Jesus & the Law – on idolatry & false worship … (12/02/18)
While there are literally dozens of Old Testament regulations defining &/or prohibiting various types of false worship (especially the worship of idols1), Jesus spent essentially no time during his ministry directly commenting on the same. That having been said, it is worth noting that Jesus did indirectly seek to amend the Law regarding these commandments as well, doing so in the following subtle-yet-potent ways:
*Firstly (and admittedly least significantly), Jesus’ actions formulated a not-so-subtle commentary on the Law’s prohibition of magic & witchcraft.2 Indeed, nowhere in Jewish literature does it state that the Messiah3 would have paranormal powers or be able to perform supernatural feats, only that he would liberate Israel from her oppressors. And yet throughout the Gospels we see Jesus performing miraculous deeds that can only be described as magical – the reading of minds, the exorcising of demons, the healing of long-term hemorrhaging, the curing of paralysis, bringing sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, giving his disciples similar powers of healing &/or over demons, calmly “passing through” angry mobs, stilling violent storms, walking on water, and even seemingly raising the dead.4
*Secondly, while the Law demanded that no sacrifices be made to false gods (see Exodus 22:20), Jesus made one of his missions to abolish sacrifice altogether – openly stating that God himself wanted “mercy, not sacrifice” (Matthew 9:13) and then brazenly entering the Temple making said sacrifices at least temporarily impossible (by twice destroying the money-changing tables therein & chasing the imminent animal victims thereof therefrom – see John 2:13-16 in the beginning of his ministry and Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11:15-19, & Luke 19:45-48 near his ministry’s end).
*Thirdly & finally (and by far most significantly), Jesus made a repeated point throughout his ministry of exposing the essentially idolatrous hypocrisy of the scribes & the Pharisees (and the Sadducees, and the priests) – calling them out over & over & over again for hoarding material wealth &/or cherishing social status; essentially worshiping personal power & superficial comfort instead of giving properly humble homage to the Lord their God …
“Avoid storing up for yourselves treasures on earth, but instead store up treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust can consume and where thieves cannot break in and steal. For where your treasure rests, there will your heart also reside … No one can simultaneously obey two masters, for a servant will always be devoted to the one at the expense of the other. So it is with God and material possessions, which is why you cannot serve both God and wealth … Oh you hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, and yet their hearts are far from me’ … Truly I tell you, it is nearly impossible for the wealthy to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Indeed, it is harder for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a wealthy man to enter the Kingdom of God … You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold or the sanctuary that has made that gold sacred? … Woe to you, scribes & Pharisees. You hypocrites! For you clean the outside of your cup & plate, and yet inside are full of greed and self-indulgence.” ~ Jesus Christ (Matthew 6:19-24, Matthew 15:7-8, Matthew 19:23-24, & Matthew 23:17-25)
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1 See the commandments prohibiting the making of idols (see Exodus 20:23, Exodus 34:17, & Leviticus 19:4b), the worship of idols (see Exodus 20:5a & Leviticus 19:4a), adopting the customs of idolaters (see Leviticus 18:3 & Leviticus 20:23), enticing others to idolatry (see Deuteronomy 13:6-10), &/or possessing anything from idolatrous villages that have been “appropriately” destroyed (see Deuteronomy 13:13-18).
2 Not only was witchcraft itself prohibited, but all forms of magical divination were forbidden along with it (see Leviticus 19:26-31 & Deuteronomy 18:10-11) … Indeed, the practice of magic was so despised by the Law that all convictions thereof were punishable by death (see Exodus 22:18).
3 It is worth noting that even if Jesus had claimed to be the Davidian Messiah (a holy status he repeatedly & quite vehemently denied – see Matthew 22:41-45, Mark:12:35-37, & Luke 20:41-44 – as well as John 14:12-20, and Matthew 4:1-10 juxtaposed with Daniel 7:13-14), doing so would not have been in any way blasphemous under the Law. Indeed, blasphemy was a Jewish crime that occurred whenever one took God’s holy name in vain &/or claimed to possess authority that only God possessed. Yes, it is true that – in contrast to the Jewish priests of the day who would openly claim their authority from what “the Torah says” – Jesus did openly claim that his personal interpretations carried equal if not superior weight thereto (see the many “You have heard it said … and yet I tell you” statements made in Matthew 5-7‘s Sermon on the Mount). Even so, never once did Jesus set himself up as being above or even equal to his heavenly Father, and indeed repeatedly & unequivocally deferred all praise to the same (see Matthew 19:17, Mark 10:18, Luke 18:19, John 5:41, John 7:16, John 8:50-54, & John 12:44-47 et al).
4 NOTE that all of these “miracles” either have rational alternative explanations or are discounted by Jesus himself. Still, they clearly appeared to be magic-based, and thus clearly had the appearance of being a commentary on the Law – a commentary against the inflexible punishment of deeds deemed heretical, and for the acceptance of any & all actions (even traditionally illegal ones) that bore the “good fruit” of peace.
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