In his Gospel, Matthew recounted that Jesus gave His disciples “the keys of the Kingdom.” Whatever they loosed on earth would be loosed in Heaven, and whatever they bound on earth would be bound in Heaven. It was the role of Rabbis to study, pray, debate, and discuss the texts of Scripture and then put their interpretations into one of two categories. Their understanding of the passage would either forbid certain actions (binding), or it would permit appropriate actions (loosing). Following the interpretations of a particular Rabbi meant that one was “taking up that Rabbi’s yoke.” And when the Rabbi allowed his followers to have the authority to bind and loose, it was referred to as “giving them the keys of the Kingdom.” It was presumed that God was involved in this whole process.
Jesus expected His followers to involve themselves in the constant process of discovering what it meant to live in the reality of the Scriptures and His incarnation. They were to make calculated decisions of what following Christ in their present world and culture would look like. This is just as true for believers today. We must be convinced and transformed by the fact that the Bible is as alive as it is true. It is a wildly, uncensored account of people experiencing the living God. We are to let go of any teaching or methodology that does not sync with the way of Jesus and embrace what helps us to be the authentic people of God. The implications of this responsibility to bind and loose are as exhausting as they are exhilarating. We must be willing to wrestle with the entirety of God’s Word as a community of Christ-followers. Watch out for people with a limp. They may have had an encounter with God.
[stextbox id=”info”]The recent series of blogs come directly from the lesson preparation and class participation of our weekly gatherings called “Reversed Thunder.” Join us each week until November 13th or view the video archives by clicking HERE.[/stextbox]