CYPRESSWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST

January 11, 2004 return to main page

KEEP THESE IN YOUR PRAYERS:

Our congregation                                                         Our leaders, military and nation

Our college students                                                    David and Leon in the Navy

various friends, relatives and co-workers                     The Stolte’s in Germany

HOW DO WE SEE GOD?

“’Why then,’ they asked, ‘did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?’” (Matthew 19:7).

That question was asked by the Pharisees of Jesus after asking the question, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” (Matthew 19:3).  Jesus answered them: “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard.  But it was not this way from the beginning” (verse 8).  What had they missed?  And what do we miss when we debate this subject?  Like many things, we read the law as a set of rules and regulations without examining the intent of the Author of that law.  Jim McGuiggan addressed this in an article from his web site called God and the Law (www.mcguigganjim.homestead.com/weekly/godandlaw.htm).  I think he has some important things to say.

“Jews whose giftedness was scribal in nature believed the law profiled God but they still lost sight of his character and heart, which were made known in the law.”  They lost sight of Yahweh.  I’ve often said that how we see God effects how we read scripture.  If we see Him as “The Commish” (from the television show of the same name) just waiting to get us, we will read scripture that way.  If we see Him as a grandfather rocking away, we will read scripture with this in mind.  All of this effects our theology and our lives.  The Jews were reading scripture because of the way they saw God.  “They read the law with sinful hearts and settled on the texts they liked best, the ones that justified their sinister agendas—or at least their ‘settle for less’ agendas.”  They were hardhearted people and read scripture that way.  By so doing it exposed their hearts, not God’s.  Just consider the woman taken in adultery (John 8) and the Samaritan woman (John 4).

It isn’t surprising then that we read scripture based on our view of God, but in reality it is revealing our hearts.  The elder who sees his role as one of control and authority acts that way and justifies his actions by  reading scripture that way.  When one shows him that Jesus was a humble, serving leader, he rejects that because he is concerned for his position.  His heart is hard.  When a brother or sister talks to anyone and everyone but the person they need to talk to (see Matthew 18:15), they too show their hearts.  And what about you and me?  Have we not done the same?  And when we debate the subject of divorce, do we see people or law?

When talking to Jesus about divorce, the Pharisees quoted a text from Deuteronomy (24:1-4).  In this text, the law states that if a wife becomes displeasing to her husband, he should write a certificate of divorce for her.  Now why is this in there?  “If some hardhearted men had not been mistreating women, dishonouring themselves and God there would have been no need for that piece of legislation.  Jesus said it existed because their hearts were hard.”  These people had grown up seeing hardhearted people.  They saw or heard about the rebellions in the wilderness and the judgments that came.  Today it is possible that our traditions and positions could make our hearts hard in the sight of God.  “This means Deuteronomy did more to profile the people than it did to profile God.  It exposed their hearts rather than God’s.”

What were they missing?  They had not seen God’s heart in the law.  “Had they been looking for the heart of God they wouldn’t have settled on Deuteronomy 24, they would have seen it for what it is: God regulated an evil he didn’t approve of…God tolerated (and tolerates) much that he certainly did not approve.”  Jim goes on to say that if they knew or sought the heart of God, they would not have settled for Deuteronomy 24 but would have gone back to God’s desire for marriage (Genesis 2:18-23).  And what do we settle for?  The status-quo?  “Don’t change anything because I’m comfortable with the way we are doing it.”  Then we hear the complaints.  People do not attend the way they should.  They do not give the way they should.  They do not listen to the elders.  Why?  Because we are not seeking the heart of God, which is relational.  Had we seen that God’s intention is redemptive fellowship for all of us, we certainly would look at people as family rather than institutional.

So what does Deuteronomy 24 teach us about God?  “I think, among other things, that the passage is written to give abused women a break.  The men were either sending them away from home without a clear indicator that she was no longer his wife or they had taken a second wife and the first wife is kept like a piece of furniture (see Exodus 21:10).  In either case the vulnerable woman can’t remarry and build a life. ‘If you don’t want her,’ Moses said, ‘free her with a bill of divorce and let her get on with her life.’”  What we see is that God is compassionate and patient.  He regulated something He hated because He loved, and loves, people.   

Who do we act more like?  The Pharisees or Jesus?  We like to think that it is Jesus but I’m afraid it is more like the Pharisees.  We thank God for what we do; give, pray, take the Lord’s Supper, and we are thankful that we are not like all those sinners and weak people (see Luke 18:9-14).  Being like Jesus means being transformed into His likeness.  The word “transform” comes from the Greek word from which we get the idea of metamorphoses, the caterpillar turning into the butterfly.  This involves two things.  The first is humility and the second is relational.  Until we practice these, we will be more like the Pharisees. 

One illustration comes from Joseph who wanted to divorce Mary quietly so as not to shame her.  He was a “righteous man” (Matthew 1:18-19).  “Righteousness is relational fidelity.  It is remaining loyal to the nature of the given relationship” (Jim McGuiggan, Sin, righteousness & Judgement, same web site).  Sin is not a legal matter but a relational matter, hence Jesus came to die for us.  We have emphasized legal matters over relational matters and address our problems in those terms.  By so doing, we are having difficulty dealing with the problems and disagreements we face.  Our hearts become hard and we end up missing the heart of God; His love for all people.  That is why we want to emphasize the mind of Christ as seen in His humility (Philippians 2:4-8). 

                                                                                                 George B. Mearns