“The Pharisees came and asked Him, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?‘  And He answered and said to them, ‘What did Moses command you?'”  Mark 10:2,3

“Why do you transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition?  But you say:  ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God, then he need not honor his father or mother.'”  Matthew 15:3,5-6

“Then the scribes came…..asked Him:  ‘Which is the first commandment of all?’  Jesus answered…..’the Lord our God, the Lord is one And you shall love the Lord your with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength…..There is no commandment greater….'”  Mark 12:28-31

I work observing, researching, teaching, planning and implementing human, earthly, organizational system processes and improvements.  One of the things that is stressed over and over again both by the experts who are the basis of many of the concepts my instruction is based on as well as those with whom I am teaching, is that human organizations, interactions and systems are complicated!  And while I would not disagree with that assessment, there is a real challenge if not danger and outright obstacle to the prevalence of that concept.  For you see, the more we judge a situation to be complicated, the more difficult, time consuming and effort-requiring, any solution or even movement toward solution is going to be. In fact all too often, the phrase; it is complicated, is used as an excuse to keep any action or movement toward improvement or solution from ever taking place.  The thought process being that the complicated nature of the issue at hand constitutes such a risk filled environment, that any action toward resolution of the situation is likely not to take into account all of the variables, thusly leaving a worse situation than if no action had been taken at all. It is better to study, to meet, to discuss, to plan and then study, meet, discuss the plan without ever actually taking action.

Yes we humans love to complicate things and often we do so at our own peril.  Take the two examples listed above.

Let me start this paragraph out with a disclaimer.  This is not meant to be some aspect of judgement about or backhanded attempt to say something about divorce in our society.  No, this is meant to show how humans want to add onto, change a process from God.  For a little context, the religious leaders came to Jesus to try to trick Him into answering something against what Moses taught, to hopefully turn the people against Him.  So they asked Jesus what Jesus thought about the legality of divorce.  Jesus, with His perfect wisdom was not going to fall for their trap so He starts off by asking what Moses had taught about divorce.  They answer Jesus and we see how human complication versus Godly plan raises its ugly head.  In Genesis, it states very clearly about how a man and a woman are supposed to come together, as designed by God, in the site of God and become one.  That’s a pretty simple plan.  Well, but what if they get to a point where they don’t like each other anymore, what if one isn’t supporting another and/or  can no longer stand to have them in their household.  Thus Moses, allowed for a human complication, the ability to write a certificate of divorce, although Jesus makes it clear, that is not what and how God intended.

Honor your father and mother is another fairly straightforward commandment.  Now please understand, honoring was more than just speaking good about them.  If your father or mother were in need, especially in their old age, then a child should take steps to insure that they don’t become destitute, homeless and/or starving.  Hmmmm, but I have a limited amount of resources and I have my needs.  Of course supporting the temple has its requirements as well.  This could become a great burden.  So the Jewish leadership had set up a tradition wherein if the support a person might have given to their parents was pledged to God, they were relieved of that responsibility.  And what about the poor parents; too bad, so sad, call dad; well don’t call dad because he’s the one hurting.

Next we come to an answer that seems ripe to have a huge amount of complexity, caveats, provisos, exceptions and the like; the first commandment.  Yet Jesus Christ is very clear and unequivocal in His answer; God is one and love Him with all faculties you have.  Pretty darn simple.

Finally I believe I would be remiss if I didn’t point out another human fallacy when it comes to the concepts of simple and complicated.  That fallacy is that we assume all simple is easy and all contemplated is difficult.  The acronym K.I.S.S.; Keep It Simple (and there are quite a few derivations of what the last S stands for) is both a desired state and a warning that, to the extent you keep something simple, the easier it is to implement.  In human systems there might be some wisdom to that.  However, that is not the same with God’s system.

You see Dear Sisters and Brothers, much of what Jesus taught was and is amazingly simple.  Love all, including your enemies.  That’s really simple, I don’t have to figure out who deserves my love and how much to give or forgive.  Yet, at least for me, simple yes but that commandment of Christ is maddeningly difficult for me to carry out, at least with any consistency.  Jesus Christ knew and we should also understand, that as simple as the precepts are; they are not just difficult or very difficult, but they are impossible for us to fulfill, to live into based on our own efforts, our own understanding. Thus we should not try.

Not try to live into them, you say???!!!  Just ignore them because they are impossible; you say??!!!  No, that’s not what I am saying at all.  The only way we can come close to living into the simple, loving, perfect life that our Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ preached to us, is through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  We must rely on the Holy Spirit, abiding in Jesus Christ, praying to our Heavenly Father, reading the word and asking for discernment.  It is only through relying on our Heavenly resources that we can have any hope in rising above the human and earthly interjected complexity that vexes our actions and our lives and live into the simple, peaceful, joyous and loving life, our Heavenly Father desires for us to have.

Our Most Gracious Heavenly Father, we confess that we are quick to complicate Your perfect message, teachings, and love with our own imperfect thoughts and perspectives.  Please forgive us Merciful Father and pour out Your Holy Spirit upon us giving us the strength to resist the earthly complexities and cling to Your perfect simplicity.  Through Your Word and Spirit, give us clarity of decision and movement when we stand paralyzed with fear at moving forward or taking some action directed by You.  Let the simplicity of faith versus the complexity of human reason be our answer as we discuss the relationship and blessings that come from a relationship with You.  That in relying on You and Your simple message of love and faith to us; we might live lives of praise and honor to Your Most Holy Name.  We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen

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