students of jesus

It’s amazing how many Christians think the central message of the Old Testament is: We are a bunch of losers, all of us. Adam and Eve screwed up, and we’ve been screwing up ever since. I’ve been hearing that message since I first turned to Jesus: no one can live up to the laws of God.

Then along came Moses, who totally wrecked my received theology. In his farewell message, after forty years of leading the stiff-necked, rebellious people of Israel desert circles for almost forty years, Moses rallies his countrymen together and says:

“For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.” Deuteronomy 30: 11-14

Poor Moses. It really was time for him to pack it in: he actually believed this group of former Egyptian slaves was capable of living up to the Law of God.

If anyone had proof that people could not live up to God’s standard, it was Moses. As he spoke these words he stood before the second generation of those who had been set free from slavery--the first generation had turned their backs on Yahweh just weeks after the most spectacular fireworks display in military history. The first generation made a golden calf and worshipped it simply because Moses was a few days late for an appointment.

Forty years later Moses assembled this second generation and said, “You can do this! It’s within your reach! Reach into your heart and speak confident words--you can follow the laws you’ve been given and establish an outpost of heaven on earth.” We know how that turned out: the second generation were just as big of losers as the first. And so third generation, and so the next, and on and on.

But here is my question: didn’t Moses speak the word of God? Isn’t Deuteronomy 30 part of the Bible--that trustworthy, reliable communication from the Creator of the Universe? You see, it wasn’t just Moses who thought God’s people could hear and do God’s will: God himself was speaking through Moses to the people of Israel--and to us--"you can do this!"

In fact, God came near to his creation and repeated the message again, this time with a Perfect Messenger:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ~ Jesus, speaking in Matthew 5: 17-20

It seems to me Jesus repeated the message of Deuteronomy. Where Moses failed to provide a perfect example of walking out God’s instructions, Jesus himself provided a perfect example. He encouraged us to do the same, and (amazingly) to teach others to do the same.

How do the words of Jesus and Moses fit into our understanding of walking with God? In my experience most Christians simply assume that sin is the normal, daily operation of Christian life, and forgiveness is God’s antidote. But what if forgiveness is not the antidote but only the emergency triage? What if there was a cure, a real cure that could go deeper and turn us into the kind of creatures for whom sin is abnormal?

What if, somehow, we could become some kind of new creation capable of bearing fruit that tasted like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? What if? What if obedience to God’s good instruction was possible?

But no: I’m only dreaming.

Jesus died to forgive our sins, right? It would be too much to imagine that he also rose again to empower us walk in a new kind of life. That would mean his followers would have to become some kind of radical new creation.