Disobedient Children

My son Al just finished reading Romeo and Juliet, and one of our discussion topics was "The Penalty for Disobeying Parents."  

Our literature program had this to say:

The law of God is very clear about children who are incorrigible delinquents.  The penalty is death (Deuteronomy 21:18-21)...The Puritans in New England had a law that required the execution of disobedient children.  However, the law was never used, because there was no recording of a child being disobedient.  Thus, the law with its capital punishment ensured obedience.*

Those last sentences make a bold statement.  They claim that the Puritan children didn't sin, never disobeyed their parents, because of the law.  

Who knew?  The remedy for sin, that really works, is the death penalty.

But I don't believe those Puritan children never disobeyed their parents.  And it starts in Genesis...

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”  Genesis 2:16-17   

And what happened?  Adam and Eve sinned...and death came to man.

We live in a fallen, sinful world.  And man is always looking for an answer.  Some people believe that by enacting certain laws and enforcing punishment, we can fix the world.  But the law can't and doesn't...

...For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.                                 2 Corinthians 3:6

and

...if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. Galatians 2:21 

The truth is, we're all deserving of death.  Not only do we sin, but we're not even capable of keeping the law.  We're all disobedient children.

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?  Romans 7:24

That's why the good news of Jesus is Good News.  

Because God did and does the same thing that those Puritan parents did for their children - He shows mercy and love to His children, giving them righteousness that they didn't earn.  

He accepts the work of Christ on our behalf, on my behalf, and gives life.

The hope for this world is not perfect laws, perfect rulers, perfect government, perfect parents, perfect children.  That's not even possible.

The hope for the world is Jesus.  Jesus for me, for my sins.

 
*Smarr Publishers Survey of British Literature, Romeo and Juliet - Lesson 5, by Robert Watson