Jesus and "The Rule of Law"

This is a long sermon with a long introduction: 

Around the year 586 before Jesus the Babylonians defeated the ancient Israelites and destroyed the temple in Jerusalem. About 20,000 people, 1/4 of the population including many leaders, were exiled to Babylon over a period of about ten years.

While in Babylon (near present day Baghdad) these Jews wrote much of their history and laws, what we often call the "Old Testament." But it is only "old" if we think that the Greek scriptures about Jesus the Christ supercede the Hebrew scriptures, which were the Bible to Jesus.

About 50 years later the Persian king Cyrus conquered Babylon and released the Jews from their captivity. Ezra, a leader of those who returned, launched a long and sometimes secret campaign to rebuild the temple. The majority who remained had not worshiped God or followed the law while the leaders had been in exile. The story is that on their return Ezra organized the priests and planned to read the law, probably most of the book of Deuteronomy, to the people.

We don’t know how accurate this story is, but much that is in it is most likely exaggerated. Whenever an ancient story says “everyone” or “all the people” did something, it probably did not happen that way.

Selections from 5 chapters, Nehemiah 8-13 (edited)

All the people gathered together into the square. The scribe Ezra, (these were people who could read and write), brought the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel. The priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding. 

He read from it facing the square from early morning until midday, in the presence of those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.... And the Levites, the priests, helped the people to understand the law, while the people remained in their places. So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.

The reading took a long time, and Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all of them, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. 

The people heard the law and pledged to adhere to the law of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our God and his ordinances and his statutes. Then the leaders of Judah came up onto the wall, and there were trumpets and cymbals, harps, and lyres. The singers sang. The people offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; and [always a second thought] the women and children also rejoiced.

The joy of Jerusalem was heard far away. (END OF READING)

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SERMON:

In early 2020 when listening to the news about the rule of law, I suddenly thought, 

        "Hey, this isn't new. This is in the Bible.

         There is something deep and important and religious here, and it is being ignored.

 What is happening in our country today echoes something I remember 

                from the history of Ancient Israel."

"The rule of law" describes how we rule ourselves by electing legislators

who write laws, a president who carries them out,

and courts who settle disputes about those laws through interpretation of our Constitution 

that establishes our whole system of government.

The phrase, "the rule of law," is shorthand for how we write our laws through representatives

and how this replaces having a king who can decide what the laws will be.

The concept of "the rule of law" has been in the news regularly since 2016.

So I turned to the stories of Ezra and Nehemiah, which led me to Deuteronomy, 

where most of the Hebrew laws are given.

Now this isn't easy for Christians, because we in the churches have been told 

that the law of ancient Israel was basically a bad thing, 

that there were too many of them and that they diminished the lives of the people.

Jesus objected that requirements and obedience to laws 

sometimes prevented people from helping those in need.

Added to this is the Apostle Paul, who frequently and at length 

spoke of how the law corrupts faith, 

                        so that what one does in obedience to law cannot satisfy God.

But Jesus quoted the law frequently.

As a good rabbi, he summarized the Ten commandments in two tablets: 

Love God and love your neighbor.

Jesus rediscovered and re-interpreted the ancient law of Israel, 

which had been abused and misused in his time.

This had happened before, so in Ezra and Nehemiah we have a story 

of a people who re-discovered the law long before Jesus,

        and found in it something of great importance that they had lost.

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So let’s listen to the law beginning in Chapter 6 of Deuteronomy

which outlines the laws and the principles underlying the laws of ancient Israel.

You aren’t likely to read Deuteronomy, so I have done it for you.

I have summarized what the people of Jerusalem would have heard 

        when the forgotten laws were read to them, causing them to weep.

Some of this you know.

The tradition is that Moses wrote the Torah, meaning both all the law,

and the first 5 books of Hebrew scripture, so Moses is speaking:

“This is the great commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—

        that the Lord your God teaches you to observe, 

so that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply greatly 

        in a land flowing with milk and honey, 

        as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.

        Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 

        You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, 

        and with all your soul, and with all your might....

Two reasons are given for why the people should love God and neighbor:

The first is an old idea of a "just" God who will punish people for not doing what God says.

The second is that the people should "Do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, 

        so that it may go well with you and so that you may go in and occupy the good land 

                that the Lord swore to your ancestors."

Finally, we are told "If we diligently observe this entire commandment before the Lord our God, 

        as he has commanded us, we will be in the right.”

This means that obeying the law puts us on the right side of God.

Obeying the law makes us "righteous."

We need always to be reminded that the Bible often translates Justice as Righteousness.

The ancients were telling the people first that laws come from God.

The authority of the law was that it came from God.

This authority was passed down to kings and priests, who were thought to be chosen by God.

With the enforcement power of kings, the law was not to be trifled with.

But the law was not just a matter of the temples or the churches. 

Ancient Israel, ancient Greece and Rome, and ancient tribes 

such as the Hau-de-no-suan-ee (Iroquois) of New York 

were the inventors of Constitutions, 

                        modern representation and democracy, and this rule of law.

All of them taught that the law is good because it expresses the values

which manifest our idea of what we call God.

Therefore, to mess with the rule of law 

is to undermine and threaten all that is holy and sacred 

and is to be treated with awe if our lives to have meaning

                        and if we are to be able to live in a structured and orderly society.

Today we understand that God is not a real person. 

I personally describe God as the spirit behind our highest human values,

Our human, American rule of law is no different than ancient Israel’s rule by God’s law.

The law is intended to declare what is right and good and just.

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So the Israelite law begins with the command: 

1. You shall not exalt yourselves.

So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? 

Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways,

to serve the Lord your God [by obeying the law!]

with all your heart and with all your soul... for your own well-being.... 

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, is not partial and takes no bribe, 

executes justice for the orphan and the widow, 

loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. 

You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. 

We can hear echos of the issues of our present day and our violations of these ancient laws.

All who have ears, hear today’s news in the book of Deuteronomy.

2. There are laws on what foods to eat and which cannot be eaten. 

This was the ancient way of bringing preventive health care to the people.

3. There are detailed laws on giving tithes for the temple and the government. 

This was early socialism, the novel idea that we are not isolated individuals 

with no responsibility for our common life together. 

We should share the cost for all the things that help us create and maintain communities,

our common basis for economic growth and social progress.

4. They went so far as to say that:

Every seventh year you shall grant a remission or cancel all debts.

This shows an early understanding of how unregulated 

buying and selling leads to economic inequality 

which must be corrected and made right somehow. 

Such cancellation of debt probably never happened as written here, 

but there are numerous laws here to alleviate the poverty 

        of those who lost their lands and wealth to weather or oppression.

5. You shall appoint judges and officials throughout your tribes, 

in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, 

and they shall render just decisions for the people. 

You must not distort justice; you must not show partiality; and you must not accept bribes, 

for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of those who are in the right. 

6. Kings must be controlled in order to have justice: "Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue...." 

When you have come into the land and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, 

        “I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,” 

you may indeed set over you a king but you are not permitted to put a foreigner over you.... 

Even so, he must not acquire many horses or wives for himself..., 

Also silver and gold he must not acquire in great quantity for himself.

7. There are laws forbidding all magic and superstitious nonsense and con games.

This was the way they protected reason and science such as it was.

8. God continues to give laws against lies and for truth:

You may say to yourself, “How can we recognize a word that the Lord has not spoken?” 

If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the thing does not take place or prove true, 

it is a word that the Lord has not spoken. 

The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.

9. There are laws against crime and to protect the rights of the accused:

You must not move your neighbor’s boundary marker

Only on the evidence of two or three witnesses shall a charge be sustained. 

Punishments shall be limited and proportionate to the offense.

10. Laws are given for every case that came before the early sages and judges:

There are rules of Warfare, for treatment of captives,  

the Right of the Firstborn and rules for inheritance.

You may not withhold your help from a neighbor. 

AND, You shall make your house safe for others.

There are laws concerning Sexual Relations, adultery, rape, 

prostitution, loans and debts, marriage and divorce, kidnapping.

There are rules for the prevention of contagion!

There are laws for making loans and collecting on them.

There are labor laws:

You shall not withhold the wages of poor and needy laborers, 

        whether other Israelites or aliens. 

You shall pay them their wages daily before sunset, 

because they are poor and their livelihood depends on them.

Business shall be conducted fairly:

You shall not have in your bag or in your house two kinds of weights, large and small. 

Many laws deal with immigrants:

You shall not deprive a resident alien or an orphan of justice. 

Anything left in your field after harvest shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. 

I have omitted many important and relevant laws.

Finally, the last Law: You shall offer First Fruits and Tithes gratefully.

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In conclusion, Deuteronomy summarizes the ancient rule of law, 

This was the law of Jesus, and our laws are not much different.

Laws are often abused, but at their best they are an attempt to declare 

what is right and good for individuals and for society.

Some laws are punitive and require retribution.

Higher laws are concerned with “distributive justice,” which is about equal justice before the law.

"Equal justice before the law" is inscribed on our Supreme Court building.

The purpose of the ancient law was to put us on the right side of God.

Obeying the law would make us "righteous" or just.

The Hebrews believed that the law came from God, and that God required justice. 

We might say that behind the law is the creative power of life and love, which we name God,

which reflects our highest and deepest values, such as love, mercy, and justice.

Jesus said, "Seek first the rule of God" and everything else will follow.

“In England,” Tom Paine said, “The King was the Law. Here the Law is King.”

This defined the rule of law.

We argue about laws if we think they are are unfair or unjust, and we disagree about that.

We bring laws up to date when we have learned new truths  about human life and behavior.

But with reflection we realize that we cannot live without the rule of law, 

because ultimately it makes us human.