July 5, 2020

Judgment (use of the law) against a person is often used to discredit a person’s message. John the Baptist’s message was to call people to turn to God because the kingdom of God had come near (Mt. 3:2), and it was a popular message (Mt. 3:5). Jesus’message was the same (Matt. 4:17): By welcoming tax collectors and sinners, he revealed the new way the kingdom of God works.

In order to prevent people being infected by COVID-19, gathering places (manufacturing, restaurants and bars, and houses of worship) have been closed. That required a mandate from each state’s governor. A few people used their judgment (the law) to speak against the message of the governor. The use of the law discredits a message.

The Law Is How We Justify Our Actions. People use the law to discredit a person or their message. Call it logic, reasoning, truth, fact, evidence-based science, it is all law. It judges, measures, accuses, and condemns. The law is used because it is trusted as an effective means to discredit a person.

People use the law to explain why they do things: “I made my decision after long and careful thought.” “After weighing the pros and cons of the situation, I thought this was the best thing I could do.” Some say they used evidence, facts, and that their next steps will be taken when those facts meet a certain criteria (the word “metric” is popular these days). Other people simply say they will do whatever they want to. But always an explanation is used. Always a reason is given. Always there is a justification for what we do. We use the law because we trust it.

The law is also used by humans to determine another person’s status before God. “He has a demon” is not only a statement to undermine the person and what the person says; it also declares that the person is without God. Saying that someone is “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” also indicates that a person is without grace before God.

When we trust the law to explain what we do or think, we have made the law what we honor and obey. We have made the law our god. The implication is we don’t think that God is worth honoring and obeying. We have a problem with God. Even worse, we have broken the First Commandment; that means that God has a problem with us. The very law we use to justify what we do, is the law God uses to justify his judgment against us. As it is written, “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged” (Matt. 7:1).

Jesus Justifies Us. Into the world that prefers using the law, Jesus becomes God’s new way of dealing with those under God’s judgment. To know who God is and how God acts we are to look only to Jesus. “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. (Matt. 11:27). Jesus is gentle, not demanding like the law; he is easy, not difficult or hard like the law; he is light like a feather, not heavy or burdensome or crushing like guilt. Jesus ends the law by his death. By his resurrection he creates grace and mercy for us.

Jesus dying and rising is what Jesus did for us to give us his grace and mercy. He forgives instead of condemns. He gives us life instead of taking it. By looking at him we see what God is doing and what God is like. Because of Jesus, we are now people with grace and mercy before God.

Jesus Is How We Justify Our Actions. Jesus’ way of being a friend to tax collectors and sinners, his way of dying and rising for them, is grace and mercy. Grace and mercy are what he uses to justify all he does. It’s all grace and mercy for us. Jesus invites us to turn away from excuses and explanations and judgment, and to be with him in his way of grace and mercy, a way of grace which is easy and light and gentle.

Jesus’ gentleness, easiness, lightness and comfort gets us to trust him. When we trust him, he becomes the reason we do things; he becomes the justification for our actions. Following in his way of mercy and grace is how we honor and trust God. Jesus has grace and mercy for us, so in him we look good to God. He does not discredit us. He does not try to undermine what we say, so long as what we say is that Jesus is Lord.

We no longer need to use the law to discredit a person or their message. Our purpose or reason or justification of what we do is Jesus’ grace and mercy. We simply speak the goodness of Jesus to others. Instead of demanding people prove their worth, we give them the worth of Jesus. Instead of trying to make others look bad by attacking them, we use Jesus grace and mercy to make them look good. We do not burden others with hard and difficult tasks before we accept them; rather, we make it easy and light with our gentleness to show them they are accepted and loved by us as a gift, that is, by grace. We make people feel they are worth something by our words and actions of grace. Jesus is the reason and explanation for what we do. He is our justification for making others look good (forgiven) to God.