Lynne Graham
St. Paul’s, Montrose
For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but
the doers of the law who will be justified. When Gentiles, who do not
possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires,…
They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts.
Romans 2: 13-14
I am a rule follower, sometimes to a fault, but when a rule does not make sense to me, I will question the validity of it rather than follow it. Paul writes that those who follow God’s law in their hearts need no other law. Jesus had the authorities furious with him all the time because he did what was right, not what was required by religious law. He turned over the tables of the money-changers in the temples, he healed on the Sabbath, he ate with tax collectors, and he spoke with Samaritan women. Jesus was a doer of the greatest commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself.
The parable of the two sons in Matthew 21: 28-32 speaks of choices we make. We can hear God and choose to go our own way, or we can question, doubt, delay, or deny, and eventually do what God wants. Imagine a Diocese in which we are brave enough to question how we’ve always done things and evaluate for ourselves if the status quo is actually God’s way. How might we respond to social issues if the right response was more important than how we looked to others; if God’s commandment to love was written on our hearts.
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