Existing in community
This week is on Deuteronomy 21:18-21:
If you're a teenager, be afraid. :) These verses describe an ancient social norm for the Israelites that would be shocking to us today. Imagine a law that would require you to bring your disobedient kid to family court, where he would be sentenced to death and executed on the spot! I bet there weren't any street gangs back in those days...
The first surprising thing here is that our loving God would be the one to make that recommendation. And the next surprising thing is that the parents would be asked to deliver the kid themselves. Shouldn't they just hope for the best until the cops show up? And the third surprising thing is that the men of the town would be the ones to put the kid to death. Why not just let the state take care of it? Why should it be us, the neighbors and relatives of the kid, and not some impartial stranger?
In ancient cultures, there weren't any long term prisons. Crimes needed to be dealt with on the spot. Repeat criminals represented a serious threat to the society. Nobody could afford to risk a rapist repeating his crime, or a thief continuing to steal from people in the town, who were poor enough as it is. If you had a kid who was showing signs of being a sociopath, the sort of person who turns into a killer or a career criminal, it was your responsibility to take care of it. Otherwise, you're unleashing trouble into the world around you, and that's being a bad member of your community. If you had a dog who you knew had rabies, would you drop him off on Main Street and hope that someone else would take care of it?
In what seemed like a horrific act of cruelty by our modern standards, God was teaching his people not just personal responsibility, but how to exist in community. Nowadays, what would happen is the parents would live in fear of their unruly child, chasing away people who tried to discipline him. When the kid got old enough to legally live on his own, he would run away and begin stealing and committing crimes. The government would then play "catch and release" with him until he'd either killed enough people to stay in prison for the rest of his life, or killed himself in a drug overdose or a shootout. If he was incarcerated, all of society would pay tens of thousands of dollars a year to feed, clothe, house, and guard him for decades. So, which alternative is really the most cruel?
Jesus teaches us to put others before ourselves. In the old testament, God listed a lot of specific examples as laws. Those are not in contradiction of what Jesus came to accomplish, but are a kind of groundwork, providing background and insight into the mind of God. In things like the law about dealing with impossible, destructive members of society, we can see that we're supposed to exist as part of a community, and to think about the big picture before we think about ourselves. Our problems aren't just inconveniences for us, but could be huge problems for everyone, if left untreated. We have to own our problems and bring them to someone who can help us, when we can no longer handle them on our own.
This philosophy of life is very different than how we're brought up as Americans. We're taught to be individuals first, before all else. That works well for us, in our abundant, mechanized, post-industrial society, where most of our physical needs can be met cheaply. The problem is that when we need help the most, help is no longer there, because we've never taken time to build relationships with others, and to form a community. Our tax money and insurance premiums go towards deadening the blow a little bit, but that can't last forever. God knew that before we even tried it.
We're taught that our problems are not our fault, that confronting a problem is wrong, and that disciplining someone for doing wrong is itself wrong. That produces complacency and division. God knows that. In not taking our problems seriously, we harm others and destroy ourselves. In not confronting others, we become weary of their issues, and withdraw from them. In not accepting discipline, we wall ourselves off from the people we need the most.
By ignoring God's command to live in community, we live lonely, isolated lives, even in the midst of a crowd. Our spiritual growth is stunted, and we end our lives as selfish, immature rogues. We're easily broken into factions, and picked off by predation, like isolated sheep. These are all things God has always known, but which we've chosen to forget in our desperate attempts to fashion the world to be the way we wished it was. God has always shared his wisdom with us. The question is whether we're willing to see it, and to put it into practice.
Imagine yourself as the rebellious son. If you had any love for yourself, you would quit your rebellion, because you'd know it would result in certain death. If you had any love for your parents, you'd quit your rebellion, because if you didn't, they'd have to live with the decision to turn you over to be killed. If you had any love for your community, you'd quit your rebellion, because otherwise they'd have to live with the pain of having had to kill you.
Imagine yourself as the parents. If you had any love for your rebellious son, you'd do everything you could to make sure he behaves himself, even from a young age. Otherwise, someday he may die because of your neglect. If you had any love for yourselves, you'd make sure your son learns to behave himself, because if you don't, you will have to suffer the shame of having to admit failure in front of your community, and to live with your son's blood on your hands. If you have any love for your community, you'd make sure your son learns to behave himself, because if you don't, he could be a threat to them, and a burden to their sons, and you would force them to put him to death.
Imagine yourself as the men of the community. If you had any love for the rebellious son, you'd make sure he obeys his parents. Otherwise, you may some day have to kill him when they turn him in. If you had any love for his parents, you'd make sure they were able to teach him to obey, otherwise they may have to make the difficult decision someday to bring him to you to put him to death. And if you had any love for the community you collectively form, you'd make sure the son learns to obey, because if you don't, it'll cost each of you something in the long run, even if it's just the knowledge that someone had to die.
The key here is love, and if it doesn't exist in you, you cannot exist in community with others.
If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. They shall say to the elders, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard." Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.
If you're a teenager, be afraid. :) These verses describe an ancient social norm for the Israelites that would be shocking to us today. Imagine a law that would require you to bring your disobedient kid to family court, where he would be sentenced to death and executed on the spot! I bet there weren't any street gangs back in those days...
The first surprising thing here is that our loving God would be the one to make that recommendation. And the next surprising thing is that the parents would be asked to deliver the kid themselves. Shouldn't they just hope for the best until the cops show up? And the third surprising thing is that the men of the town would be the ones to put the kid to death. Why not just let the state take care of it? Why should it be us, the neighbors and relatives of the kid, and not some impartial stranger?
In ancient cultures, there weren't any long term prisons. Crimes needed to be dealt with on the spot. Repeat criminals represented a serious threat to the society. Nobody could afford to risk a rapist repeating his crime, or a thief continuing to steal from people in the town, who were poor enough as it is. If you had a kid who was showing signs of being a sociopath, the sort of person who turns into a killer or a career criminal, it was your responsibility to take care of it. Otherwise, you're unleashing trouble into the world around you, and that's being a bad member of your community. If you had a dog who you knew had rabies, would you drop him off on Main Street and hope that someone else would take care of it?
In what seemed like a horrific act of cruelty by our modern standards, God was teaching his people not just personal responsibility, but how to exist in community. Nowadays, what would happen is the parents would live in fear of their unruly child, chasing away people who tried to discipline him. When the kid got old enough to legally live on his own, he would run away and begin stealing and committing crimes. The government would then play "catch and release" with him until he'd either killed enough people to stay in prison for the rest of his life, or killed himself in a drug overdose or a shootout. If he was incarcerated, all of society would pay tens of thousands of dollars a year to feed, clothe, house, and guard him for decades. So, which alternative is really the most cruel?
Jesus teaches us to put others before ourselves. In the old testament, God listed a lot of specific examples as laws. Those are not in contradiction of what Jesus came to accomplish, but are a kind of groundwork, providing background and insight into the mind of God. In things like the law about dealing with impossible, destructive members of society, we can see that we're supposed to exist as part of a community, and to think about the big picture before we think about ourselves. Our problems aren't just inconveniences for us, but could be huge problems for everyone, if left untreated. We have to own our problems and bring them to someone who can help us, when we can no longer handle them on our own.
This philosophy of life is very different than how we're brought up as Americans. We're taught to be individuals first, before all else. That works well for us, in our abundant, mechanized, post-industrial society, where most of our physical needs can be met cheaply. The problem is that when we need help the most, help is no longer there, because we've never taken time to build relationships with others, and to form a community. Our tax money and insurance premiums go towards deadening the blow a little bit, but that can't last forever. God knew that before we even tried it.
We're taught that our problems are not our fault, that confronting a problem is wrong, and that disciplining someone for doing wrong is itself wrong. That produces complacency and division. God knows that. In not taking our problems seriously, we harm others and destroy ourselves. In not confronting others, we become weary of their issues, and withdraw from them. In not accepting discipline, we wall ourselves off from the people we need the most.
By ignoring God's command to live in community, we live lonely, isolated lives, even in the midst of a crowd. Our spiritual growth is stunted, and we end our lives as selfish, immature rogues. We're easily broken into factions, and picked off by predation, like isolated sheep. These are all things God has always known, but which we've chosen to forget in our desperate attempts to fashion the world to be the way we wished it was. God has always shared his wisdom with us. The question is whether we're willing to see it, and to put it into practice.
Imagine yourself as the rebellious son. If you had any love for yourself, you would quit your rebellion, because you'd know it would result in certain death. If you had any love for your parents, you'd quit your rebellion, because if you didn't, they'd have to live with the decision to turn you over to be killed. If you had any love for your community, you'd quit your rebellion, because otherwise they'd have to live with the pain of having had to kill you.
Imagine yourself as the parents. If you had any love for your rebellious son, you'd do everything you could to make sure he behaves himself, even from a young age. Otherwise, someday he may die because of your neglect. If you had any love for yourselves, you'd make sure your son learns to behave himself, because if you don't, you will have to suffer the shame of having to admit failure in front of your community, and to live with your son's blood on your hands. If you have any love for your community, you'd make sure your son learns to behave himself, because if you don't, he could be a threat to them, and a burden to their sons, and you would force them to put him to death.
Imagine yourself as the men of the community. If you had any love for the rebellious son, you'd make sure he obeys his parents. Otherwise, you may some day have to kill him when they turn him in. If you had any love for his parents, you'd make sure they were able to teach him to obey, otherwise they may have to make the difficult decision someday to bring him to you to put him to death. And if you had any love for the community you collectively form, you'd make sure the son learns to obey, because if you don't, it'll cost each of you something in the long run, even if it's just the knowledge that someone had to die.
The key here is love, and if it doesn't exist in you, you cannot exist in community with others.
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