Priorities

Reading the gospels of the past few weeks, I begin to think that the real source of sin is a matter of simple priorities.

Do you really think the laws about working on the Sabbath are meant to be adhered to so slavishly that it would be better for a man to suffer than for us to break them?  Is it really more important to keep your dignity than to be healed?  Is fairness really more important than your poor brother?

It also fundamentally misunderstands the purpose of the Law.  When Jesus explained that the whole of the Law was contained in the two commandments -- love God and love everybody else -- He wasn't just saying that they were a handy summary.  He was telling us what laws take precedence.  What considerations are above all.

And what all the rules were meant to be based on.

I got into a discussion on Facebook one day about codes of conduct.  How every school and organization's code of conduct I've taken the time to read has some absolutely ridiculous bits in there.  Because I think every code of conduct goes through the same process.
1. You start with one or a few people making good, common sense rules that are fairly adaptable to changing circumstances.
2. These prove insufficiently clear so they are given more detail and thus less flexibility but become very clear.
3. A few people still misunderstand or don't follow the rules, so consequences are written in to encourage compliance with the best practices.
4. Somewhere along the way, there are Those People who really do need to be told "Don't throw rocks at police cars" and a few incredibly specific, strange, and even "why do we need a rule against that?" rules get places in there.  All to officially discourage that one person and keep others like them from at least doing the SAME crazy nonsense.

But any good school and organization goes back to that first step periodically and checks in that the original goals, the common sense, heart-in-the-right-place provisions and methods, haven't been overwritten in the important places.  That the minutia of running an organization hasn't become more precious than the mission they were put in place to streamline.

That rules about honoring the Sabbath so that there is a holy day set aside for rest and reflection doesn't become a burden keeping the lame from celebrating their salvation.