Sabbaths and Anthems

Sabbaths and Anthems

“Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” John 7:22-24

How do you respond when you read about the Pharisees judging Jesus because He healed someone on the Sabbath? I imagine it at least makes you roll your eyes, right? Jesus, in great compassion, heals people suffering because they are blind, deaf or even harassed by demons. I’m sure that if we were there, we would be jumping in joy when we a blind friend is able to see for the first time in his life!

But, religious people are full of criticism. They don’t like to lead with love. They cannot even take the time to think things through. No, if something offends them, they are ready to damage the person’s reputation for the sake of their own dead beliefs. So, Jesus heals on the Sabbath and the Pharisees are after Jesus with their fangs bared and saliva foaming at their mouths.

Jesus, with only one goal; to honor His Father, is attacked by those who considered themselves the religious guardians of truth. “Keep the Sabbath” meant, “don’t do anything we think is wrong on the Sabbath.” Of course, they already hated Jesus, he had so many people following him. Now, they thought they had a foolproof way to rid themselves of this nuisance.

But the Pharisees had gotten things way out of proportion. It was more important to rigidly keep Sabbath “laws” than it was to heal someone on the Sabbath. They said Jesus was leading people astray, and would eventually hatch a plot to kill him. Don’t be too aghast, we see it happen quite often in the “Christian” world today.

A young black man becomes deeply disturbed that a greater percentage of blacks are killed by white police officers than are whites. Stop, take a breath, and put yourself in his place. The numbers bare the inequity out. Recently a large church on the East Coast invited those in their congregation who were minorities to share their experiences with Law Enforcement. To quote a friend who attended:

“We did an entire Sunday morning testimony service to blacks and other minorities sharing their feelings and negative interactions with L.E. (law enforcement). It was eye opening for some of the older white parishioners. When they saw how many testimonies there were it was hard to dismiss them as isolated incidents.”

So, a young 28-year-old second string quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers expressed his grief by kneeling when the National Anthem was played. He did not riot. He did not yell expletives. He merely knelt quietly as the anthem was sung. And so the “Sabbath rules” are broken!

Let me come at it this way. Would a first century Christian ever even consider making a vow of allegiance to the Roman Empire? It is easy to say, “Well, that was an evil entity.” Then the question would be, “at what point do we make allegiance to an empire a higher priority than allegiance to Christ, or to a cause that our devotion to Christ moves us toward?”

It is fine to stand during the National Anthem. It is wonderful to refrain from work on the Sabbath. But here’s the difference: The Pharisees’ judgement was far out of proportion. Not carrying a pallet and making clay on the Sabbath were far more important than healing someone. Jesus tries to correct them.

If you were deeply pained over an issue in your nation you deemed unjust, it would be appropriate to call attention to the injustice. That is what Kaepernick is doing. You may disagree with it. You may never choose to protest in that way. But, to castigate him, to call him names, to challenge his sincerity is also to have things far out of proportion. Which is a higher call: to bring attention to injustice in the land, or to stand during the Anthem?

But, as a follower of Jesus, those are not even my primary concerns. What has caused me to actually weep is other Christians calling him names, saying he should be forced out of the country, and one “pastor” even saying that anyone else that did that should be “lined up and shot!” There is one Facebook meme that has a picture of Bin Laden above a picture of Kaepernick with the caption: “If Bin Laden had a son.” (Oh, just to make a tiny point about “respect”, I can’t tell you the number of times people keep talking to each other when the Scripture is read.)

The brand of “Christianity” that I am seeing among in our country is growing worse each political cycle.  Next time you are ready to call a public figure names, try to exercise some empathy. You don’t even have to agree with them, but at least think about it a bit. We are men and women who have taken Jesus as our own.

Do you really think Jesus would compare Kaepernick to a demon-possessed terrorist? Do you really think Jesus would throw his name all over social media with every negative and ugly word you can imagine? Do you honestly think Jesus would spit in the man’s face before he actually listens carefully to not only his words, but his heart?

And, if Jesus did feel Kaepernick needed to be dealt with, I wonder how He would approach him? Of course, there is Zacchaeus, a guy who sided with the occupying nation against his own people by overtaxing them and keeping it for himself. Now there is a guy to rake over the coals, right?

Go read what Jesus did…and perhaps we should do likewise.