether or not you agree with all of what they are saying, indicate we have not solved the problem. Each of us have our own experiences with race. And every African American I know has told me they feel it – the sense of being scrutinized differently – almost all the time. It can be very present when meeting someone new or in a job interview or when pulled over by the police. It can fade to almost nothing when with friends and family, but it’s always there.

I expect legislators will hammer out new laws to address the issues, which they should. But the laws we have and the laws we might pass won’t solve the problem.

Laws are necessary but they have limitations. People break them – a lot. Even when you set the laws up on the highest authority, like they come directly from God at the top of a mountain and they are carved in stone, they don’t solve the problem, which is the human heart. Our passage from Exodus this morning is right before Moses goes up to get the law from God himself. God says, “Hey. We’re going to do this. You in?” And they reply, “Oh, yes Lord, we are in!” Then five minutes later they are working on that golden calf.

They form a structure by which we can live, which is helpful. But you have to enforce them. Over time, they become a thing unto themselves. We all like when things are legal, we like a good lawyer, but we hate something or someone who is legalistic. The more legalistic you get, the more rigid the structure becomes and you lose the spirit.

In Jesus’ time, the Jews had plenty of laws. They had hundreds of laws from scripture plus all the extra laws and rules the Pharisees and scribes added. Those laws included provision for the widows and orphans, for the poor and suffering. But their laws and their structure for enforcing them had become a thing unto itself.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

If you are sincerely operating from your heart out of the grace and character Christ has encamped in you, how often do you really ever think about not breaking the law? Unless you are dealing with a regulated or technical issue, probably not much at all. Then it has its proper function, which is to nudge a good heart to the right steps.

Wouldn’t it be great if everyone lived and treated each other such that we didn’t need anti-discrimination laws?

Jesus knew that what needed to change was not the law, but the human heart. And he did it by teaching them to love the God behind the law and the right way to apply it. And he did it by demonstrating to them the hope and promise of the Kingdom of God, where God’s people will operate entirely from their clean hearts.

We aren’t there yet.  Lord knows, I’m not there yet. But we know the direction he is calling. And so we should look with compassion on those who are harassed and helpless and cannot see their way forward, those who are angry and frustrated with the intractable problems we face, the victims of crime and violence, those whose stores and businesses have been destroyed, the police who live with constant danger and the unpredictability of people, the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines who stand the watch for our freedoms every day. And remember, these men and women have families depending on them who also live with the danger.

They are all like sheep without a shepherd. And so we must continue our work to share Jesus with everyone and trust him to open hearts and minds to receive him. We may be hated for it. Christianity was a persecuted religion when it began and is persecuted in many parts of the world today. Someday it may carry a weighty cost here again. But we know him and he has called us to join him in the harvest. He will see us through.

AMEN