Ethos

8/3/2016

John 5.45 “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set." – Jesus

In John’s Gospel, chapter 5 is the beginning of the religious resistance against Jesus; the Jews begin in chapter 5 to ardently push back against Him and what He said. John’s record of these conversations give us great insight into the beliefs these people held in those days.

Now, the Pharisaic Jews were devout followers of Moses, the Giver of the Law. Their entire worldview was based on everything Moses wrote, and how their teachers and traditions interpreted what Moses said. It’s key that we notice the word, traditions. Their ethos changed, morphed, what Moses wrote, into what they held and viewed as important.

So, Jesus told them: “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set." In other words, what you believe will either save you or condemn you. The question for us today is, what do we believe. Our ethos will either save or condemn us before God.

And that’s what Jesus said would happen.

Now, the difficulty they faced is not too much different than the difficulties we face: our teachers and traditions are mostly the reference points of our beliefs. And there are a lot of teachers and traditions out there.

Nowadays we are taught by our education system. We are taught by the media and their interpretations of the times. We are taught by science and research. We are taught by our own local ethos. But are we also taught by God and the Church, and if so, are we taught correctly? Much of what we’ve been taught in the Church is laced with superstition and tradition. We do what we do because we’ve done what we’ve done.

That’s not to vilify the Church, but have we settled for a religiosity that falls short of relationship with God, as Jesus had? Do we only do what we see Him doing, or are we influenced (heavily) by the interpretations and traditions of modern men? How do we answer for Patriotism and Americanism in the Church? Or is what we believe going to be what judges us on that last and great day? In America we might hear Jesus say, Don’t think I will accuse you before the Father, your accuser will be your constitution (which gave me preeminence) on which your hopes are set, will accuse you…

We live in interesting times.

Father in Heaven, help us I pray. Help us to renew and relive our relationship with You which dwarfs our teachings and traditions. Help us to recognize tradition and superstition and forsake them. And Father, may we do only as we see You doing and be content with that. Help us, help me, Amen.