Rules.
Lots of rules.
I understand there are 612 of them according to Jewish tradition.
That is a lot of rules.
And who can keep them all?
From the ones that seem trite (wearing cloth of two different strands) to the ones that seem horrible (rape), all are seen as a holiness code none of us can keep.
The Law is good. The Law is righteous. The Law is pure. The Law is holy.
The Law will accuse us,
cut us off,
condemn us,
kill us.
We can never fulfill the command:
You must be holy for I am holy
Each of us will find rules we find attractive.
I personally like the rule about leaving grain in the field and fruit on the vine for the poor and needy. It is a generous rule. I consider myself generous. So this is an easy rule.
Each of us will find rules we do not like.
These rules we will either disregard and/or break. Perhaps at some point, we will even mock them. But there they are. Rules of God.
The rules we like become swords we wave in the air. We wield them against those who struggle with them. We judge others who have difficulty keeping them. We forget about the ones we ourselves break, discount or ignore.
Bottom line, we're all in the same sinking rule boat.
We will never keep afloat by our own holiness.
We will drown in false self righteousness.
It is true.
It is true what scripture says.
None is righteous; no, not one.
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