“Most modern freedom is at root fear. It is not so much that we are too bold to endure rules; it is rather that we are too timid to endure responsibilities.” ~ G.K. Chesterton
LEVITICUS 18, 19
The book of Leviticus shifts to individual laws of behavior instead of ritual instruction for sacrifices.
4You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the Lord your God. 5Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord.
1The Lord said to Moses, 2“Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.
37“ ‘Keep all my decrees and all my laws and follow them. I am the Lord.’ ”
MATTHEW 27:32-66
38Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. 39Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads 40and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” 41In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42“He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” 44In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
50And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud v oice, he gave up his spirit.
54When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!”
65“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” 66So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
JOURNAL
Why all the laws? I wonder this especially when seeing how the Jewish elect manipulated them to enslave people. The also used them out of context in indicting Jesus. However the rules from the old testament were designed to take a people out of slavery and bondage for hundreds of years and turn them into a free people and an independent nation.
By the time Jesus is born, the laws are being used as a means of persecution and to control people for selfish interest. It is this spirit that Jesus rebukes most often. It is not that obedience to God is an issue of disagreement, it is the spirit and intent for which it is done. It is the reason Jesus condemns them as being "white-washed" tombs.
The thing that strikes me most in this chapter is the description of the entire scene of his death. It is almost surreal to think that there was that much hatred for the Son of God, a man who was without sin. The explanation to me is that exposure to perfection causes the evil within us to rise to the surface. I don't like being exposed, and Jesus exposes the sin and the wickedness in everyone.
It is this ultimate act of love in the face of a mob of hatred that confirms the power and love of God. To face physical torture, verbal hatred and a horrific death is incomprehensible. But to think it was done in loving obedience for all of us who deserve death, leaves me speechless.
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