BLIND AND TOOTHLESS

Exodus 21:22-23:13; Matthew 24:1-28; Psalm 29:1-11; Proverbs 7:6-23

“… An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, a bruise for a bruise.”

“The voice of the Lord echoes above the sea.
The God of glory thunders.  The Lord thunders over the mighty sea.
 The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic.
 The voice of the Lord splits the mighty cedars;
the Lord shatters the cedars of Lebanon.”

In the musical, Fiddler on the Roof, Tevya is discussing the local pogroms with his Jewish neighbors.  One irate friend exclaims, “An eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth!”  Tevya’s reply is classic: “Yes, and then the whole world will be blind and toothless.” Perhaps that explains why we have a Savior who went from “eye for an eye” to “turn the other cheek.”  One of the toughest biblical questions concerns this seeming change between the Old and New Testament God.  Personally, I don’t believe God changed at all; our approach to Him simply evolved as He’d always intended and foreseen.  We learned to appreciate different aspects of the divine personality. 

Humans start by needing rules to define our personal successes and failures, because we live by a performance standard.  So, the Holy Spirit gave us a chance to perform under the Rules, and to fail (miserably and repeatedly) so we could be positioned to accept and appreciate grace. 

Grace has little meaning without a prior understanding that the Law (read: “the rules”) can never save us because we will never fulfill it.  Only One, Jesus Christ, ever lived in complete fulfillment of the Law.  It just isn’t in us to do that.  Thus, the Law instructs us, inhibits us, but cannot save us.  We need grace – unmerited favor - to get from here to Him.   That’s what the Old Testament is all about: proving humans cannot follow any rules for long.  When we try, we end up “blind and toothless;” like the Pharisees, we are unable to see our own need for grace; and we live without any particular spiritual power or strength.

Thank goodness Christ was ready with grace.  “Blind and toothless” was never our intended destiny.  Freedom from rules and dependence on the Holy Spirit is the lifestyle to which we Christians are called.  Let’s get to it!  Rules are for losers.  The Spirit is the winners’ Gift.  He will lead.  All we need do is follow.