Samuel “Dr.” Johnson of whom it is said, “The latter part of the 18th Century is often called the ‘Age of Johnson,’ wrote, “People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.”
When was it you last read through the first 5 books of the Bible; especially the last 4 of those 5? It’s actually a rather difficult read. This is largely because of the highly repetitious, meticulous detail. The Book of Exodus has 40 Chapters. 20 of them are almost exclusively given to the intricate description of how the “Tabernacle” would be built; the attendants to it should be dressed; and the rituals conducted in and around it carried out. The next Book, Leviticus has 27 Chapters. They are all devoted to definitions of the type and purpose of myriad sacrifices and precise details regarding their preparation and offering. Numbers has 36 Chapters. They are mostly about a Census; some narrative; but, largely Laws and allocation of land. There is more narrative in the 34 Chapters of Deuteronomy. Still much of it deals with the division of the New Land to which Israel was being lead; the reiteration of the 10 Commandments and Covenant; and the Blessing of the Tribes. Reading through the pages of these details can be overwhelming. It’s hard to keep track of which ritual is which. The prospect of remembering every detail is foreboding especially when you hear the Lord describing the consequences that follow if you don’t get it right. Jesus Himself said to the proselytizing Jews of His day, “you bind burdens too heavy to carry… .” They’d made a vast and weighty Theocracy out of the Laws and Rites presented in their Scriptures. Priests and Scholars alike wielded their Holy Books and Temple Hierarchies like sharpened scepters over their Subjects.
What good, then, do these ponderous writings do?
They remind.
We do, as Johnson said, “need to reminded more often than we need to be instructed.” The people Moses lead through the Red Sea and on to the shores of the Jordan River had very short attention spans. Why they’d only travelled a short while after God made a roadway through an Ocean for them and drowned a pursuing army in the Tsunami that followed when they began to grumble about the food and beverages He was providing. Just a few days later, when Moses had been alone with God on Mount Sinai for what they thought was too long they insisted that their Priest built them another god. Almost 40 days was simply too long for a person to have to wait on one’s deity. Sadly we’re made of the same textiles.
The mixed reviews Lent gets illustrate that. The general opinion among Christians is that we don’t need to “go back over our sin and all that suffering” anymore. Jesus work is done. We live in “Grace.” Let’s focus on the “good stuff;” the “Resurrection;” the imminent “Second Coming;” and all it promises. Why the Middle Easterners are about to wage the Great Battle. Jesus will split the Mount. Israel will win. We’ll all be “Home Free”! The truth is that such thinking is, in itself, harmful. We sin when we refuse to recognize our need for regular spiritual examination. Invariably such refusal anaesthetizes us to our misguided disregard for lost people when we view the end of time so cavalierly. Christ “bore the sins of the whole world in His body on the cross.” Who am I to sit back in my “Easy chair,” resting on my laurels. We have no laurels. What we have is undeserved. The overarching theme of my most recent Book, I Don’t Look Broke but You Can’t See the Cracks, is “We’ll never really understand Grace ‘til we’ve faced the nature and impact of our own sin.”
That is why we need to be reminded frequently. I’m not sure annually is frequently enough. We need to go back to Galilee and join Jesus and His followers all the way to Gethsemane; to the High Priest’s House; to the Praetorium; to the whipping post. We need to carry Jesus’ Cross for him. We need to weep with his Mother once again. We cannot hear the plea for our forgiveness too often! No darkness ever was or ever will be as dark as that which settled around Him that day. That darkness is what settles forever upon all humanity if sin and death prevail. We need to hear and feel the earthquake. We must see the crumbling tombs and know this is Life’s final sword thrust into the bowels of death. We need to be reminded that with the tearing curtain and Christ’s cry of victory God and Man are reconciled. We cannot have joy if we haven’t suffered and died with Jesus. We will never really know the magnitude of our Resurrection if we haven’t suffered with our Life Bearer!
Remember!
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