One of the key conflicts Jesus had during his ministry was with the chief priests and the elders of the people. Jesus was a charismatic teacher, who was popular with the ordinary people. He challenged them, to be sure, but they responded to his message by turning back to God, giving up those things which were destructive, and loving one another. So, if that was his core message – turn back to God, give up those habits which are destructive, and above all love one another – why were the chief priests and the elders so anti-Jesus? What is so controversial about saying love one another?
It was controversial, because it challenged the holiness laws of Jesus’ day. More important than everything else, to be holy you could not associate (or have anything at all to do) with those people who didn’t measure up, for example, prostitutes (obviously sinners who didn’t measure up) and tax collectors (collaborators with the Roman Empire – the enemy). If you failed to live a holy life as defined by the religious authorities, you were considered unholy until you measured up. The chief priests and the elders were the ones who decided who was holy and who was not.
We don’t really have an equivalent in our society today, unless you belong to a very strict religious sect. The only requirement to be a member of my cycling group here in Adelaide, for example, is to own a bicycle and to wear the right brand of Lycra. So, it’s not quite as strict!
The rules and regulations of the chief priests and elders in the first Century A.D. were very strict and very demanding. If you failed to measure up, you were on the outside, not acceptable in the eyes of God until you did measure up and did what was required.
Jesus was radical because he challenged that and said, “God loves everyone, regardless of who they are and what they have done.”
It seems logical to us, almost blindingly obvious in fact. However, it was not obvious to the people of Jesus’ day. To be holy meant not associating with anyone who was not.
Yet, such was Jesus’ charisma and logic, that droves of ordinary people saw the real truth:
1. all people are welcome in God’s family;
2. it is up to God, not us, to determine what holiness means.
God always welcomes us back, even if we have failed badly. We are represented by the younger son in the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 11–32) and the first son in the parable about two sons (Matthew 21: 32–32). In each parable, one son does the wrong thing, but eventually comes to his senses and does the right thing. We are all like that, really. None of us is perfect – we all make mistakes. Yet, God welcomes us back without fail.
The Reverend Dr Theo McCall
School Chaplain