A few months ago I went to one of the best gigs of my life in Wembley Stadium. No, it’s not Miley Cyrus, nor was it Steps, it was arguably one of the greatest rock operas of all time. Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”. The album talks about the isolation of the protagonist, Pink which comes from all the traumas he has in his life. These become metaphorical bricks in the wall, in the barrier isolating him from society.It was an incredible experience, musically, technically and emotionally. And it reminded me how so often I take things and build up barriers between myself and society; and more often than not, between myself and God.
This barrier between myself and God suffocates me. It’s full of all these expectations, requirements and hurdles that I need to get past to be with God. Prayer, reading my bible, going to church, bible studies, living a “good life”, these things and so many more are all bricks. Bricks in the ever growing barrier separating me and God.
And I’m sure we all have similar lists. There’s so much that we need to do to be a Christian that we end up building a barrier between the us and the God we are trying to follow.
Towards the start of Jesus’ ministry we hear Jesus talking to some Pharisees, who’ve built their own barriers between themselves and God. We’ll pick it up in Mark 2
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“One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?’ And he said to them, ‘Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?’ And he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.’”
“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”
One of the barriers the Pharisee’s had made between themselves and God, in fact between most of the Jewish people and God, was this thing called Sabbath. They were so busy trying to enforce this law that they’d totally missed the point of the Sabbath, it was a gift from God. God didn’t create the Sabbath to impose on people, but in order that we rest and connect with him through it.
Jesus is saying the Sabbath is less of a barrier, and more of a bridge. It’s not something that constricts us, or separates us from God, but it’s something that we can use to get to him. So the Pharisee’s making it this legalistic thing, that meant the disciples weren’t allowed to eat, was totally missing the point.
I think so often we make the gifts that God has given us as a bridge to connect us to him into a barrier separating us, and others from him. So often we make the Christian life about ticking off our list of chores, like reading our bibles and praying. But it’s actually about connecting to a God who wants to be in relationship with us. So often we take the bridges between us and God and make them barriers. Because we forget that the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath.
But what if we didn’t? What if we chose to build bridges between us and God rather than barriers? How much more exciting, and less tiring is that? Let’s be a generation that doesn’t let the gifts that God has given us form barriers between us and him. Let’s build them into bridges, that we can walk over to meet Jesus and see our friends doing the same.
How do we build bridges? Fellowship? Prayer? Forgiving ourselves (find that one really hard).