Stephen
Terry, Director
Longing for More
Commentary
for the September 11, 2021, Sabbath School Lesson
“But Samuel replied: ‘Does the Lord
delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To
obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.’” 1
Samuel 15:22, NIV
While our lesson quarterly this
week looks at obedience in the context of Sabbath observance, it misses the far
larger issue of obedience in general. The perversion of the idea of obedience
has driven more people from God than we may be willing to admit. Slave owners in
the antebellum South are reputed to have referred to texts on obedience from
the Bible to justify their continued enslavement and oppression of an entire
race. Authoritarian governmental abuses have also been glossed over by using
similar texts. But are biblical injunctions to obedience a carte blanche for oppression?
While minorities still struggle
for equality of opportunity in the United States and those abusing power demand they remain subject to authority that has long been
opposed to such egalitarianism, we also see such ideas as Headship Theology
being used in churches to subjugate an entire gender. It is as though some read
the Old Testament as God beating people down when they didn't obey, and since
we are made in God's image, we should do the same. But is this a correct
perspective? Is it even a healthy one given its spiritual and physical impacts?
Can we safely assume such prerogatives given our propensity to stumble and
abuse our own gifts and blessings for selfish ends? Can we rightfully deny
similar authority to over half of the earth's population based on gender? Are
they more flawed than those who now hold authority over them? Why do so many demand authority and with that, obedience to their
authority, while so few are willing to pursue humility and service? What do
they hope to gain? If it is power and control over others in this life, is that
really what they think is the message of the Bible?
The Bible tells us that the
early Christians were united through the Holy Spirit and held all things in
common.[i]
People were drawn to this egalitarianism. Today, we feel the need to demand
obedience to church dogma as a condition of entering fellowship with our caste
of believers. In other words, accept that our dogma is inspired and right,
above all others, and submit yourselves to our
authority in the matter, and you may be allowed in. And despite the obstacles
we have created, we constantly discuss how to increase accretions to
membership. Setting such a high bar necessitates constant monitoring to make
sure proper submission to authority is seen, else it is out on one's ear and a
supposed denial of the opportunity to cruise into heaven with the legitimate "saints."
When we consider this is standard practice across many denominations, one
wonders how it is even possible to determine whether
true saints even exist, let alone truth as a denominational monopoly.
Perhaps a clue can be found in an
account of the early church. That account tells us "...the Lord added to their
number daily those who were being saved." (Acts 2:47) Apparently, it was not
the Christians, not even the Apostles, who were adding to the number of believers,
but God himself. Today, we plan evangelistic outreaches and ask God to bless
OUR efforts, OUR plans, and we neglect to simply allow God to do his work now
as he did then. We see Peter's singular sermon at Pentecost as the model for
everything since and overlook the willingness of the individual to submit to service
to all according to need as an essential factor in drawing the people to God.
The door was open wide both for God's love to extend into the community and for
the community to come into Christian fellowship. There is little to support the
idea that new believers were combed over to make sure they had no sinful "fleas"
hiding on them before they could fellowship with other believers. Instead,
their acceptance into fellowship was as equals. The modern church sees this as
problematic, and they fear this will allow sin to breach the walls of the
denomination. While this fear may be based in reality, as in the cases of
Ananias and Sapphira,[ii]
or those who treated the widows among the Greek converts prejudicially,[iii]
basing one's willingness to welcome others on their worthiness is contrary to
the character of God. When the destroying angel passed over the homes of the
Israelites in the original Passover in Egypt, that angel did not consider
whether those within were worthy to be saved. The only thing considered was whether
the blood of the pascal lamb was applied to the doorposts and lintel.
In dealing with the problem of
the Greek widows, the early church began to set up official church officers,
deacons, to control the actions of others. Then as now, their intentions were
good, but it was the foundation for much of what exists in the hierarchical
church we have today, weighed down with myriads of authorities using intricately
crafted dogma while attempting to plug every possible loophole to weed out the
disobedient from the "true" saints who will be allowed into the ship that will
navigate the troubled waters with Jesus at the helm. We may be chagrined to
discover that Jesus, far from being at the helm, is off searching for that lost
lamb we would not allow aboard.
Too many of us, who have joined
a denomination based on passing their rigorous doctrinal exam, understand this
to be what is important about coming to God. Those who taught us assured us
that this is what being a Christian is all about, so we carry on in that understanding,
watching over others to make sure that they are also obedient to every nuance
of the doctrines we agreed to. Perhaps it is not surprising that this is what
the church has become. Much of what we are has been heavily influenced by Pauline
thought which makes up much of the New Testament. But Paul never sat at the
feet of Jesus when Christ taught his disciples for three and a half years. Instead,
he got his knowledge of Jesus' teachings second hand, filtered through his
understanding of life, God, and ecclesiastical authority as taught to Pharisees
in the school of Gamaliel.[iv]
This may account for why so much of what is contained in his epistles is
focused on who is out and who is in, even to the extent of endorsing removing
someone from fellowship,[v] an
action he later rescinded.[vi]
He excuses his action by stating he only wanted to see if the church would obey
him. How much of that spirit creeps through to the present when ecclesiastical authorities
look to remove members from the flock over issues of obedience.
It is hard to understand why
things have reached this pass when we consider the words of Jesus in the "Parable
of the Weeds."[vii]
In that parable, those who were working for God, saw weeds among the crop and
wanted to weed them out to have a pure crop. Jesus told them, "No." He pointed
out that it would do more damage than good, and that was the work of the angels
at the appointed time anyway and not the work of men. It seems strange, dos it
not, when we have an all-powerful God that we have concluded that without us to
defend him and the purity of his church, all will be lost? Why do we feel the
need to demand obedience or that we can prevent others from coming to Christ
based on their perceived disobedience to church authority when even Satan was allowed
to come into the presence of God despite evil intentions?[viii]
Perhaps the biggest problem
with the common understanding of obedience is that it tends to rule out or
greatly diminish compassion. Christ quotes Hosea[ix] twice
in the gospel of Matthew in a passage that parallels Samuel's words in the
verse that opened this commentary. However, instead of obedience, Hosea and
Jesus use the word "mercy." This begs the question as to whether there can be
obedience without it. This realization may be the reason Paul rescinded his
demand to cast out the person from the Corinthian church. We may need to come
to that realization as well. If we try to understand what it means to be
obedient to the teachings of Christ, we don't have to look far. The "Parable of
the Sheep and Goats" in Matthew 25[x] is
informative here. The parable teaches that the work of Christ's followers will
be to feed the hungry, supply drink for the thirsty, welcome the stranger,
clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit those in prison. In Christ's day
these were all thought to be conditions that arose from leading a sinful,
disobedient life. We mirror that attitude today when we talk about the "worthy
poor," which really means we believe their lot is the result of their own sinful
choices. But in this parable, Jesus is telling us to care for those we consider
sinful. He even adds this to his quote of Hosea in one instance, declaring he
came not to call the righteous, but sinners.[xi]
Our nature is to want to call
down fire on miscreants, or at least to boot them from fellowship. It is hard
to see how we can ever be obedient to the will of God to care for sinners if we
withdraw into fortress church, boot sinners out, and man the walls to make sure
others do not enter. I cannot picture Jesus doing that. Instead, I see him outside
the walls, going among those the church would have nothing to do with and unloading
love, compassion, and healing among them. This is how the Lord adds to his
kingdom, and if we are truly invested in the growth of the kingdom of God, we
will be right there with him.