I make no apologies for setting the same reading for every day of this week!
One eminent Bishop of the Victorian era (J C Ryle) says of these verses:
‘Here we have our Lord Jesus Christ’s rules for our conduct one towards another. He that would know how he ought to feel and act towards his fellow men should often study these verses. They deserve to be written in letters of gold: they have extorted praise even from the enemies of Christianity. Who does not know that quarrellings, strifes, selfishness and unkindness cause half the miseries by which mankind is visited? ‘
The sad fact of which we have to take account is that while humankind was made in the image of God, that image has been spoilt by human sin. Every single person born into this world inherits the sinful nature of Adam. (Only Jesus escaped that destiny through His supernatural conception and virgin birth.) This inherited tendency towards, and experience of sin colours all our human relationships. So take note of what Jesus said and pray for grace to work towards the beautiful relationships He defines.
The baggage of traditions you have picked up on your journey of Faith.
v 38 “You have heard the law that says ….
Your walk with Jesus is not a holiday, so you don’t need baggage! The trouble is that many of us have picked up baggage as we have travelled through life, even perhaps without being aware of it. We may feel we have inherited something from our parents’ facial or verbal expressions, or the same likes and dislikes, friends might perhaps say ‘He’s just like his Dad.’ That’s true in our experience of church too. We have picked up something from a Sunday School teacher, or a Pastor, and it has lodged in our minds as unchallengeable truth. So we carry it with us as part of our tradition or baggage. Few, if any of us to tell the truth, travel baggage-free. In reality, whatever our age, we are still liable to pick up unhelpful baggage simply because some well-known person has pushed it on to us. Our church traditions are particularly ‘special’ baggage; What we always do is …’ or ‘What we have always believed is …’ Hence we at The Hub are struggling to think differently as we find our way back to church life after the pandemic.
It is right and proper to challenge change, particularly if it strikes at the root of our understanding of Scripture. A change in the timing of our worship services is hardly fundamental, but what might claim to be some new understanding of the Bible as opposed to what the Church has believed for centuries, may need clear-headed and honest discussion. Most of the ancient creeds of the Church arose out of that kind of frank and open debate.
Be prepared to be open when it comes to challenging both tradition and novelty –and be prepared to listen to other voices even when you disagree with them.
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