Status Symbols and Their Rigorous Maintenance
Luke 11:37 While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table.
Luke 11:38 The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner.
Luke 11:39 And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.
Luke 11:40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? Luke 11:41 But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.
Luke 11:42 “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
Luke 11:43 Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.
Luke 11:44 Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.”
Status symbols are always a pain for the people that have them and the people that don’t. The people that have the status symbols, like a coveted Mercedes hood ornament in 1988, have to work hard to keep them. At McGary Middle school, if you had a hood ornament on a chain, you also had to carry the receipt from the dealership in your pocket to prove that you didn’t rip it off of Mr. Simpson’s car…again.
One of the Pharisees’ status symbols was the honor of having important people over for dinner. The problem was, another one of their status symbols was a show of radical self-righteousness. Jesus, on the other hand, got all of His status from the love of God, and not from obeying the extra laws that were added to the Torah.
There were laws about uncleanliness in the Mosaic law, but later the Jewish leaders heaped more and more laws on to protect the Law from being broken. Instead of guarding the people from evil and wickedness, they lengthened the definition of evil to include just about everything a normal person does in a day.
By creating that status, an elite group that could follow the law gained honor, as fabricated as it was, from everyone. So who cares how stupid it is to wear a Mercedes hood ornament around your neck, if the people that can make it a status symbol, everyone else becomes a loser.
That was never the point of the righteousness of God. In God’s plan, there are people that are offered it and people that have received it. And for now, the people that are offered it are the folks that haven’t received it yet but still have a chance.
The justice and love of God are still at work. Our true status symbols are only seen in the eyes of God. Our works and deeds are overflows of that status, not the cause of it. So keep that receipt from the dealership safe. The only One that matters knows who you are and where you got your Status.
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