Elise and I recently attended a virtual seminar on the topic of Reformed Judaism and The Law. The discussion centered on how Reformed Jews view the Talmud. The Talmud is a collection of rabbinic commentaries from the first 8 centuries A.D. on how the mosaic laws from the Torah should be interpreted and applied to Jewish life. After the destruction of the second temple in 70 A.D. rabbinic study and teaching replaced temple sacrifice as the center of worship. This form of Jewish worship could also be seen during Jesus’ time in the activities of the Pharisees, who were primarily focused on interpretation and application of the Law. Today’s Orthodox branch of Judaism still take up this mantle of study while Reform Jews for the most part do not focus as highly on study. Though more members of the reform movement have in recent times taken up the study of Talmud.
During the discussion, a conversation came up comparing a covenant and a contract. A contract is an agreement between two parties that is a legal document which can potentially be broken by either party. A covenant only ends with the death of either party. We know of the covenant with Abraham, with the Jewish people, and as sacramental marriage vows. The speaker concluded that there was a covenant with the Jewish people but the atrocities of the Holocaust showed that God broke this covenant and Jews were no longer bound to it.
One friend we have at our congregation wrote to me about this issue and agreed that the Holocaust was too awful and could not understand why God would allow it. My argument back was that God did not cause the Holocaust, or 9/11 or the World Wars, etc. God created all that is good and He created Free Will. We all have numerous opportunities everyday to make a choice between good and evil. Over time the collective result of all these decisions can result in our lives moving towards or away from his will. And evil people’s activities often overwhelm good people. It has been happening since time began.
It is choice and we have that choice. Do we decide to have that extra drink even though we are on the edge of being drunk and have to drive? Do we go out with friends on Halloween and vandalize property for “fun”? Do we tell our spouses white lies about where we have been when we were somewhere that they did not want us to be? Do we skip our child’s play at school so we can go hang out with our friends? Do we steal? Do we cheat? Do we kill?
So how do we accept these bad things happening to good people at the hands of evil people? The prophet Habakkuk had the same question. The Babylonians were closing in on Jerusalem and ready to destroy it. The prophet saw it coming and asked why the Lord was allowing this to happen to His people. And at the end of today’s first reading, the answer came:
Then the LORD answered me and said:
Write down the vision
Clearly upon the tablets,
so that one can read it readily.
For the vision still has its time,
presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint;
If it delays, wait for it,
it will surely come, it will not be late.
The rash man has no integrity;
but the just man, because of his faith, shall live.
We must WAIT. Wait for the Lord’s time. And what is that time? Well it could be later that day. It could be later that month or year. It may be later in our lifetime. But we are Christians. We have faith in Christ. And not just in Christ. But in the RESURRECTION. It changes everything. It means that our lives in this world is not the end. It means that waiting does not end with this life. The wait may continue into our eternal life at home in heaven. As long as we make those decisions throughout our lives that bring us TO God and not away from Him.
In the Gospel today, the apostles wonder why they could not have healed the man’s son who was suffering from lunacy (likely seizures). And Jesus said it was because of their lack of faith. But we know that after the resurrection their faith increased to where they themselves were curing disease and raising the dead. It was Paul’s vision of the resurrected Christ that gave him the faith to suffer and die for Him. In the book “A Case for Christ” it was the author’s mission to disprove the resurrection in order to disprove Christianity. He couldn’t. And not only that, when he saw the truth of the resurrection, he left his job as a journalist to teach in Christian colleges and become an assistant pastor at a large church.
The reality of the resurrected Christ is not an easy concept for any of us to embrace since we are 2,000 years post-event. I think if we are able to truly experience Christ resurrected we could accomplish the miracles that Jesus said we could. We could move mountains. And I think one day we as believers will experience a true resurrection. But, until then, what we do have is enough faith in the Lord to help us….WAIT.
