I love when conceits (extended metaphors) happen in literature. I love finding them in the Word where I least expect them! In researching the words law, grace, and truth, I discovered something interesting. Don't you know that God is so creative that He came up with literary devices long before man did? So, the word law translates "to prescribe as a rule, direction or order;" truth is literally a "profession of doctrine (or from a doctor), a rule, theory, or principle of law"; and grace is "the divine influence upon the heart and its reflection in life" (The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible and Webster's New World College Dictionary).
Dr. Jesus first wrote the prescription for our "sickness" of sin through Moses in the form of the law or the Ten Commandments. He wrote the prescription and didn't change it--what was good for those in 1140 BC is still good for us in AD 2009. Folks just didn't quite understand what to do with the prescription.
When I was a really small child, I can barely remember doctors who would come to the house to check out a patient who was considered too ill to come to the office. You see it in the old Western movies. That was Dr. Jesus' next step--the medicine had to get to those who needed it, so He made a "house call." John 1:14 tells us that "The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." He brought us the medicine and explained, "You can't just hold it in your hand. The heart medicine can't help your heart until it gets inside you. Once it gets inside, the results will be felt and seen on the outside, and you will be healthy."
In each of the synoptic gospels there is a story of a rich young man (Matt. 19:16-26, Mark 10:17-31, Luke 18: 18-30):
18:18 And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
18:19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none [is] good, save one, [that is], God.
18:20 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
18:21 And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.
18:22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
18:23 And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.
18:24 And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
18:25 For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
18:26 And they that heard [it] said, Who then can be saved?
18:27 And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.
18:28 Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee.
18:29 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake,
18:30 Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.
When Jesus told the young man what he needed to do to be saved, He repeated the prescription: "Do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother." The young man answered, "I filled that prescription a long time ago." And Jesus said, "Now you have to use the medication. Let my medicine work on the part of you that is making you sick." [Not that I believe that wealth makes a person sick, or sinful for that matter, but apparently this young man loved what he could do for himself more than what he could potentially do for others, and that was sin.] Then he looked at the medicine and did the same thing I usually do with medicine--he said, "Yuck!" and didn't take it.
Jesus said, " Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the law until all is accomplished" (Matt. 5:17-18); "It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the law" (Luke 16:17). The prescription doesn't change because we don't like it!
"While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and 'sinners' came and ate with Him and His disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, 'Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?' On hearing this, Jesus said, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners" (Matt. 9:10-13). Jesus desires mercy--the outward affect of the inward working of the medicine--not sacrifice--just holding on to the old prescription. They, and we, have to take the medicine so it can do its job.
Dr. Jesus saw our condition, wrote the prescription, and filled and delivered it with His own hands. It is up to us to take it into ourselves, and let His work be done in us.
Dr. Jesus, Great Physician, as You have been called, I want to take my medicine. Let me receive Your grace, let the sinfulness in me be cured, and let spiritual health come forth, so that I may more effectively walk with You. Amen
1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
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