J
esus did nothing to ally fears about him. In some cases his behavior seemed clearly designed to aggravate those fears. Conversely, he did everything to reach out to those in personal pain. He gave no quarter to his critics, while offering himself a sacrifice to those who needed him. He did all he could it seemed, to alienate and annoy religious leadership, those who strictly adhered to religious form, legalists all. Yet he met with compassion and love those whose hearts were open to him.
These things did not endear him to human institutions. Especially those human institutions that believed their institutions were instituted by God. In their eyes, Jesus had set himself over against God. He was antinomian. He showed no deference to his spiritual superiors, and no regard for the traditional and time-honored doctrines. Jesus ploughed his own furrow. He would be thought unmanageable by the team players. A maverick. A rogue. A rebel.
The good he did was lost on those who could not see beyond his apparent disregard for form. In fact, they were enraged by it because it appeared to validate his repudiation of their obdurate way of life. When he healed, it fanned the flames of rage because the institution could not duplicate it. Religion was vacuous and vain. Bankrupt of moral and compassionate values. Except on the individual level, authentic sensitivity to God did not exist.
Many years later, it would be the same. People would fail to see that he came not to enforce the Law, but to fulfill it. To fulfill the Law meant to satisfy its requirements. In satisfying its requirements, they are at the same time, both affirmed and resolved. Otherwise, there is no point in satisfaction. In its satisfaction, the Law is established, credentialed. But in its satisfaction, the Law that reveals human darkness gives place to Grace and Truth to reveal human redemption. The coercive force of the Law of God is henceforth met and sated in the Son of Man, the Servant. Jesus came, therefore, to give to those who would receive it, a new Law, the Law of Love, the Law of Grace, the Law of Compassion. In so doing, he brought release and liberty from religious bondage. He requited the vengeance of a Law that accused.
