“Christianity is just a bunch of rules.” This is a common refrain from people who have left the church or never joined. Perhaps they grew up in a church that had a legalistic mindset. Perhaps their parents used God as a threat to get them to behave. Perhaps they have never been to a church but are turned off by what they see in the media. Or, worst of all, perhaps they were cast out from a church because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Fortunately, that has not been my experience, and I hope to be one small voice working to change people’s minds about what Christianity can be.
When I was young, I don’t recall having strict rules with consequences. Well, maybe a handful of times. For the most part, my parents simply set expectations, and periodically reminded us of them. I remember riding in the car with my parents in the front and siblings in the back seat with me. Things were starting to get a little wild, with us picking on each other. My mom reached back and snapped her fingers. There was no threat—ever, that I recall—just a reminder that we were expected to behave properly. If we did, then the car trip would go well. If not, it wouldn’t.
I’ve been reading through the Bible, trying to read the whole thing in a year. (March was a little rough, so I’ll have to circle back to some chapters.) The Pentateuch, and especially Numbers, is a lot like one of those car trips. The Israelites got hungry, so God had to give them food. They got thirsty, so God had to give them water. The Israelites started grumbling, so God had to remind them all of God’s sovereignty. For forty years, the Israelites kept misbehaving. Occasionally there were severe consequences. Mostly, though, God kept reminding them that if they would behave, good things would happen; if they would not behave, bad things would happen.
But through it all, God loved them. God and Moses both got angry and frustrated, sometimes with one another and often with the Israelites. But always, they reconciled.
Easter is a time when we remember the great reconciliation. For hundreds of years, the Israelites kept failing to live up to God’s expectations. God kept sending prophets to remind them, which would sometimes work for a little while, but never for long. They kept thinking that they needed to “do church” correctly: to follow all of the rules, to make the proper sacrifices, to separate themselves from the Gentiles, and so forth. They thought in doing so, they would earn God’s favor, in a transactional arrangement.
6 “With what shall I come before the Lord,
Micah 6:6-8
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
God did not desire Israel’s sacrifices, any more than my parents wanted me to buy them gifts. God simply wanted Israel to live up to their potential, to meet God’s expectations.
God’s love is unconditional. We use the word “Father” to remind us that God is like the most perfect parent. Does a perfect parent throw their child out when they break some rule? No. A perfect parent is more like the father of the Prodigal Son: as soon as he saw his son approaching, the father ran out to meet him, to embrace him, to welcome him back. God doesn’t require a payment of any sort, but expects us to behave like the beautiful children we are. God expects us to love one another, to serve one another, to correct injustices, to comfort the afflicted, to free the prisoner. God desires not sacrifice, but love.
Christianity is not a book of rules. It is a loving relationship with the source of all existence. We cannot earn God’s love, no matter how hard we try, and we cannot earn God’s hate, no matter how hard we try. Let us strive to meet God’s expectations of us:
31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him,[a] God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 13:31-35