JESUS AND THE OLD TESTAMENT

The Mystic Christ - Chapter Preview

Unfortunately most religions are led by intellectuals. The heart alone can guide a person, but the heart has been forgotten. Only a true Master who dwells within the heart can throw light on the path of religion. Such a person alone can unite the people; he alone can make people understand the true import of religion and religious principles. Ammachi, Awaken Children, vol. 7

In the final analysis, only Love is wholly reliable. This chapter will explore the possibility that some of the Old Testament and some interpretations of the Old Testament might be the product of men and their egos, and not God. We will establish a beachhead for discarding or re-interpreting some of the Old Testament by exploring what Jesus taught. Jesus himself sets the precedent for such an examination.

We know that Jesus directly disputes the fourth of the Ten Commandments, which has to do with keeping the Sabbath. In the following scripture, the Pharisees try to catch Jesus violating the commandment of keeping the Sabbath but Jesus flatly rejects it.

He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." Matthew 12:11-12, NIV

Jesus says it is all right to do any good thing on the Sabbath. It is fortunate that Jesus does not list the keeping of the Sabbath as necessary for attaining eternal life or we would be in maximum trouble according to the following scripture from Exodus. Take special note of the put-to-death part.

" 'Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people. Exodus 31:14, NIV

The Old Testament book of Leviticus contains detailed laws including what foods to avoid and other detailed instructions such as to how to perform ritual sacrifices for the atonement of sins. Also included are prohibitions concerning incest, bestiality, prostitution, consorting with wizards, putting tattoos on the body, homosexuality, sex out of wedlock, and making of idols or graven images. We are also told that we must keep the Sabbath and observe specific religious holidays and feast days. The Sabbath is not just resting on the seventh day of the week but applies to a broad range of a cyclic activities such as planting a field for six years and resting it for a year. In Numbers 13:32-36 a man is caught gathering firewood on the Sabbath and from there things go rather badly for him.

While the Israelites were in the desert, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. Then the Lord said to Moses, "The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp." So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses. Numbers 15:32-36, NIV

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