Breaking The Law...for God's Sake

When he said those words, Stephen died.’

We’ve all heard this story of the first Christian law-breaker, haven’t we? And we have some understanding and knowledge of the commitment of others in history that have been Christian law-breakers.

In a little while, I’ll tell you about some others who dare to be law-breakers for Christ.

In our scripture this morning, Jesus is speaking in such a way as to outrage and shock the orthodox Jewish religious leaders. And in what he says about these scribes and Pharisees and their religion, represents a head-on clash with existing religious tradition and law. What Jesus is saying could be construed by some as promoting and encouraging the crowds to break the religious laws and traditions of their time.

But breaking of these traditions of the Jewish law could result for the common worshipper being expelled from the synagogue, in other words, being kicked out of the church. If this would happen to someone, it could have serious consequences for them and their families. It would mean being shunned by everyone in the Jewish community; it would mean not being able to do business in the market place. And if you were a shunned Jew, turning to the gentile community for your daily needs, was not an option either…for the gentiles hated the Jews. This hate was so passionate that the gentiles would sometimes spit in the footsteps of the Jews as they passed.

The power and influence that the Pharisees held over the Jewish community was truly great…and what they said and required of the people was the law by which the Jewish community would and must live their lives.

The basic importance of this passage is not so much a clash between Jesus and the Pharisees, in a personal way…it is something far more than that…it is the collision of two views of religion and two views of the demands of God. William Barclay in his commentary on this passage calls it, ‘…one of the supreme religious contests in history.’

So, in order to understand why what Jesus said was so radical…why it so outraged and shocked the Scribes and Pharisees, we must take a quick look at the Jewish religion. For saying what he said, Jesus was in essence encouraging those that were listening to break the laws of Jewish tradition.

In Matthew 15, verse 10…it says, ‘Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, ‘Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth that defiles.’

With this statement, Jesus has pretty much eliminated the book of Leviticus in the Bible. This book of laws was part of the Jewish Pentateuch. This is book that the Pharisees used as a basis for many of their other laws and teachings. It set the standard for how to remain, ‘clean’.

When was the last time you read the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament? Well if you haven’t lately, let me give you just a taste of what it says…