i’ll admit it openly. i’m an answer man. i love answering questions for people, and i will always have something to say on most anything, and if i’m guessing or spouting opinion, i’ll make sure to let you know.

i had purposefully taken many different kinds of jobs when i was growing up, and until i started working in a church. i’ve been a dishwasher, bbq restaurant cook, arcade game repair guy, kid’s coach (at the now defunct discovery zone), a janitor, legal clerk, customer service guy, warehouse worker, forklift driver, demolition worker, teacher, web & graphic designer, and i’m sure there’s a few more in there somewhere. i like having a general knowledge on most things…also known as a jack of all trades (master of none.)

i enjoy being able to help out anywhere. but what i must also be careful of, is letting my desire to help or answer questions become a source of pride. i do have a leaning toward legalism that i have to keep an eye on…i do not want to become a pharisee…all answers, no heart. life is not a series of logic problems to be worked through. life is not a matter of getting all the questions answered. sometimes, there’s going to be mystery that outweighs the rest of the apparent facts, and no solid answer will be forthcoming. and that’s okay. i don’t have to have all the answers, and i’m glad of that.

Jesus seemed to run into these guys all the time. they were all about the answers on any given thing, person or situation. they had something to say about everything. i know they had the Torah memorized, and had an amazing recall of the text. but memorizing something doesn’t mean that it has been taken to heart. having something stuck in your head doesn’t mean it has translated into your daily life. and that’s the way it seemed to be with these guys. they knew the rules, they knew the answers, but they couldn’t live them out.

Jesus and His disciples were walking through a field of grain. it was physically brushing against them. they were hungry, and so they simply brought their hand to their mouth, and as it made its way there, grain was passing through their fingers. they tightened their fingers so some would stay in their palms, and it finished the trek into their mouths.

i don’t know about you, but i have never considered eating chex mix from a bowl to be work. but the pharisees did. picking grain was a job, so any aspect of that job that you happened to reproduce on the sabbath was considered work as well. so snack time suddenly became ‘on the clock’ and was a no-no. had the had a pouch of grain on their belts, and recreated the same motion: hand down, insert grain, hand to mouth, chew…they would have been fine. but the act of removing grain from the head of the stalk made it work, and therefore a sin since it was the sabbath.

i couldn’t live that way…

i can’t imagine being that uptight all the time…

it’s one thing to watch out for your brother…it’s another thing to make yourself the holiness police and regulate everything down to the Nth degree. one is healthy and helpful, the other is oppressive and harsh.

as Christians, it’s easy to see where we should stand on this, and other similar issues. what is the intent, where is the heart? and while we are not to pronounce judgment concerning the soul of another, we can and should try our best to help direct them back to the truth found in Scripture, but as peter says “with gentleness and respect.” coming at people with bad attitudes, and spouting rules isn’t going to win any hearts or minds. knowing the answers does us no good at all if we can’t apply them to ourselves, or if they work no change in our own day-to-day lives.

Father, forgive us for not taking Your Word to heart. help us move it from knowledge into actions that honor You.

Lord, have mercy.

Christ, have mercy.

Spirit, have mercy.

amen.