this past sunday, the minister of the church we attend preached on a passage from luke in which jesus and his disciples are accused of breaking the sabbath. first, as the disciples and jesus walk through a field of grain, the disciples pick and eat some of the grain, and the pharisees question jesus about his allowing this to happen. later, jesus heals a man with a deformed hand in the synagogue on the sabbath, deliberately challenging the religious rules about what is allowed on the sabbath.
in his explanation of the strictures regarding sabbath-keeping among the jews of jesus' time, practices maintained by some observant jews to this day, the minister quoted numbers 15: 32-36. this passage describes an incident as the israelites were making their way to the promised land when a man was found gathering wood on the sabbath, brought before moses, and condemned to death, a sentence carried out by the community taking the man outside the camp and stoning him, " just as the Lord had commanded moses." no further explanation of this passage was offered, and i was disturbed that the idea that God would require such a punishment for a rather insignificant violation of the religious laws, one that was no more egregious than the actions of jesus' disciples.
the content of the rest of the sermon showed a great understanding of the human spirit, reminding us that the thrust of jesus' teachings and life pointed us to a God of mercy, love, and forgiveness, in contrast to the ritualistic and rule-bound god of the religious establishment of the time. yet, i can't understand why the stark contrast between jesus' teachings and the god of the ancient israelites was not addressed. it is this refusal to admit in most christian churches that there are contradictions and inaccuracies in the bible that drives people from the christian faith. we are dishonest as we insist that the bible must be accepted in toto, glossing over passages like the one in numbers and failing to address these different understandings of God head-on. we leave our services questioning whether or not we ought to claim to be christians if we can't accept this vision of a god of vengeance, who condones putting people to death for petty infractions of religious laws.
may we be honest in admitting many passages in the bible are contradictory, that in order for one passage to be true another must be false. may we examine what we read and hear and not be afraid to reject that which is patently wrong. may we worship a God of love, embracing "that of God" that is love in our hearts. shalom.
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