• From Luke 13: “Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years…. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” …But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”
• This is not simply a victory of love for people over a love for the law, but a returning of the law to its original or true role. Churches abound with synagogue rulers: the one who is passionate about order over disorder, accuracy over inaccuracy. Yet that person has little to say about what greater purpose is being served. He approaches life as though he were Ulysses on a lone quest, accomplishing feat after feat by his own wit and strength, hoping in the end to appease the gods. He may speak of the glory of God, but what really animates him is what he perceives to be the sanctity of his own commitment and obedience. He wonders why others are not like him. He is confused by the phrase, “all that matters is faith expressing itself in love” (Gal 5:6).
• The Christian life is not a series of feats to be accomplished, nor is it even a performance in the presence of God. Rather it is more like a dance, an interweaving and indwelling which Jesus describes as “abiding” (Jn 15 passim). And while the language we use to describe union with God is seemingly imprecise, it is no less real. The imprecision is due to the difficulty we have in understanding how exactly the Spirit of God lives within us. And yet, “you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” (Jn 14:17). Poetry and music serve us better in expressing what Jesus is describing.
• The greater purpose being served in all biblical law is the deepening of love and union between God and his people. This was always what the Covenant was about: “I will be your God and you will be my people.” This is why David says, “With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!” (Ps 119:10). David is not saying, “the proof of my love for God is that I obey him” but “I do not distinguish between love and obedience.”
• The martyr, the person who knowingly lays her life down for Christ and his kingdom, is not a “better” or stronger Christian than you. But she may dwell in love more deeply than you do. She may have come to abide more fully. And so her life, her physical existence on the earth, has become of little account to her. Since what she has come to cherish is dwelling in the courts of the Lord, and death means being at home with the Lord, there is more love in her martyrdom than courage. She has found a home inside John’s words: “God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 Jn 4:16).