Chasing Carrots - Part 3
January 23, 2022Today's message was the third in a 4-part series called Chasing Carrots. The message is here.
For some reason that I do not know, I immediately thought of a phrase early in Genesis, "yet you can be its master (rule over it)" (Gen 4.7c). The whole of verse seven reads, "If you are doing what is good, shouldn't you hold your head high? And if you don't do what is good, sin is crouching at the door — it wants you, but you can rule over it." That phrase, you can be its master, is one of the key ideas of the Torah. Despite your nature, you can rule over the evil tendencies (urges) and do good. We are capable of controling ourselves. We can control an out-of-control desire and effort to be, or to look, perfect in some way.
Another mention in the message caught my attention. What is the relationship between holy and perfection? Is seeking that perfection an OK pursuit? The word most often translated as holy from the Torah is qa-dosh (long o). At its root it means to be separate, set apart. God is clearly separate. He is not even "of this world," rather he is outside this world, outside of the material. As humans, we can strive to be separate from the material (profane) world, but as a part of that world, we cannot attain perfection in that sense. Until, perhaps, in the afterlife. We can discuss how this relates to Josh saying, in essence, when we accept Jesus we are perfected (then and there).
Another interesting difference in how Judaism and Christianity look at this differently. Christianity's focus is on the inidividual, by and large, while Judaism's focus is on the community. Did you know that the word I is never used in Jewish prayer books? Anyway, the main reason Judaism does not accept Jesus as divine is because Judaism expects the world to be perfected at the Messiah's coming. Clearly, the world is still far from perfect, so Jesus could not have been their Messiah. On the other hand, Christians focus on individual relationship with Christ, with personal salvation, so they are not overly bothered by the fact that the world at large is not yet perfected.
I've always understood that we can't earn salvation, that we can't earn our way to it. But I also remember latching on to the notion that we strive to do good, to be more set apart, IN RESPONSE to grace.
I don't think even the Torah ever layed out any expectation that if a Jew followed all the laws they would gain the afterlife with God. In a way, that would be setting humans up for failure. For Jew or Christian, perfection on this earth is simply not possible. But, we can make an effort, perhaps an all-out effort, to master what we can. Doing good is its own reward, doing bad or the unholy is likewise its own punishment. God doesn't have to punish you Himself. If you follow Him, your reward is that your are following Him. This is often expressed in verses like: "So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the Lord" Leviticus 18:5). Likewise: "You shall walk in all the way which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess." (Deuteronomy 5:33).