First Century CE:

• Jewish nation carries out their own will and law… but it’s the Romans who actually have the power and make the laws.
• Jewish people recall having had their own land, having autonomy, being their own nation…. and have trouble accepting that it’s no longer the case.
• Scriptures have been augmented with a large body of interpretive tradition, yielding a large written and unwritten corpus of rules and regulations governs daily life and practice.
• Religious rulers and leaders hold authoritarian views toward the people they lead.
• Outward rules assumed to bring inward change, even righteousness, yield hypocrisy instead.

Jesus entered this scene and called the rulers “play-actors” and hypocrites, said they put undue burdens on the people, and other similar but often worse observations. He looked at their structures, rules, systems, and practices, and essentially said it needed to be reinvented in order to fulfil what God had intended to start off with.

Twenty-First Century CE:

• North American Christians wish to exert their influence over the laws of their land… but church and state are separate, and it’s the state who actually has the power and make the laws.
• North American people recall having established their own land and government, basing their nation on their christian heritage… but fail to appreciate or accept the fact they live in a post-christian society.
• Scriptures have been augmented with a large body of interpretive tradition, yielding a large written and unwritten corpus of rules and regulations governs daily life and practice.
• Religious rulers and leaders hold authoritarian views toward the people they lead.
• Outward rules assumed to bring inward change, even righteousness, yield hypocrisy instead.

Question…

Would Jesus’ message to us today be any different from the one he delivered in the First Century? Would his prescription for us today be the same?

Just wondering aloud, that’s all.