DEPENDENCE OR INDEPENDENCE?

Yesterday, I started co-teaching a 10-week Disciple Bible Study on the book of Genesis. As one might expect, we spent some time discussing one of the foundational texts of all of Scripture: the story of "the fall" in Genesis 3.

One member of the class, Jay Cantrell, noted that this passage made more sense to him now that he had kids and grandkids. He said it reminded him of what has happened with his kids as they left the "age of innocence" and went out on their own. They had to realize that being on their own meant having to have a job to pay the bills, similar to Adam being told ". . . in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground . . ." (Genesis 3:17-19, NRSV). Daddy isn't going to do everything for you now!

This made me realize something. As much as we equate this passage with "sin," it is really a passage about our desire for independence as human beings. Our "problem" is that we want to be independent of God and other people. We want to show or to prove that we can do it on our own without the help of others. Don't we all go through this to some extent as we "leave home?" We want to survive, even thrive, without the help of our parents. This is the story of Adam and Eve. They want to be independent like God, having wisdom.

The next interesting point is that Jesus taught just the opposite of this:

• He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." (Luke 10:17, NRSV)

Jesus, in essence, is teaching that independence is not the goal. The goal is to learn to (and accept to) be dependent on God and other people! We cannot do it alone! May we have the strength to be dependent on God and other people - and allow others to be dependent on us and EVEN allow God to be dependent on us! When God calls us into serving others, God is, in a sense depending on us. It is a mutual relationship!

THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS?

Others may have made this connection explicitly before, but I hadn't until last week. I wanted to share it!

We have been "taught" since childhood in the church that Jesus' statement:

• "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill." (Matthew 5:17, NRSV)

means that Jesus was "foretold" in the Hebrew Scriptures, and Jesus has finally coming fulfilling all the "prophecies" found in the Hebrew Scriptures. Others have said that Jesus "fulfilled" the law and the prophets because Jesus was the "final sacrifice." I've come to the conclusion that these interpretations are NOT what this passage means. Why?

Later in the sermon on the mount, from which the above Scripture passage comes, we get this statement:

• "In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets." (Matthew 7:12, NRSV, emphasis mine)
  

Jesus fulfilled the law and the prophets, not because he was foretold in the Law and the Prophets and finally "came." Jesus did not fulfill the law and the prophets because he was the "final sacrifice." Jesus fulfilled the law and the prophets because he actually lived out the law and the prophets - doing to others as you would have them do to you!!

All too often, we have been taught because of Matthew 5:17 that we (human beings) no longer have to "fulfill the law" because Jesus already "fulfilled it." Yet, it certainly seems in Matthew 7:12 that we, too, should fulfill the law and the prophets! It isn't just something for Jesus to do!

This and other "revelations" I have been experiencing lately continually remind me that we must be careful not to interpret Scripture by the creeds, theology, and ideas we have heard all of our lives. We must be careful to let the Scriptures say what they say and not force our "preconceived notions, thoughts, ideas, and theology" on Scripture texts that do not say "what we've always heard."