“…I prefer a flexible heart to an inflexible ritual”
~Matthew 12:7b (MSG)
Back in the day, we wouldn’t think of going to church wearing anything less than our Sunday best. On one particular Sunday evening, my mother and I debated about attending a church choir function because we had spent a long day working outside and if we were to do the usual getting ready, we wouldn’t make it on time. Mother didn’t want to go without dressing properly and I reminded her of Billy Joel’s popular song at the time “Just the Way You Are,” ensuring her that Jesus would love us going “just the way were were.” To my dismay, she agreed and we brushed ourselves off and headed to church. I would have bet money at that time that she would be inflexible about the “dress code”, yet she surprised me.
The inflexibility of the Pharisees when it came to following the Mosaic Law brings to mind the image of a train on its tracks headed in one direction. The path ahead was clearly set and there was no diverging off the main line…until Jesus came along and flipped the switch on their law-driven living. The law itself was not the problem as it was God-given; it was their single-tracked approach to it that failed to recognize that something greater – Jesus Christ himself - was in their midst.
“I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.” ~Matthew 12:6 (NIV)
Mother agreeing to go to church without getting dressed up was an acknowledgement of “something greater” being more important at that time and place. That moment was more about love than a practiced ritual.
Are you able to flex your heart muscle when the occasion presents itself? How flexible is your heart when it comes to a loved one in your presence? Or are you more likely to stay the course because it’s what you always do?
Our lives should not resemble an iron horse of law and duty that will not be diverged off-track, but rather an engine that moves with the power and direction of love, ready for when Jesus flips the switch for something greater.
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