A Tree of Healing or Poison

On a simple level this means that the sacrifices of the metzora must be brought in the proper sequence, in the sense that they must be in order. But we can learn a moral lesson from this as well. The word havayah can also mean that which has lasting existence. This teaches that the lesson of humility which a metzora is forced to learn in order to be healed must be interalized to effect a lasting cure. His repentance of his sin cannot be a temporary condition - it must become a part of his being. He must know that only through achieving lasting humility will his new state of health endure.

Daf Yomi Digest
Menachos 5
Stories off the Daf
The Metzora's Purification

I'm taking a small break from my ongoing review of Paul Philip Levertoff's Love and the Messianic Age to write about something more basic. In my studies this morning, I came across the quote I posted above, which states a simple truth for people of faith, but one we may not consider with sufficient seriousness.

Repentance, forgiveness, and grace are spoken of frequently in the church, and rightly so, but do we have a sufficient understanding of what is required of us to access God's mercy and grace? We know that, as often as we ask God's forgiveness, we receive it, but is that an excuse to take grace and mercy casually?

Then Peter came and said to him, ‘Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. -Matthew 18:21-22 (NRSV)

This is sometimes translated as "seven times seventy" which, doing the math, is 490. Seven is symbolically a "perfect number" in Judaism and the Rabbinic commentary on forgiveness is that you are obligated to forgive someone only a limited number of times. If the person continues sinning against you, then they haven't really repented (sounds like the quote from the Daf I posted above). On the other hand, Jesus is saying that we should continue to forgive a person as long as they ask it, just as God forgives us (my assumption is forgiveness occurs as long as we are sincerely asking and not just blowing smoke). Jesus isn't saying that God limits His own forgiveness of humanity to 490 times (if He did, we'd all be toast), but rather, many times, a large number in the Bible represents an infinite (or at least, an extremely large) number of, in this case, opportunities to be forgiven.

Here's Paul's commentary on the matter:

What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. -Romans 6:1-4 (NRSV)

No, because grace has been freely made available to us isn't a license to take advantage of God's generosity and to abuse the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Only children take advantage of a parent's kindness and forgiveness to deliberately misbehave (this is different than a person who sincerely desires to repent and is struggling with a difficult issue or habit...it might take more than one time to permanently stop drinking, gambling, or ceasing some other compulsive ill). Jesus said during his temptations in Matthew 4:7 (quoting Deuteronomy 6:16), "Jesus said to him, ‘Again it is written, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.' "

This may go some ways to explaining the following as well:

If a man is worthy, the Torah becomes for him a medicine of life, but if he is not, it is a deadly poison. This is what Raba explained. "If he uses the Torah properly it is a medicine of life unto him, but for him who does not use it properly, it is a deadly poison." -b.Yoma 72b

The Word of God, which in some sense contains the essence of God, is not a set of installation instructions or an owner's manual that we mechanically follow, but rather, it is something we incorporate into our lives, just as we incorporate food and drink to keep us alive. Even medicine, if taken at the wrong time or misused, can make us sick rather than well. Treating God's Word and grace (and thus God Himself) casually, will not help us but rather, blow up in our faces. If we are not "worthy" (do not treat God's Word and grace with respect), then the medicine of life will be our poison instead.

As I've said before, it's not just what we do, but why we do it.

She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called happy. -Proverbs 3:18 (NRSV)

The Torah is called a "tree of life"; Eitz Chaim Hee, to those who cling to her. But you must cling to God's Word, and to God, with all your heart.

I know my blog today is pretty elementary, but it never hurts to get back to the basics once in awhile.

The road is long and often, we travel in the dark.