When you hear the word "Torah", what do you think? Me, personally, I think the Law, Leviticus, etc. I am pretty sure that most people are the same. It is that sort of mentality that has crippled people from the time that it was written. As I have said before (click here to read again), you have to read the Bible through the eyes of who it was written to in order to really get what they would have gotten out of it.
Let's take Leviticus for example. There is some crazy stuff in that book. Did God really have to say some of that stuff? Yes, yes He did. In Egypt, people would take children and throw them into fire to get their gods' attention. If an Egyptian was going to kill a child for a sacrifice, who were they going to get? A Jewish child. The really bad part was that they were guessing what would make their gods happy. Their gods' never spoke. Other times, people would have sexual relations with close family members because that's what they though would make the gods happy. Again, they were just guessing, they had no clue. The whole sacrifices portion of Leviticus was something else entirely. It was to appease their own conscience. God did not need the blood of all those animals. He doesn't need anything from us. In Job 41, God is very clear about this very fact. Think about what the Jews did at the base of Mt. Sinai (Exodus 32) when Moses was on the mountain talking to God. They had Aaron make all their jewelry into a golden calf, they needed something to worship, therefore God gave them the sacrifices system. There was a blood sacrifice that was required for sin, but I digress.
Over time this system gets worse and worse. The people were put into slavery to the Law more and more. So much to the point that nobody knew what would make them right with God anymore. They had to ask the priests, then they could conveniently buy the necessary sacrifices, as deemed necessary by the priests, from the priests...Until Jesus came along (John 2:13-21).
What is my point in all this? Quite a bit actually. Today, we have two extremes in though. On one side, you have people that are so bound by "The Big Ten" rules that they have to keep. They think that if they can check them off their list then God is happy with them. Good news is that God is happy with them and loves them unconditionally, NO MATTER WHAT! Bad news is that it's not about keeping the rules.
On the other side of that coin, you have people that are just living life. They aren't necessarily bad people. They are just human beings, loved by God, they just don't know it. They are making it in this world the best way that they know how. The bad thing is that, the majority of them, make decisions that are down right stupid. They do things, like sleeping with all kinds of people, that have eternal consequences even though they are ignorant to the fact.
Both of those kinds of people are going down a path that leads to guilt, condemnation, suffering and pain. We always think of the Torah as the Law, as mentioned before. The fact is that the word Torah is better described as, "Gods guidelines for the best kind of life."
How many times have we all thought that if we don't keep these sets of rules, God is going to be mad at us? I used to be victim to that big time. It's the way I was raised. However, if Jesus died to forgive us of our sins, we still sin, and God's mad at us; then what in the world did Jesus die for? Does the Bible not also say that God's wrath (which actually means passionate disappointment mixed with grief) was satisfied at the cross of Jesus Christ? So, through Jesus, we are forgiven; God's wrath was satisfied because of the cross, what then is the purpose of the "list of rules" known as the Law? It was simply to give them guidelines for the best way to live.
Picture this for a second: imagine a society where everyone loved one another unconditionally, their word meant something, we were all safe from harm from one another, etc. Yes, this is speaking in Utopian terms, but that is the life that God set up for us. Let us become free from this idea that we have to keep all the rules. In fact, keep in mind that if you live your life trying to keep all the rules, then you'll only remind yourself of where you broke them. God delivered us out of that kind of crap. We were slaves to sin and condemnation. Through Christ, we can live free!
Think about this, who was it that Jesus got verbally course with? It was the people that thought that they knew it all, or the ones that overlooked poor people. The lady with the issue of blood, Lady at the Well, Roman Centurion who needed Jesus to heal someone, they all asked something of Jesus and He didn't give them an ounce of resistance. The Pharisees tried to trick Him and shunned poor people, Jesus essentially made them look like selfish idiots. Three places in the Bible, including James 4:6, says that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. 1 Peter 5:6 quotes this passage as well and right before it says, "Submit yourselves under the mighty hand of God and at the proper time, He will exalt you."
No matter what the world throws at you, if you keep the humility and the servant hood of Christ as your main focus, you will be exalted. Give generously, love others, help the needy, and spread the Gospel of Peace. That is the Yoke of our Rabbi!
Grace and Peace be with you ALWAYS!
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