Gal. 3:23-25 “But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.”
Once upon a time, long, long ago, there was a man whose name was Namuh. Namuh lived in a simple abode which sat upon a large field. He was a man of medium height and built with a wild look about himself. For the most part Namuh was content. Some of what he had done in his surroundings were good things. But some of what he had done was evil. The reward for the good was nothing to really speak of, and the same applied for the evil he had done. It couldn’t be said that Namuh was a happy man. But neither could it be said that he was unhappy.
One morning Namuh arose, only to see from his window a shocking sight. Not too far from him there stood a tall Stranger in a hooded robe. Moreover, about fifty yards or so beyond the man there had been erected a fence. Never before was there a fence anywhere on Namuh’s field. “What can this be about?” he asked himself. Cautiously he went out to meet the Stranger. “Excuse me,” he said. “Who are you if I might ask? And what is the meaning of this fence on my field? Never has there been a fence anywhere on my land.”
“I’m sure you have never seen me or heard of me,” the mysterious looking fellow replied.
“True,” said Namuh.
“Yet you will see much of me from this time on. Let me introduce myself. My name is Law. I’ve been sent to teach you right from wrong, that you may learn good from evil.”
“I don’t have any idea of what you mean,” said Namuh. “I think you should leave this place.”
“I’ll not leave,” said Law in a strong tone.
Suddenly Namuh was struck with fear for reason of the man. He knew not what to say next. “I suppose you plan on taking up residence on the other side of that fence,” he then blurted out.
“No,” said Law. “My plan is to live with you. But the other side of that fence is the first matter I want to bring to your attention. Listen carefully. Do not ever go there. For beyond that fence is a wild beast. If you should dismiss my warning and venture there he will tear your flesh. Then you will know that I am true.”
Never did Namuh hear anyone speak with such authority. He felt so overpowered. He couldn’t find it within himself again to demand that Law depart from him. And even if he was able to do so, he was sure the hooded Stranger would never comply.
Namuh found little sleep that night. His concerns had shifted from the recent intruder in his life to the beast behind the fence, if in fact there was a beast. He thought however that something must lie beyond it. His curiosity became so aroused that by dawn he felt that he must find out what the secret was. Despite Law’s warning, Namuh started for the fence.
Upon scaling it easily he discovered that as far as he could see he could detect no beast, or anything else for that matter; that is but a few scattered trees and some bushes which had always been there. Namuh leaped from the fence onto the other side. He began walking in the direction of the trees. He had gotten a good distance from the fence when it happened. A wild looking animal like he had never before seen stepped out from behind a large bush. Almost immediately it caught sight of Namuh and started to rush him. The poor fellow could not make it back to the fence before the thing was on him.
All the while Law sat calmly before the small abode. Faintly he could hear Namuh’s screams. But he had already known for some time where he had gone. A couple of minutes later and Law watched as a torn and tattered figure leaped back over the fence onto safe ground.
As Namuh approached the house Law looked sternly on him. “Did I not tell you to never venture onto the other side of that fence? Did I not warn you that you would come back bloodied?” He scolded.
Humbled and ashamed, Namuh nodded. “Curiosity got the best of me all through the night,” he admitted. “I barely found any sleep. By dawn I just had to see for myself what was beyond the fence.”
“Listen to me, and listen carefully,” said Law. “Tomorrow your thoughts will stray again to where they ought not to go. Again you will wonder - not about what’s beyond the fence, since now you have seen it. But you will wonder about other matters concerning the beast. Under no circumstances should you go over the fence a second time. If you do, a worse harm will befall you than what has this day.”
“After what has happened to me,” said Namuh, “why would I visit there again?”
Once again Law looked intently at him. “Under no circumstances,” He repeated, “should you choose to climb over that fence tomorrow.”
The next morning came and Namuh arose early as always. Stepping out of the house the sight of the fence immediately grabbed his attention. He began to walk in the direction of it. “There’s got to be more to all this than what I’ve been told,” thought Namuh. “Maybe I should probe Law further concerning it.” However Namuh had come to greatly revere the tall and mysterious man, whose presence alone could be quite intimidating. And so, he was afraid that he may say too much, or perhaps even the wrong thing.
As Namuh continued to ponder his situation he unconsciously drew more and more near to the fence. Realizing this he halted. For a short while he just looked and wondered. Then he thought that he heard noises. Sounds of whimpering seemed to be coming from the other side. “Could that be the beast?” thought Namuh. No sooner did he finish thinking it and there was the head of the grotesque creature rising above the fence. But he appeared different now; tamed, you may say, even friendly. He threw his right front leg over the fence and with it seemed to be beckoning for Namuh to come closer. And was there actually a smile upon his face? Namuh was thrown by it all. “I know how strict of a warning it was that Law gave me,” he thought, “but I’m thinking He may have never seen the beast in this light.” Slowly he inched closer to the fence, until he could almost reach out and touch the long hairy leg. Then came something very surprising. The beast caught sight of Namuh’s wounds, which he himself had inflicted. Immediately great sorrow filled his eyes. Slowly he lowered himself to the ground and was seen no more.
Namuh didn’t know what to think. A couple of minutes passed. His curiosity had once again gotten the better of him. He raised himself up on the fence, but just high enough so that he could see over it. The beast was slowly withdrawing to the vicinity of the large bush where he was first seen by Namuh just the day before. Despite the harm that befell him then Namuh now felt compassion for the animal. “Hey!” he cried out. The beast turned. A forlorn look became a soft smile as it stood up on its hind legs. Without giving any further thought to the matter Namuh made his way up and over the fence and onto the other side. “Law was wrong,” he said to himself while walking in the direction of the beast. “There’s a side to this creature that I’m sure he knows nothing of.” But as he came within about fifteen yards of him he thought he had detected a change in the beast’s demeanor. Promptly he dismissed the notion. However as he continued on Namuh realized that he had been duped. A once soft smile became a devious grin. This was followed by a low and seductive laughter. Namuh turned and with all the speed he could muster up he ran for the fence. Still he was no match for the speed of the beast. Once again his flesh was ripped into, worse now than before, just as Law had predicted.
The next meeting between Law and Namuh was no different at all than the first time Namuh had disobeyed. Law scolded him for not heeding his warning. Namuh was humbled but offered an excuse for his behavior. Law then warned that he’d be tested again, but that under no circumstances should he venture onto the other side of the fence.
Time passed along on its unstoppable course; days turned to months, and months turned to years. If only a favorable report could have been given of the man Namuh – the one that Law had invested so much of Himself into. But such wasn’t the case. There were times when the light within him got the better of the darkness, yet for the most part Namuh had fought a losing battle with the very deceptive and treacherous creature who had long ago become his downfall. The scars upon his body had accumulated so that they couldn’t be numbered. He had even become unrecognizable to those who knew him.
But there was something so alluring, yes and mystifying about the beast, that drove Namuh to his wit’s end while trying to understand him. He had developed an addictive longing for his company. Often they would spend the whole day together with all seeming to go so well. Still always in the end Namuh was done harm. After so long a time he knew that matters would never change. Though by now it was as if he’d become spellbound. He was willing to pay the price just to spend a few hours with the beast.
One day Namuh sat in deep contemplation over his circumstances. He thought of how they were more awful than anything he could have ever imagined. Once he was content, he told himself; that was before Law had moved into his world. Now his days couldn’t have grown darker. Then as if a bolt of lightning had struck him he felt like he saw the entire picture. “It’s all evil!” he blurted out to himself. “All of it!” Namuh had become convinced that not only was the beast evil, but that Law Himself was evil. He believed that they were in league with one another. What he didn’t understand was why they were so bent on his destruction.
That same evening Law and Namuh sat around a camp fire and talked as they often did before they retired. It wasn’t very long into their conversation that a grave silence fell upon the two of them. They only looked upon one another over the flames. Then Namuh spoke. “Tell me something,” he said.
“What is it?” answered Law.
“Are you evil?”
“Am I evil?” repeated Law. “Good is all that I can ever be. From my very conception to the time my purpose is accomplished I will never be anything other than good. It is all that is within me. It is you who are evil,” He told Namuh, “you and the beast that lives yonder. Think, Namuh,” He went on. “I am He who has ever warned you – these many years now – to not venture over the fence, because over the fence there resides evil. But far more than not you have gone over so that you may be with him. If you wish to join yourself to the one who is evil, are you not evil also? But if I am the One who has instructed you to stay on this ground, where you will not bring harm upon yourself, am I not good?”
Now Namuh had become more bewildered than ever. For he felt sure that earlier in the day he had come to a revelation of the truth. But upon hearing Law’s words he knew that there was no deceit in Him. As Law beheld the great pain in Namuh’s eyes, He knew the time had come to unfold to him something He hadn’t ever before told him.
“Namuh,” said Law. “Look at Me. I am going to reveal to you a thing that I’ve never brought to your attention. From the start I fully knew that you would disobey my words. I was certain that you lacked the needed virtue required in order to keep your distance from the beast, that the times would be few when you’d choose to remain on good ground.”
“What! Then what chance did I ever have?” Namuh exclaimed, dropping his head into his hands.
“Not only was I fully aware of this,” Law continued, “but I also understood that things would grow worse for you and not better as you went on, failing more and succeeding less.”
Namuh lifted his head to look at Law. “If all this is true,” he said angrily, “then how do you sit there and tell me that you are good?”
“I am not finished,” said Law. “Hear me through. Despite all this I have always had but a single goal in mind – your eventual welfare. However for that to occur, you had to be brought to the end of yourself. And today as you sat and pondered all of the horrors that have plagued you over the years, you were indeed brought to your end. You could see no light ahead, but only darkness; no hope, but only doom. You saw Me as not being a strength to deliver, but only to set the rule. In this you were right, though you were mistaken in thinking Me evil. Your situation needed to grow just this dire before you’d be able to see. Hear Me Namuh. My standards are much too high for you, or for any of your kind; and the fence – it could never have been high enough. I wasn’t sent to lead you to victory, or to the mountaintop, but only to show you the darkness that has been in you from the beginning.”
There was a brief hush. Law then went on. “Namuh. Haven’t you noticed how I’ve never been sympathetic towards you? Neither was I compassionate or even encouraging. This is because I have no heart. I was not formed that way. Simply my duties are to state what is right and what is wrong; what is good and what is evil. Then, even as I have always warned - if you do what is evil you will fall; if you do what is good you will stand. But I was not sent to draw near to you, to create a bond, or to be a friend.”
“I see,” said Namuh, feeling somewhat more at peace now. “For the first time I’m beginning to understand. Still there is one very troubling thing. You yet leave me at a loss for the solution to my circumstances – circumstances that are about to destroy me to the utmost.”
“The solution you speak of is what I am now about to address,” replied Law. “Dawn will soon arrive. When it comes I will depart from these grounds and you’ll see my face no more. I was never meant to take up permanent residence here. My duties have been completed and now I must put you into the hands of another. He is one of your own kind – human, like you. And He is more than human, Namuh. He is in fact the Champion of your race, and there is nothing that is unattainable for Him.”
“Is He greater than you?” Namuh interjected.
“Immeasurably so,” answered Law. “I explained to you how that within me there is no heart. But even the endless skies cannot contain the heart of this One. I told you that I was not sent to draw near to you or to be a friend. But He is coming to be a friend and more than a friend; a brother and more than a brother; and more near to you than what you can know. Myself? I was simply sent to prepare you for Him.” Law stood to his feet. He raised His right hand to point to a distant figure of a man approaching. Namuh suddenly realized that dawn was breaking.
“Rise Namuh!” said Law. “Turn to see Him – the great bow in the skies, and the hope of all your kinsmen.”
Namuh quickly arose and turned to see a man advancing, though still a good distance away. “But what about all of my scars?” he said nervously. “I feel ashamed.”
“He already knows all about you. And I can tell you this. He is not coming to chide, but to renew you and encourage you. Besides, He is no stranger to wounds. He’ll tell you all about it someday. And remember this. For the victor, all old wounds eventually turn to crowns.” There was a moment of silence. “It is time for me to go now,” said Law.
Namuh fixed his eyes on the One who had taught him of good and evil. “Where will you go?” he asked.
“Onto another man’s field.”
“To prepare him for this One to come, as you have prepared me?”
“Correct,” said Law. “It is what I do. I am the Teacher; the Teacher of the light and the darkness.”
“I never thought I’d be sad to see you go,” said Namuh, teary eyed. “Aren’t you going to wish me well?”
“Have I ever wished you well? They are empty words of no strength, my friend; and never have they brought a single victory to anyone. But instead I will tell you this. Listen carefully to Him. Give all that He asks of you. And you will not only do well, but you shall do outstandingly well.”
For a few seconds Law looked upon Namuh as if He were staring right through him. Then breaking from the trance He smiled. Then He turned and walked away.
Namuh just stood there. As he reasoned with himself he remembered how Law said that He had no heart. But what of the light that could be seen in His eyes upon departing, he thought? Where could it have come from if He was empty within?
Namuh then faced in the direction of the man who he would soon meet. He had advanced near enough now so that His face could be seen fairly clear. Namuh was amazed as the Stranger drew closer. His smile was so manly, yet at the same time warm and gentle. His entire demeanor was unlike any Namuh had ever observed. But then there was something else, something quite peculiar. Namuh was certain that he had seen Him before. But where - he couldn’t even begin to imagine. Then quickly he realized that it was not in any conscious state of mind he had been in. Possibly it was in the deep recesses of a dream. Though what was unmistakable to him was a strong sense of kinship between himself and the man. Suddenly Namuh felt totally confident that this One he would not fail. He understood that at times the dark clouds may roll in and overtake him, but now he knew that the Light of day would never be far from his path. And in Him he believed that he could firmly and forever anchor his soul.
Rom 7:7-14…24, 25a
“What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin… O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
J. Pecoraro
