I want to be clear, I am not talking about those practices within a sect of Christianity. I mean those are not legalism unless you use those practices to keep you safe and not use them as an element of letting go and trusting in Jesus to guide you. Meaning if you begin to think of those who chose a different way to practice their faith in Christ from the way you have chosen as being less Christian. It is such a fine line and has a lot to do with how we think in the depths of our hearts. It is the hardest part of Christianity- we have to know our own hearts- do we do things out of love or do we do things out of hate.
Legalism is in many ways a form of hate but it is done in the name of Jesus. The Spanish Inquisition that began in the 1200s and ended sometime in the early 1800s ( the height of it was in the 1400s to the 1700s) was filed with hate. It began actually in Sicily in the 1200s when King Roger(a Norseman) was king of the island. At the beginning of his reign Jews, Muslims and Christians lived and worked side by side in relative peace, but the Catholic church decided it wanted to make Europe Catholic. So the Jews and Muslims were ran out of Sicily and at almost the same time the Inquisition began in Spain. The things that they did in the name of Christ was horrid, and it is forever a blight on the Christian faith. But Legalism ruled the Catholic Church then, but there were pockets of those who practiced the love of Christ. It was the Love of Christ that tumbled the Spanish Inquisition, because the Word of our Lord will always get thru to those who have ears to hear.
The United States of America was born out of this turmoil in Europe. They knew people who escaped being burned at the stake for being heretics. The reason the Constitution says the Government will not establish a religion is because they knew all too well what happens when governments established religions. Many of my own family escaped from Europe for this same reason. I have a possible relative who came over on the Mayflower. John Cooke came over on the Mayflower with his father leaving his mother and siblings behind( they would come later). They were puritans. Later there was a settlement of Quakers. The Puritans were unaccepting of the Quakers. John Cooke took a stand to defend them and their right to practice their faith as they willed. He was basically thrown out of his church for this stand and moved down to what would be Rhode Island. Legalism gets into the most loving of Christians if they are not watchful.
Legalism feels right. We are obeying all the rules. We are going to church dressing the right way, and we can make ourselves believe that anything is acceptable if we cling to the legalism. It is how so many people in this country had slaves; they forgot that love is how we should live. They told themselves lies, and the lies became their truth. Until they were told by others that it was not right. Legalism makes a person dig in their heels and no longer listen to the language of love. Legalism made them right; even when in the depths of their hearts they knew it was wrong.
Change is scary and whenever change happens people cling to those old things even when they are not right. Christians have taken many legalists views concerning others lifestyles and in doing so they have used the language of hate instead of the language of love. When Jesus met the woman at the well, he knew she had slept with many men. He could have said that he would not take the water she drew from the well because she was a tarnished woman. He had that right and legally it would have been acceptable to do so, but he did not. Instead he met her where she was and accepted the water she gave him, and she listened. Now this one encounter may have changed the direction of her life simply because he treated her with kindness. Legally people can deny in their business to serve someone- but to do that is not really kind. We are called to be kind. We are called to love those we encounter even when we do not like them. Love is kindness.
Looking back, I know of time after my father died that I fell into the pit of legalism. I had never intended to do so, but it happened. I was in a difficult place with my career. I was in a difficult place with my family in that I felt disconnected. Approaching my faith with legalism made everything so simple. I was not kind. I hurt people I loved with my legalistic ways. That old hard heart of mine was winning ground again, and I was losing my way towards understanding Love.
Then one day I took a trip to clear my heart to the mountains of North Carolina, and I waded into a mountain spring. I had one of those moments of simple truth. The water was cold and clear. The stones in the water were smooth unlike the rocks in the woods nearby which were rough. A thought began in my heart and began to change me. I began to realize I was like that river rock and life is the sand that wore it smooth. When I removed the rock from the water it became dull but in the water it shinned like a gem. I began to understand that as long as I was within the living waters, I was a gem, but when I left those living waters, I was the same river rock but cold and dull. That is what legalism does to the heart of a Christian- it removes them from the living waters. They forget that love flows in those living waters.
I wrote a poem that night when I got back to my room. I have revised it several times but I think it is where it should be now. Be careful of the pitfalls of legalism. Ask yourself always- is this the way that Jesus would want us to love.
Simple Truth
The water was cold.
Held in my hand,
It was clear and shining.
My toes curled in the sand.
Remembering when they were small,
They loved the feel of cold water and sand.
The edge of my jeans
Touched the water’s edge.
They turned darker as the cold clearness
Rose up my legs beyond the watermark.
I walked out into the water.
The sand turned to stones.
Ordinary river rocks
Smooth from the wearing
Of water moving sand.
In the water,
The stones shined as polished gems.
Lifted from the water,
They dried; they faded; they became pale.
Standing there in the cold mountain river,
I saw that we are like ordinary river rocks.
Like the sand, life moves against us.
Our edges become smooth.
The water living surges sand over the stones;
The stones are still only river rocks.
In the water, the creator of change,
They shine like polished gems.
There in the water living,
I saw when I allowed it to flow
Over me, around me, into me
I went from ordinary to something shining.
In my hand, I held a river rock;
In my heart, I held wonder-
Of water moving sand,
And stones worn smooth.
Mary Elizabeth Todd
April 3, 1996, Revised December 30, 2007, March 2010, and April, 2012
Blessings on you all, Mary Elizabeth Todd