Spirit or Scripture?

Difficult concepts occasionally occur to me. I wrestle with them, ponder them, hold them up, as an egg before a candle, and see whether or not there is life in them. One such quandary has me increasingly convinced of a troubling aspect of the Christian faith, one that, if embraced, forever changes the way we look at the Bible and its use.

Jesus did not believe in a literal application of scripture.

Throughout the liturgical church year, those who follow the Revised Common Lectionary are faced with the difficulty of Jesus rejecting that which is written in order to practice what he sees clearly as God's will. The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew or the Sermon on the Plain in Luke is a fair example. Jesus says there, "You have seen that it was written," or "You have heard that it was said." He goes on to quote from Jewish Torah or the Prophets. Then, he says, "but I say to you..." Jesus' teaching counters that which is written. He contradicts the scriptures and offers a gracious response that undoes the scriptural lesson.

This week's Gospel text is another example. In Mark 7:1-8, the Pharisees, protectors of the Temple structure and the laws that uphold it, wonder why Jesus' followers eat with defiled hands. Why do they not wash, as the law requires? Jesus' response was brilliant, a quote from Isaiah: "This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrine." He then applies the text: "You abandon the commandments of God and hold to human traditions."

Wait, is the command to wash not in Leviticus, and elsewhere? Is the requirement not spelled out at length in the scriptures? Of course it is, but Jesus refers to such law, rule and regulation as "human precept" and "human tradition." That the restriction is included in Torah and the prophets does not impact Jesus' belief, thinking or practice. Jesus rejects a literal application of the written scripture for a kinder, gentler practice of grace and love.

I find the concept of Jesus rejecting scripture uncomfortable and challenging. Clearly, Jesus has an alternative standard of belief, thinking and practice.He does not place his trust in a literal reading of scripture as a litmus test for faithful living. This is upsetting. It is confusing.

If Jesus placed his belief, thinking and practice on a foundational other than scriptural authority and written authority, then perhaps the Church that bears his name should find the standard upon which Jesus relied. If it is not scripture, however, where does that standard lie?

I am convinced of two things: 1. The standard for Jesus' belief, thinking and practice did not lie outside of him, but was internal and personal. and 2. That standard was spiritual instead of material, intellectual or practical. In the Gospel According to Mark, Jesus is able to do what God calls him to do precisely because he is empowered by God's own Spirit. It is this spiritual presence that renders him "God's Son, in whom God is well pleased."

Jesus trusts the Spirit that directs his actions. He is intimate with its demands and applications. To put that differently, Jesus is certain that he knows God's Spirit. It is the Spirit, internal and personal, that establishes the foundation from which Jesus acts. It, alone, is the standard of Jesus' belief, thinking and practice. The Spirit requires no external instruction or limitation. In fact, to follow external regulation or instruction limits the possibility of the Spirit-at-work.

The challenge for the Church that follows Jesus Christ, instead of laws, regulations, traditions or ritual practices and incantations, is that it must base itself in the internal and personal Spirit that empowered and enabled Christ. It is that same Spirit that empowers and enables us. It is the foundation upon which we establish standards of belief, thinking and practice. That this standard remains subjective calls us to accept the diversity of possible applications, and the diversity of persons who seek to apply them.

The religious authorities of Jesus' day sought to disavow this "spiritual" foundation for the sake of their traditional, institutional, social and political faith. The Spirit freed Jesus from the law of scripture. Perhaps it can so free the Church that follows him.