I Can’t Stop The Rain

I was pondering Yeshua and some of the moments in his life when he stood up against power. I was struck by the story we usually refer to as “the woman caught in adulty.” Normally when we talk about this story, we talk about how church people bring her to Yeshua and ask him, “what do you say we do with this woman? The law says she should be stoned.” Yeshua bends down and starts doodling in the sand, and then the famous line…” you who has no sin, cast the first stone.”

One thing, I had NEVER realized is the church people, the highest religious power, the mediators between God and man, had the POWER to kill! They caught this woman in adulty and had the power to take her outside the city and stone her to death. What?

In the scriptures, we get a little tiny glimpse into the temple system. In our very limited American understanding, we can try to imagine what it would be like to have to go to the temple and buy animals from temple exchangers that were cheating, manipulating, and tricking people out of their money and then have a priest sacrifice an animal on our behalf to receive the favor, mercies and blessing of God.

We may feel like we have come a long way from this type of system but most of us still live under that same archaic way and view of God. We believe we are responsible for the way God relates to us and that somehow if we “do the right things” we will gain the favor and mercies of God.

It is most easily identified when we are in crisis. I have sat with women as they share their stories of the pain. Of a baby lost in the womb and they question if it is their fault because they had stopped going to church? Or they are going through a divorce and think, maybe this is punishment for some “sin” in their life? Or they are terrified to make mistakes or do the “wrong thing”, so they live small, insecure, and full of anxiety, trying to never mess up. Our “sacrifices” are not the blood of bulls and goats anymore, but church attendance, good behavior, morality, or always “doing what is right”, following ALL the rules, and aiming for perfection. We have not come very far. 

Yeshua came into the temple and went into a rage when he saw how people were representing God. This system was lucrative, this system was powerful, these men were powerful. These men were able to go to Harrod the ruler of that providence and receive permission to crucify a man. This is tremendous power. Consider our legal system today, and the powers that hold people’s lives in their hands. These were the religious LEADERS. They had the power to kill!

Yeshua stood up against this system, these men in power, these religious rulers who had created a system that benefited them in horrific ways. Yeshua started teaching that “their laws” were NOT of God, that their ways were not THE way and ultimately, he put them out of their jobs.

Yeshua was killed by the “church” let that sink in, the church had the power to take life, to torture, to stone, to crucify! As Yeshua, died on the cross, it is written that his last words were, “It is finished!”

Those words marked a new era, they marked the shift in the practices of the church, and the way we related to God. No more killing. It is finished! No more sacrificing. No more appeasing the gods. No more bloodshed. No, this is not who God is. 

The Great I Am, does not require the blood of bulls and goats, only a contrite heart and a broken spirit. Not penance for mistakes, not good deeds for love, not rule-following for favor and acceptance. Listen dear ones, this is not God. The last sacrifice of the High Priests was not an animal but a man.

Since the beginning of time, we as humans have been trying to figure out how to relate to the world around us, each other, and this great mystery in the sky that causes the rain to fall and the sun to shine. We have used, rain dances, blood sacrifices, ceremonial cleaning, sacrificing of the firstborn or babies, we have created sculptures of gold and stone, used incense and sweet perfume, to try to figure out how to persuade “whatever is controlling all this” to have mercy on us.

As I journey toward understanding my faith and how life works, I believe that learning that the rain falls on the just and the unjust brings freedom. Embracing in our souls that THE one in control of all this is not a “Man-like” creature in the sky that is angry at us, nor is it punishing us through bad circumstances. A baby dying was not God’s wrath, the trials and circumstances are not punishment, the loss of the job is not due to inconsistent “morning quiet time”, it is simply the rain.

Oh my Dears, we cannot control the rain. There is not a sacrifice great enough that will give us that control. The only way to now live is surrendered, humbled, contrite, accepting life the way it comes, thankful for breath in our lungs today, thankful for the opportunity to love and be loved, and to receive the gift of full acceptance without strings attached. And to live it out daily. The next time rain drops fall from the sky, remind yourself, I can’t stop the rain.