PURPOSE
Mark 9:2-5 “ Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
We should talk about purpose as purpose is almost everything. purpose is the ultimate destination purpose is the ultimate guidance and to find purpose that is the ultimate wisdom . What is the purpose of God some people might think that we are not able to define it we are not able even to think about it however at least on the level of words it is the easiest thing to define. It might be easily perceivable that God's purpose cannot be less than God . What exactly is God we don't know but we can still be sure that God's purpose cannot be less than God.
We are also able to know that God's purpose is good because God is good as Jesus declared it to the young man who addressed him as good master, please tell me what to do in order to merit the admission into heaven. Jesus asked him back that's why do you call me good nobody is good but God alone of course this didn't mean that nobody ever have been good at least a little bit it just meant that nobody has ever been good enough or as good as God.
At least we know that God is good so if God's purpose is God then God's purpose is good.
Even in the case that we are not God's purpose, it is still an assuring understand to us that God's purpose is God, because it can not be less than that, and it is good for us.
For being a human being means that our existence has its purpose too. It is very interesting, when we try to answer the question, what is our purpose, we can not automatically answer that if God's purpose is God, then the human purpose is the human being.
We can not have this automated pseudo logic as an answer, because the human being in itself as a purpose is not good enough. Thus our purpose must be God too, as only God is good enough and we want a good purpose in order to live.
Our purpose is good, thus if we are not able to define God otherwise than absolute goodness, it is good to know that the human purpose is goodness.
So what is the purpose of the Commandments in the Bible in general, like the Ten Commandments, and the Commandment of the Sabbath in particular?
So, why did God give us commandments.
The traditional answer is that, God gave us commandments, so humanity by observing the commandments is enabled to serve God.
The only bump on this road, that God is not needy, God is not in need to be served.
As Jesus said to the disciples in the Gospel of Mark, "For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
This was quite slowly perceived during human history. Abraham understood that God does not need butchered human sacrifices. The rabbis took the advice of Prophet Hoseah, and declared that prayers will substitute the animal and other burnt offerings.
And God does not even need our prayers, as God knows our prayers before we attempt to phrase them. Thus, the commandments were given not as a tool to serve God, and in order that God will enjoy our servitude, but they were given to help us get closer to the ultimate goodness, who is God, because it is good for us.
This is quite clear as Jesus declared in the Gospel of Mark, regarding the purpose of the Sabbath Commandment. He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." The mandatory observation of the Sabbath is a part of the Ten Commandments, thus it has received tons of regulations as people tried to think about it, how to observe it.
Sometimes it feels, that there were a couple of well-meaning and decent people who tried to over regulate the Sabbath prohibitions and positive prescription, created by different generations of religious law teachers. Most of their legal opinions can be found in the collection called the Order of the Festivals. Among other things the collection contains positive commandments that preserve the sanctity of the Sabbath day, such as lighting candles and eating three meals. There are rules to prohibit 39 creative labors on Sabbath, like plowing earth, sowing, reaping, binding sheaves, threshing, winnowing, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking, shearing wool, trapping, slaughtering animals, cutting hides to shape, writing two or more letters, building, demolishing, kindling a fire, and so on, among them are also the ban of transporting an object and some sophisticated prohibitions of carrying anything on Sabbath.
One example of a possibly over-regulating thinking is when the original regulating text teaches about carrying eye shadow paint on Sabbath. Hardly any other religion would conclude that the Sabbath prohibitions must include the carrying of the material of the blue eye shadow paint. The original text was looking for the critical mass of the eye paint regarding carrying it on Sabbath.
It says that “The measure that determines liability for carrying out blue eye shadow is equivalent to that which is used to paint one eye blue.” Liability meant that it was an offense of the religious law, and the sinning person must have bought a sin offering to the Temple. The ancient commentator within the collected texts of the possible variations asks: “How could the original teaching say one eye? Women do not paint only one eye blue.”
The texts included the answer of Rabbi Huna, who taught that there are areas in Judea, where the very modest women cover their faces with a veil, and many of them covers even one of the eyes, as well. So they used to paint only one eye with the blue eye shadow, thus the measure of the paint regarding liability of carrying it on Sabbath, should be the paint enough for one eye only.
However, the ancient commentator quoted an other opinion from an other expert, Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar, who said: “For carrying out blue eye shadow, if it is used for healing, the measure for liability is equivalent to that which is used to paint one eye blue; if it is used to adorn the eye, the measure that determines liability for carrying out is equivalent to that which is used for two eyes.”
It might be obvious, that over-complicating people’s life wife hardly followable rules and occasionally confusing regulations, which are not in the Bible, but created by later generations, can not be the purpose of the Commandments given by God, exactly as Jesus said in the Gospel, that "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath."
The purpose of the commandments are to make our lives better, to get closer by them to the the goodness of God, who is our purpose, whose goodness is our purpose. Thus the major commandment should sound that we have to be good for the goodness sake. It might be a Christmas song cliché, however it is true. God is one, the Lord is one, the goodness is one.
AMEN
