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Matthew 12:1-13 Order and Disorder

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Matthew 12:1-13 Order and Disorder Matthew 12:1-13 Order and Disorder Here is Jesus in two Sabbath disagreements with the Pharisees. These works of Jesus may not seem to us to be a stretching of the Law of Moses, nor does it seem so to either Jewish or Christian scholars. But this appears to be a particularly hard- core group of Pharisees. So much so that they hear Jesus say in verse 12, “it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath,” and their response in verse 14 is to go out and discuss how to destroy him. That is pretty radical, but maybe we should at least respect their starting point: they believed God had given them the commandments and they didn’t want to break them. And over time, they had defined the individual laws more closely- refined them, made lists, as a failsafe against disobedience. So, the Law was there to keep them from doing bad things; but did it cause them to miss the chance to do good? God’s law may help and guide us, and steer us away from wrong, but it mustn’t keep us from acting mercifully. It seems though, sometimes, that rather than doctrine and theology, personality may be the prominent factor in how we perceive God; and in these stories, we see Pharisees, synagogue leaders- appropriate this day, as we have installed and affirmed our own church leaders- religious leaders who desire most of all, orderliness. And who conceive of God as a God of neatness and decorum. We can come to no other conclusion about them- scripture does not confirm what Jesus does here as law-breaking Sabbath work. Of course, it is good to rest on the Sabbath- the law commands it. And actually, the commandment says “to remember,” and so, shouldn’t we- while resting- remember this gracious God who forgives and loves and heals. Doesn’t this remembering, then, guide us into doing good and feeding the hungry? So I think what compels the Pharisees in this passage, and many others who think legalistically, is the desire for order and conformity. “God is not the God of confusion,” scripture tells us, a statement I heard all my young life. Meaning we mustn’t rock the boat, mustn’t upset established order. And what’s more disorderly than somebody disrupting worship? But here is Jesus, and he thinks it’s a good time to heal. Is he right? Is there a place for mercy in church? And what’s more disorderly than a bunch of rowdy folks traipsing through the fields and pulling off the heads of ripe grain? Not walking in between the rows, but cutting across the field and crushing the plants. That’s nothing but thoughtless and unruly behavior. But here’s what Jesus says, that “this is more important than church and worship and commandments and keeping order: feeding the hungry.” Religious people often want to maintain perfect orderliness, and that’s why they, or we, tend to make the Bible into a list of dos and don’ts. It’s easier to keep track of your progress if you’re following the list- and easier to see where others fall short. But in our passage, even Jesus does not meet the standard. So who are we to force the world into our mold? No, doing good is often inconvenient- it’s not always something you can plot out ahead of time, or put on your list of “to- dos”; so should we limit mercy to certain times of the day or only to certain people? I had a professor in college who complained one day that the grass and the plants of one church in town were too well-kept: did they work as hard on ministries of mercy as they did on the lawn? Does God pay such close attention to appearances? must the shrubs be perfect; does worship have to be perfectly timed and go off without a hitch? I think that God likes a bit of wildness: think about the crazy uproar of Pentecost; think about resurrection of Jesus, when all the rules were broken; think about the creation of the world- happening in the frantic rush of six wild and frenzied days, or, beginning in one nano-instant of heat and light, a great explosion and expansion that became the universe and everything in it. Whichever is your understanding of creation, it was wildness. I think God likes a little exuberance and nonconformity. Who was God’s favorite person in the Old Testament? David, the man after God’s own heart, we are told: the unexpected king; a man of passions, uninhibited, who danced naked before the Lord; a man of great big sins, but a man with great capacity for love. Think of Jesus, the unpredictable man: who seems almost careless about commandments here, but a few pages earlier, preaching from the Mountain, gave us the most demanding religious teaching in the world’s history; who might say to his followers, “You must be more righteous than even the Pharisees,” but then also tells them to be at peace, because “my yoke is easy.” Here our Lord impresses upon those who will listen, the ultimate necessity of mercy: that beautiful characteristic of God; and demands that we show mercy to one another at any cost- even to those outside our ordered lives, and to those who may not heed our personal list of rules; that we be willing to reach into the chaos of other people’s lives. Really, it isn’t mercy if we are all the same. We know it isn’t just the orderly ones who hurt, but everyone sometimes falls down or falls away, gets broken or gets dented, or grows confused, becomes hungry and ill. Maybe only a God of unrestrained mercy and a Savior of boundless love can show us how to give help to such as these. Because we know, don’t we, that God and that Savior have given immeasurable love and mercy to us? A few days ago I walked onto the abandoned grounds of Leon Valley Golf Course. Now let me say the “no trespassing” signs are no longer up, so I don’t know if my actions were lawful or not. Anyway I was there, and I observed a couple of things that I think apply to today’s contemplation of order and disorder. First, I was able to see why the owners would desire law and order: the glass door into the pro shop, and the large plate glass window that faced the final fairway, were shattered. It seemed ironic that someone, perhaps those same vandals, had spray painted on an inside wall the word “pride.” And then I beheld one of those great sights you never tire of: four deer shot up out of the brush and bounded across the path before me and disappeared into the woods on the other side. And I thought: that is the reason for disorder and wildness. Both sides of the debate in just these few minutes of my day. Yes, our need for order, but oh, what we may lose if all becomes too neat and perfect and civilized, and built up or plowed under! Today we have installed officers of the church whose task is to lead and move us forward, and unite us with a common purpose and vision, so that the love of God is proclaimed and the people of our community are helped. In future days, we may need their rules that help define the out of bounds places, so that we don’t head off in the wrong direction and break things. But we also need the opportunity to break free in ways that recognize the uniqueness of each person- as God made us; and the opportunity to discover our own individual ways to show mercy. Order and disorder, the only way for the church to be the community of the faithful: the one body, though with many different members and different parts; with many different gifts but only one Lord. Different, each of us, and yet united, and giving thanks to God. .
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