Congregation Shema Yisrael

I teach my What are the 613 Commandments class differently than my other classes. Most of the time, I have only a few hours per class session and only a particular number of class sessions (on Shabbat, only one) to present the course material, so discussion on the topics at hand must be focused. After all, time is limited. When I undertook the teaching of the 613 commandments class, I realized that it would have to be an open ended study, since it would take literally years to properly review each commandment, one-by-one (in the six months I’ve been teaching the class, we’ve managed to get through 37 commandments, or about 6% of the total material).

If you are very goal oriented, the idea of spending an undetermined number of years covering a large body of knowledge may seem dismaying, but it has a golden advantage attached. Since I don’t have to worry about a strict deadline, I can allow the conversation to roam to topics that we probably wouldn’t touch upon otherwise, including current events, and including subjects that would be too emotionally charged for a more limited environment.

We’ve been studying the laws that relate to “Love and Brotherhood” or what God tells us about how to treat other people and particularly, other members of the redeemed community. This naturally leads into some very interesting conversations about the role of a believing people living in an unbelieving nation (Look around you. If you think America is a “Christian Nation”, you need to remove your blinders). Some of our conversations lead to expressions of frustration and even despair at the state of our country, our culture, and our world. For a group who believes in moral absolutes based on the Bible, watching the evening news can give us the feeling of sliding at breakneck speeds down an icy slope, while headed for a bottomless abyss. When will it all end? Is there any hope?

The “standard” line we’re all taught is that our hope is in God and in the Messiah. We “know” that (and I put “know” in quotes to emphasize our intellectual awareness), but putting it into day-to-day practice is another matter. Our congregation is a community of faith living in the very conservative State of Idaho, so as you might imagine, the Obama administration, the liberal social structure of our current culture, and where it all seems to be taking this country, makes us just a tad nervous. I say that by way of understatement. It’s a terrible thing to feel out of control and to watch the country you love morally disintegrate before your very eyes.

In last night’s class, we were discussing the commandment “To relieve a neighbor of his burden and help to unload his beast” based on Exodus 23:5. It wouldn’t seem like this subject would generate a lot of conversation about national and world politics and the sorry moral state of America today, but let’s take a look at it:

“If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help him with it.” -Exodus 23:5 (NIV)

Some translations say “…someone you hate… rather than someone who hates you, but the implication is that you shouldn’t hold back your assistance just because you don’t like the person involved. In the larger context of the scripture, God, through Moses, is talking about people in your community you don’t like, such as a pesky next-door neighbor or the brother-in-law who always borrows your power tools and never returns them. The context of the scripture doesn’t cover the person from the next country over who has declared war against you and the enemy soldier who is about to cut you in half with his automatic assault rifle. So how did studying this commandment lead us to world politics and “woe is me”?

Words like “hate” and “enemy”, at least in English, have rather broad implications. When we think of an “enemy” we tend to, especially with Gitmo all in the news, think of people outside of the community who bear us ill intent. Also speaking of Gitmo, the issue of whether or not the requirement to offer aid to an “enemy” extends to those people our government (or at least the previous administration) is said to have tortured becomes especially important.

Verses from Romans 12 entered the conversation, particularly “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse”. from Romans 12:14 and “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”says the Lord”. from Romans 12:17-19. Arguably, Paul is talking about how to treat others within the redeemed community, but at least the spirit of his (and thus God’s) words might also be applied to those who persecute us from outside the redeemed community; our “enemies”. How can we apply all this in a world that is so out of control?

What do we have control of? In one sense, nothing. When we say “God is in control”, to acknowledge His absolute Sovereignty, we acknowledge that He controls everything and we control nothing. If that’s true, then why are we given so many commandments to do and not do things? Why not just the commandment “Be still, and know that I am God” from Psalm 46:10? That would cover it, if all we had to do is sit on our thumbs and let God do everything.

The answer seems to have to do with our relationship with God and our relationship with people (redeemed and unredeemed alike). That first relationship (with God) dictates our second relationship (with all people every where). We do carry a responsibility for our behavior relative to God and relative to both our neighbor and “the stranger (Heb. “Ger”)” (read, “redeemed” and “unredeemed”, from a Christian perspective). We do have control of our behavior and in fact, God expects us to control our behavior and even our thoughts.

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ”. -2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

Paul talked a great deal about being disciplined in our behavior and our thoughts (and after all, thoughts lead to behavior…imagine what would and wouldn’t have happened if David had stopped when he first thought the bathing Bathsheba was attractive, stepped away from the window, and started thinking of something else). Yes, we are responsible for our own actions. Romans 12:18 says in part, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you…”. As far as it depends on you.

While we acknowledge correctly that God is in charge of the Universe and in control of all Creation, we among all His creatures, have been given free will to do with as we please. We aren’t expected to control the world around us with that freedom. We can let God do all of the “heavy lifting” as far as that goes. However, God’s Sovereignty does not absolve us of taking action in response to God and in response to people. Going back to Exodus 23:5, when we see a person and his animal in distress (you may live in the city where you don’t see too many beasts of burden, but opportunities to help others in need still abound), you are expected to do something about it, whether you like the person or not. That’s what we control, but there’s more.

Going back to 2 Corinthians 10:5, we can also choose to control what goes on in our heads, including our thoughts and feelings. We can allow anxiety and dread to control us (oh woe is me), or we can choose to understand that God is in control of the heavy lifting and let Him get on with doing His job.

Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?” -Luke 12:22-26 (NIV)

I know what you’re thinking. Is it possible to completely eliminate even the tiniest bit of anxiety or concern about the world around us and live in complete bliss? Probably not. If we existed without any concern for injustice, where would be our motivation to pursue justice and righteousness (see both Isaiah 51:1 and 2 Timothy 2:22)? Yet, it’s a matter of understanding the difference between what we are directed by God to address and what we release to God and let Him alone control. Ultimate Justice and Mercy are in His purview, so we don’t need to fret over the current political and social ills of our nation or the world. Yes, we should always resist evil and pursue righteousness around us, but in the end, it is God who has authored Creation. Let us do what we can in obedience to God, and then let God do the rest.

But speaking of injustice, where does our responsibility lie? Does resisting evil include breaking the law? A recent study seems to indicate that many Christians support the torture of the prisoners at Gitmo, at least under certain circumstances. There have been other (thankfully rare) situations of so-called believers bombing abortion clinics and even killing medical staff in their desire to stop the killing of unborn babies. Are we to take God’s judgement into our own hands and act it out, as if we play the role of “spiritual vigilantes”? Hopefully, our understanding of the Bible and our relationship with God tells us that it’s not just the destination, but how we get there that’s important. In other words, “the ends do not justify the means”. The Bible tells us our role as God’s emissaries, heirs, and servants in the world. We don’t need to let our own anxiety drive our behavior away from the standards of God and the laws of our nation. We can resist evil and still live a life within the confines of the law. God’s Spirit gives us the freedom to serve God, live the lifestyle of Torah He has reserved for us, and not surrender to the world’s second-rate moral standards or to our own emotions. We resist evil by doing good, with our hands, our voices, and our hearts, and most of all, with our faith.

What inspired all this (besides last night’s class) was my interaction on twitter with @MikeBoss regarding his responses to my usual political and religious commentary about America and Israel (and if you’re an interested twitter user, you can follow me @jamespyles). At one point, he “dedicated” Steve Earle’s “Jerusalem” to me, including the lyrics, “I believe that one fine day all the children of Abraham will lay down their swords forever in Jerusalem.” Ever the optimist, that Mike. It did get me to thinking about what Micah (God through Micah, actually) had to say on the matter. I’ll post Micah 4:1-5 in its entirety below as my final point. In an uncertain world (and it’s always been an uncertain world, at least when not viewed through the lens of God), we have a certainty we can depend upon. It all starts with our faith in God. If we lack faith, we have nothing. If we possess faith, we have everything.

In the last days
the mountain of the LORD’s Temple will be established
as chief among the mountains;
it will be raised above the hills,
and peoples will stream to it.

Many nations will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the House of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us His ways,
so that we may walk in His paths.”
The Torah will go out from Zion,
the Word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

He will judge between many peoples
and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.

Every man will sit under his own vine
and under his own fig tree,
and no one will make them afraid,
for the LORD Almighty has spoken.

All the nations may walk
in the name of their gods;
we will walk in the name of the LORD
our God for ever and ever.

Shalom Aleichem. Peace be upon you.