Laws

   The Lord called to Moses from the Tabernacle and said to him, "Give the following instructions to the people of Israel." Leviticus 1:1

  And so began the book of instructions about everything: offerings, cleansing, hygiene, food preparation, personal conduct, festivals...pretty much every aspect of Jewish life was now governed by God's Law.

  It also struck me how God called to Moses from the Tabernacle...even communion with God was governed by strict adherence to the required protocol according to God's instructions about building the Tabernacle in the first place.

  I heard somewhere there were roughly 600 Laws instructing Jewish people how to live.

  I also heard that somewhere along the line, God's people had a grand time of adding to those Laws. Jesus frequently berated the Pharisees for unnecessarily burdening His people. 

  A friend shared that her new stove came with a Sabbath setting because of Jewish Laws about doing no labour on the Sabbath. While she didn't share what the stove did on the Sabbath, the setting was there because modern keepers of the Law have agreed that pushing buttons is laborious. Maybe they reached this decision because if you were able to push a button to start the stove, it might lead to boiling a kettle or cooking or feeding a family or a houseful of guests on God's day. Pushing a button would lead you to sin against God's command of resting on the Sabbath. It makes perfect sense.

  This provides tangible evidence that the Torah, the Old Testament of the Bible containing all God's laws, is still pertinent to today for Jewish people. If it is, then so are the teachings of Jesus, written long ago for His followers. While the Gentiles at the time had no written laws governing their lives, then, as in today, there are unwritten laws that govern nearly every aspect of our lives.

  I've spent a lot of time trying to get out from under them.

  

  This is also giving me a fresh perspective towards understanding the Anti-racism, Anti-oppression movement. It aims to rewrite the unwritten rules that discriminate against people who are different.

  In North America, there used to be actual laws specifically for those whose skin isn't white like mine. While the legal ammunition has been taken off the books, there's still a whack of cultural stigma (laws) that continue to foster hate and suspicion and inequality.

  Every culture has them. That's a sad realization.

  I have found myself pondering the history of human civilization only to realize there isn't much civility in it. Time and again, a race of people were wiped off the face of the planet. Time and again, we would go to war over a difference in beliefs. Time and again, we would want what someone else had and take it by force. 

  

  Do I have any hope that things might change?

  Yes. Because I have finally understood there is no room for love in the law...any law written or unwritten that seeks to punish, discriminate, suppress, restrict, and build mistrust will one day have no home in my heart. What God has healed in me will be paid forward.

  Thank You, Lord, that You will help me be aware of the places in my heart where love is missing.

  AMEN!