When to Carry Extra

February 5, 2009

Today's Reading: Exodus 21-22 and Matthew 25

It is good to read the law of Moses, because there is a sense that the justice system really can work. I think the idea that people who do wrong should have to pay for it is the very thing that keeps us believing in police, law, and due process.

However, an eye for an eye has its limits. If it were truly lived out, then the one who took the first eye would have his eye taken out, then he would take someone’s eye out of sheer revenge. I believe that I am quoting the science fiction show Babylon 5 with this one, but “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” is a system that leaves everyone blind and toothless.

In short, the laws in the book of Exodus, if truly implemented, would work too well. Even though that special cases are allotted for those who kill or injure accidentally, if you kill or injure someone with malicious intent, then malicious intent shall be done unto you.

It is a system that has no allotment for grace. There is no sense that someone who does a crime will ever get off, no matter how good their lawyer is. You know that time when you get pulled over by a cop and he gives you a warning. In Exodus, there is no warning.

This seems to be the case in all three of the parables that Jesus told in Matthew. The first is about five foolish virgins, who didn’t have enough oil for their lamps. I had a problem with this story at first, because there were five more how could have shared their oil, and everything would have been okay. After all, the bridegroom returned while the five foolish virgins were out getting more oil. How long could that have been, honestly?

I guess that is not the point. They didn’t know how long it would take. I am assuming there was some cutoff point where the bridgegroom has to show up or someone assumes that the bridegroom has been killed or something. Too bad he showed up in that window, huh?

As for the parable of the talents, the issue is with one guy, who, unlike the others, failed to double his income. Again, there was no grace allotted.

What’s worse is the next story, which has one thing in common with the first two parables. You can be punished for that which you don’t do.

This is sad, but this is life. The grace period given to us called life is limited. It has to be embraced before a certain cutoff point, or we will face the consequences for what we did or didn’t do. The only thing we can do is make certain that the extra life that we carry “in case of death” is always fully charged.