Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“What then should we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, May 18, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
I beg to differ, my dear Paul. Sorry to be a bit pedantic, but I didn’t hit my brother because my parents said, “Don’t hit your brother.” My parents said, “Don’t hit your brother,” because I hit my brother. Human beings from the time they’re old enough to move begin pushing on every possible boundary to figure out where they end and the world begins. That’s physically and behaviorally. The truth was I absolutely adored my brother. We were inseparable. But he also made me madder than any other human being on the planet. My parents put rules in place to help us figure out our boundaries, and even then, we were pretty much crap at following them. We fought—physically—until I was a senior in high school when our dining room tussle knocked one of my mom’s collector plates off the wall (mercifully it was the one of the four that actually had no value). At that point we were so utterly mortified by what we had done, the fighting forever ceased. (Although when he decided to move out of state a few years ago a little part of me wanted to punch him. He’s still my best friend and I miss him terribly.)
The laws of Moses were a gift to help God’s people figure out where each of them ended and others began. God told the people not to covet because the people coveted, and such covetousness wreaked havoc on the social fabric of the community. And still the people coveted (and still do). Does that mean the law is worthless? Absolutely not. Boundaries are critical to community life. But it does mean that in spite of the law, we still need Jesus’ redemption because we’re just never going to get it perfect.
What was my experience of boundaries growing up? Did I tend to be a rule follower or a limit tester?
