- “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets:
I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” — Jesus Christ
Last week, Sen. Joe Lieberman paused from campaigning to pass
judgment on his rival’s faith. “George Bush,” said Mr. Lieberman,
couldn’t be a Christian because he has no “respect for the environment.”
This is an interesting statement by a man who would — if elected —
hold the second highest office in America and be but a heartbeat away
from the presidency. It shows a sincere lack of understanding of what
Christianity is, by a man who could end up governing a nation that still
considers itself Christian. It also reveals a judgmental tendency that
we would do well not to ignore.
In fact, it is a charge that Mr. Lieberman could have made not only
against George W. Bush, his campaign rival, but against Jesus Christ as
well. The New Testament is filled with instances of Jesus healing
people, teaching people, feeding and caring for people. In fact, his
entire ministry, whether on the back roads of Galilee with his
disciples, or in the temple at Jerusalem, was focused on people — not
the environment. Jesus’ biographer Luke records the widow whose son was
raised from the dead (7:11-17); Mark records the Greek woman who pleaded
for help for her demon-possessed daughter, whom Jesus restored
(7:24-30); and Matthew chronicles the man with the withered hand, whom
Jesus healed in the synagogue on the Sabbath, in front of the Pharisees.
Yes, I am sorry to say that the record indicates that by Mr. Lieberman’s
standards, Jesus could not possibly have been a Christian.
But then Jesus wasn’t a very good Jew, either. He had a poor regard
for the rules by which the Jewish leadership of his day operated.
Indeed, it was this last incident in the synagogue — coupled with
Jesus’ unwavering focus on people — that united the Jewish leadership
against him. “You strain at a gnat,” he told them on one occasion, “and
swallow a camel.” What Jesus saw — and what the Jewish leadership had
missed — is that the human heart governs our conduct. A bad heart always
results in bad behavior — and invariably leaves behind it a trail of
broken rules. But a good heart doesn’t need to be incarcerated behind
the rules — it naturally seeks to do what is right and good in the
sight of God. You see, Mr. Lieberman, what Jesus knew — and what he
taught those of us who are Christians — is that when individuals are
right with God and with
one another — then all these other things that we worry about will fall
into place.
Unfortunately, this focus on the heart relationship with God wasn’t
very popular with the Jewish leadership in Jesus’ day, caught up as it
was in following the rules. Divorce your wife, defraud your parents,
swear an oath and then ignore it — all could be justified through the
proper technical application of the rules. God was placed in the
position of straying into Gulliver’s Travels, bound with his own rules,
and rendered
helpless before the Law.
As Jews and Christians, Mr. Lieberman, you and I share a rich
cultural and spiritual history. It is upon this history that our modern
nation stands, albeit precariously at this present moment. We do well, I
think, when we stand in the midst of the public square, to focus on the
common elements that unite us: The sovereignty and power of God, his
character and holiness, and his love for humanity.
I applaud your stand for God and his character. As a Christian, I
find much that we can work together on in improving this great nation
that we share in concert with so many others. There are elements of
Hollywood, for instance, that we both recognize are harmful to our
children, our culture, and our world. Because of the sizeable Jewish
presence in Hollywood, much of this area is effectively closed to
criticism from me
as a Christian. You, however, they may listen to. Please continue to
speak to them. In our culture there are also many who consider
themselves “wise in their own eyes,” and so disdain Christianity. Yet
they are respectful and curious about your history, learning, and
traditions. Please continue to speak to them. And in our culture there
are those who doubt that God exists at all — or if he does, that he
cares for them as individuals. Tell them the story of the Exodus from
Egypt, how God moved in human history to protect the lives of those he
loved.
As a Christian, I embrace the rich traditions of the Jewish people,
and I applaud it when you speak out in the public square. For centuries,
Jews alone were the keepers of the flame. But God did not want the flame
simply “kept”; he wanted it spread throughout the earth, the story of
his love made available to all peoples — and this your rules could
never do. So, “when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son …
to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive
adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4-5).
As you read and study that most important moment in history, Mr.
Lieberman, I ask only that you keep an open mind. Humanity insisted on
the rules, yet Jesus told us over and over again that a changed heart
was the only way back home to the Father. For many of us the rules
became God, and there was no room in our heart for him or his people. If
the rules are the way, then history should be able to show us his body
— for surely Jesus ran afoul of the rules, and never made it home to
the Father. But until then, let us not pretend to stand in judgment of
who is in the Father’s heart. Let us instead glorify him, trusting that
as in the past, God is still big enough to deliver his people out of our
cultural Egypt.
