Missing the Intent of the Rule

When summer hit we made a rule that our kids could watch one program together when they all were awake.  The rule was put into place because programs were being started when one or two where awake, and then the late sleeper was missing out.  So we made the rule to wait until everyone is up.  Our goal was to allow, even encourage sleep, and to provide that everyone got to watch the one show.

Seems like a simple rule and one that will take care of the problem.  But parents don’t think like kids!  Over the next week the rule turned into waking the sleeping child up so the show could be started.  This lead to another rule–no waking up of a sleeping brother or sister.

While you may find this story amusing and interesting, being a preacher who has recently been studying and thinking about the Pharisees, I saw this is a great illustration of God and the Pharisees.  

God made rules with good intentions.  The Pharisees it seems originally wanted to sincerely obey those rules, so they actually created many other rules to build a hedge around the commandments so they would not break them.  But over time these traditions left the original intent of God’s rules.  In fact, Jesus says they “made void the Word of God.” (Mat. 15:6).  They were still keeping the law by the letter in their legalistic minds, but they were violating the intent of the law.  For example, the law said they were to honor their father and mother.  Yet through their tradition they had established a rule that if a gift was given to God in place of providing for their parents, then they were free from this obligation (Mat. 15:3-6).

This is Phariseeism, as illustrated by my TV watching kids, it is when you keep the law, but totally miss and even violate the intent of the law.  

In the sermon on the mount, Jesus said our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees (Mat. 5:20).  He then takes their misapplication of the OT laws and exhorts his disciples to obey from the heart.  He discusses motives and attitudes.  It is easy to be like the Pharisees, and like my kids, and justify obeying the law, while completely missing the intent of the law!