weak and useless

It’s been a while since the Moral Majority came and went, but I retain one strong impression that I consider a lesson learned. As admirable as their goals were, very few actually translated into cultural change. Despite exerting a considerable amount of political clout, most of what they stood for has eroded and most of what they stood against has gained ground. The lesson: you can’t legislate morality.

Here’s why: rules are for rule breakers, not rule followers. People who want to do the right thing will do it without a law. And while laws are sometimes effective in changing behavior, they don’t change minds or hearts. Laws work by being punitive – there’s a consequence for violation – so whatever effect they have is simple pain avoidance, not a change of belief or values.

The authors of Hebrews pointed out this exact reality when they noted another of the great benefits of Jesus’ human birth. Look at this, from Hebrews 7:18-19: “The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.”

During the Advent season, we remember the time when the only hope we had was the law. All those rules let people know what was expected, and, more to the point, exactly what they had to do to atone when they failed. Because failure was inevitable, atonement was repeatedly necessary in an endless pattern that was literally a death spiral.

No more. No more! Jesus completely fulfilled the entire law. Jesus’ perfect obedience and blood sacrifice not only met God’s requirement for human behavior and motivation, but accounted for any human who believes that fact. And it worked for one reason: Jesus was born here on earth. He was as human as any of us.

The law was weak and useless because it changed behaviors, but couldn’t change hearts. And because hearts didn’t change, behavior change was only temporary.

My own attempts to be good are also weak and useless. That’s because I look to the same place for my goodness: a bunch of rules and standards and measurements that assess my behavior and tell me if it’s good. That never works. What works is when I simply acknowledge my complete dependence on Jesus; then I’m prone to live right as an outcome of the immense gratitude I feel.

So this makes an excellent Advent passage. The law was weak and useless, but Jesus’ life and death were powerful and effective. Hope for a people living in darkness.