Biblical Principles and Patterns Used to Justify Domestic Violence

July 19, 2015                        John 5: 10-18

1. Jesus healed a man who’d been an invalid for 38 years.
   1. That is the introduction to our passage today.
   2. He did an amazing and powerful thing in the power of God.
   3. And Jesus is going to be condemned for it.
2. The Jewish leadership accosts the man Jesus healed.
   1. He is Sabbath-breaking, doing work, carrying his mat.
   2. The man’s response,
      1. "I met 'Miracle Max', he healed me, told me to take my mat and go." 
   3. He didn’t even know who healed him.
3. The scene changes to the Temple, where Jesus catches up with the man.
   1. Now comes the faith-based attachment to the healing.
   2. “Don’t sin any more or worse than 38 years of being an invalid might happen.”
4. The man expresses his gratitude by reporting Jesus to the authorities.
   1. The authorities then start to persecute Jesus for Sabbath-breaking.
   2. Instead of trying to put out the fire, Jesus adds gasoline to the mix.
      1. My Father is still working, and I am working.
   3. Added to Sabbath-breaking is the charge of making himself equal to God-blasphemy.
      1. So the authorities are out all the more to try and kill Jesus.
5. So, Jesus is Sabbath-breaking, that is the charge coming directly from his healing.
   1. That is not really on our radar today as a hanging offense.
   2. Ours is a different time and place.
      1. The Sabbath has a different meaning to us.
   3. It was a defining characteristic of the oppressed Jewish nation.
      1. It was one of the few visible signs they had of their own culture as a conquered people.
6. We take weekends for granted.
   1. Five working days, two days off, one Jewish-Saturday, and one Christian-Sunday.
   2. Many of our lives do not align to that pattern, but that is how we write the calendar.
   3. The Roman calendar, the calendar of the overlords of Jesus’ time, did not work that way.
      1. The Roman year was filled with religious and superstitious observances and rituals.
         1. It wasn’t 5 on and 2 off, or even 6 on and 1 off.
         2. It might be 10 days, 3 off, 15 on, 6 off, 2 on, 1 off-a year filled with random festivals between which you worked without break..
         3. Confusing in the extreme
   4. But the Jews rejected that calendar for their own.
      1. The Sabbath was a sign that they were still God’s people.
7. The importance of the Sabbath is built on five legal and morale and biblical precedents that we still use in deriving truth from Scripture. 
   1. First, there is an eternal principle to the Sabbath, with authority going back to creation itself.
      1. God created the heavens and the earth in six days and on the 7^th he rested, therefore he hallowed that day.
      2. The Sabbath is a tribute to the divine powers of creation.
   2. Secondly, it has made the top Ten Commandments, number 4 to be precise.
      1. Exodus 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work.  But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord Your God; you shall not do any work…for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
   3. Thirdly, there are strict enforcement principles to be observed,
      1. Sabbath-breaking is a capital offense.
      2. Exodus 31: 15 “…the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy t the Lord; whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death.”
   4. Fourthly, there are common sense interpretations to be considered.
      1. Jesus uses these common sense exceptions in his debates with the authorities.
      2. Luke 14:5: “If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a Sabbath day?”
         1. They do not respond because the answer is obvious, “YES”
   5. Fifthly, there is the authority of history and tradition.
      1. For over fifteen hundred years, they have been keeping Sabbath. 
8. Now, I would challenge those principles in consideration of how the Bible is used today to justify domestic violence. 
   1. Domestic violence is identified in five forms today,
      1. Physical, sexual, psychological, emotional, and economic.
      2. How is violence defined?
         1. It is the use of force or the threat of force to get your own way.
      3. The vast majority of cases are men violent against women, and that is our focus this morning. 
   2. Now, as we enter into a new era of marriage equality, there will be a whole new set of cases of domestic abuse to consider among same-sex couples.
9. Applying these principles to domestic violence is not an abstract bible exercise.
   1. Men have used these exact rationalizations.
   1. First, there is the eternal principle, going back to creation itself.
      1. God created male and then he created female
         1. To be man’s helper, out of his rib
         2. Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, I will call her woman.
   2. Secondly, domestic violence appeals to the top legal authority of the Bible, the Ten Commandments.
      1. Specifically, it is commandment #7, “Thou shalt not commit adultery”.
         1. Even Jesus forbids divorce except on grounds of adultery.
      2. That commandment locks the door on a violent relationship.
         1. It is not adultery if you beat the living daylights out of your spouse.
         2. It is not adultery if you force yourself upon your spouse.
         3. It is not adultery if you belittle them, insult them, do everything in your power to keep them under your thumb.
         4. It is not adultery if you try and control every penny they come in contact with, every moment they have, every connection that might exist to the outside world to keep them contained.
      3. Bible says domestic violence is not a reason for divorce.
         1. Are you going to break the vow you made before God?
   3. Thirdly, there are strict enforcement principles.
      1. Let’s jump out of the Old Testament and go talk to Paul
         1. A wife shall submit to her husband.
         2. A woman shall not teach a man.
         3. Here is my favorite, the man is the head of the house like Jesus is the head of the church.
      2. You got to listen to me because I have Jesus’ authority.
   4. Fourthly, there are common sense items in the bible to be considered.
      1. The next line after a wife shall submit to her husband is that the husband shall love his wife.
         1. He’s in charge of the household.
         2. He’s in charge of discipline.
      2. Proverbs 13:24, “whoever spares the rod hates their child…”
         1. Not just spoils the child, but hates the child.
      3. Tie that to 1 Corinthians 14:34 and following, “a woman shall keep silent in church…if there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home.”
         1. If the bible treats them like children, how far is it to justify disciplining them like children?
   5. Finally, consider the history and tradition behind these practices.
      1. Who are the greatest heroes of the Bible?  
         1. David and Solomon
            1. Hundreds of wives, hundreds more concubines
            2.  Great example for the next generation
      2. What are the legal principles surrounding women?
         1. Polygamy was okay
         2. They were legal property of fathers and husbands
         3. They were second class citizens at best
         4. Their worth was not built in but relative to the children they bore or the whim of their mate.
10. The importance of domestic violence today, our reactions to it, the need to solve this problem,
    1. This carries the weight of the issue of Sabbath breaking in the time of Jesus.
    2. It carries the weight of how we use the bible to solve problems.
    3. It lays down the principles of what can lead us astray in trying to live as Christians.
11. Jesus did not try to solve the problem of Sabbath-breaking, that wasn’t his purpose.
    1. Because Sabbath breaking was not a problem to be fixed
       1. Neither the Sabbath nor the bible were the problems.
          1. The problem was how the authorities were interpreting both.
       2. He was breaking out to an entirely new way of doing things.
       3. The authority of the Sabbath was God’s.
          1. Jesus assumed that authority for himself.
          2. The result was more reasons to try and kill him.
    2. The authority he was assuming was the authority of love that sought to heal people.  .
    3. It is God’s day, God will do what He wants with it.
12. How do we fix the problem of using the bible to justify domestic violence?
    1. We don’t solve it, we bust out of it.
13. Step One: the single biggest bible principle, God is love.
    1. If what we draw out of Scripture does not come out of that, we are wrong.
    2. Love does not hurt people, for any reason.
       1. Spare the rod?
       2. Proverbs was written 2500 years ago.
       3. We have made some progress in child rearing.
    3. Men are in charge like Jesus is in charge?
       1. Love does NOT put anybody in charge.
       2. Love is language that transcends discussions of authority and power.
       3. Even if we can sideline that, men, remember that Jesus died for the church, he never beat on her.
14. Step Two: What, then, do we do with all that other stuff?  All those verses, all those commandments?
    1. What do we do with all the bad interpretations of our own history?
       1. Keeping people as slaves?
       2. Denying the leadership of women in the church?
       3. Denying equal rights for everyone to be married?
    2. Do we do like Thomas Jefferson?  Cut out all the parts we don’t like?
    3. We have to understand this,
       1. Bible stories are written in the contexts of their own times and cultures.
       2. They are particular interpretations of the eternal principles.
          1. You need the eternal principles, of love, faith, sacrifice, justice, peace, to understand those particular interpretations.
15. Then we are doing what Jesus did, and changing the world for good.
16. Amen.