bow before what?

ok let’s pick back up from our conversation that took place right before easter. if you’re a new follower and reading this for the first time, i recommend you go here to read the first half of this conversation before diving into this one. 

what did jesus mean when he said “you bow before the law…”

first off, i’m not a scholar by any means. not formally educated in scripture in any way, shape, or form. my only experience is growing up in the church as a pastor’s kid and then following in my parent’s footsteps by pastoring. it is incredibly important to note, i have only been exposed to the westernized evangelical messaging and scriptural context found within such in my culture. it was only when i stepped away that i began to learn the depth, variance, and context when analyzing scripture. above all, i listen to my gut…my intuition. my body tells me when something is off and i need to look further into it. 

this indirect, interpretive quote of jesus, “you bow before the law…and violate the heart of the law” comes from Matthew 23. it was jesus’ rant here that more than likely was the straw that broke the camel’s back, but when you read this chapter, especially through *the message* translation, it was more like an 1000 pound bale of hay that broke the camel’s back than a single straw. ;-)

take time to read it. it’s fascinating. we don’t talk much about this side of jesus. remember, we need him to be “perfect” to fit the blood sacrifice/salvation narrative, and a man going into a sacred god space, turning tables, possibly hurting people, yelling, calling names, and completely disrespecting the only people that can access god on other’s behalf…definitely raises the eyebrows. 

in my stepping away from church, the “bowing before the law” has taken on many interpretations throughout my quest for truth. 

in the beginning, it meant all the “christian disciplines”, previously known as “standards” in my pentecostal world. we would barely allow beautiful, hurting people through the doors, seemingly experiencing massive life and heart change, before accosting them with the deeper layers, “the meat”, of what being a christian *truly* is…holiness.

i found new converts immediately desiring to learn more and get involved in community and “servanthood”. the problem was…there was no way for them to be involved in “servanthood” because they were “too young in the gospel” and had no place in leading others. we realized how bad this made us look, so we created more “paths” for them to be involved…like the “parking lot” ministry… peripheral ministries that didn’t seem to have much consequential risks to the church “dna” and also created space for them (and us) as they slowly made their way to deeper things. and for us…the deeper things was a dress code. after all, how do you measure the heart? the dress code is what “holiness” standards were with the weightier codes falling on the backs of women, similar to eve in “the fall” story.  

once i stepped away from that particular sect of christian evangelicalism which required dress codes, “the law” took on a different revelation to me, a form of salvation…and what that means. was it a three step process to save myself from the pain of an eternal lake of fire or did i just need to repeat a prayer that it seemed the majority of authority figures were quoting verbatim at the end of an inspirational message after a sunday morning? 

i found what had been my foundational, unshakable truths my whole life begin to whither away faster and faster once i began seeing the patterns amongst these churches.

i started asking more questions and having thoughts like:
was hell even real? where did that concept come from?

wait…let me think about this for a minute.
repeat the story really slow, miquell.

an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving god sent himself to earth, sacrificed himself so we could be saved from an eternal torture chamber he created, because he had created a rule that we broke and could never be rectified because we are *that* bad.

it broke down really fast, guys. really fast. 

it was scary. i had been taught my whole life not to trust myself. i was bad. i was born bad. my flesh was bad. my thoughts were bad. if left to my own devices, i would do bad things.

no wonder we perpetuate the messaging. it’s what is believed about us from those that were us and are us. your mother’s blood is bad. your father’s blood is bad…therefore, you are bad. yep, even as an innocent infant…bad and needs salvation. and if those babies don’t choose god’s salvation “at the age of accountability” they will go to god’s eternal lake of fire, if god-forbid, the rapture takes place.

my latest “bow before the law” revealing came together for me in the last few years. it wasn’t the list of laws in the old testament. it wasn’t about the salvific messaging within the church. the church, as i experienced it, was simply one aspect of what i have found in a five tiered system that keeps we humans blinded, in slavery, “separated” from god, and beholden to an invisible master that i have yet to identify.

i’ll share more next week about all of this.

jesus and his life was *so* much more than perfection and a blood sacrifice. we’ve only kept his teachings and behavior within the myopic context of the bible and what our behavior “should” be because of such. 

i love you.
miquell

john 8:31-32 msg “…if you stick with this, living out what i tell you, you are my disciples for sure. then *you* will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you.” ~jesus