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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath.
His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them.
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, "Look! Your disciples are
doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."
He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? I tell you that One greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
Going on from that place, He went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked Him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"
He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."
Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place.
Matthew 12:1-15a
He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? I tell you that One greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
Going on from that place, He went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked Him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"
He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."
Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place.
Matthew 12:1-15a
One Sabbath, Jesus was going through the grainfields, and
as His disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The
Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the
Sabbath?”
He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he
and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high
priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is
lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”
Then He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not
man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man
with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to
accuse Jesus, so they watched Him closely to see if He would heal him on the
Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of
everyone.”
Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath:
to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.
He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed
at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He
stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went
out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
Mark 2:23-28, 3:1-5
One Sabbath, Jesus was going through the grainfields, and
His disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and
eat the kernels. Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is
unlawful on the Sabbath?”
Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did
when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and taking
the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he
also gave some to his companions.” Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is
Lord of the Sabbath.”
On another Sabbath, He went into the synagogue and was
teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and
the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they
watched Him closely to see if He would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew what
they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and
stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there.
Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on
the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”
He looked around at them all, and then said to the man,
“Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. But
the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss
with one another what they might do to Jesus.
Luke 6:1-11
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Sometimes we can get too caught up in the rules of the world and lose sight of the rules of the Lord, the only true authority in life that matters. Even in Christian circles, we tend to be more concerned about man-made doctrine and beliefs than we are the doctrine given to us in the scriptures. Examples of both these tendencies can be found in today’s passage, one found in three of the four New Testament Gospels. Since all three accounts are very similar, we’ll use the one from Mark. Look again at His words here:
One Sabbath, Jesus
was going through the grainfields, and as His disciples walked along, they
began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why are
they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
He answered, “Have
you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in
need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and
ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also
gave some to his companions.”
Then He said to
them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man
is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Another time Jesus
went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of
them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched Him closely to
see if He would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the
shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”
Then Jesus asked
them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life
or to kill?” But they remained silent.
He looked around
at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the
man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely
restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how
they might kill Jesus. Mark 2:23-28,
3:1-5
As the scene in our scripture passage opens, we find
Jesus traveling “through the grainfields” with His disciples “on the Sabbath”.
Hungry in their travels, the disciples became hungry and picked “some heads of
grain”, rubbing them between their hands, and eating the kernels.
Keep in mind now that they are with Jesus who represented
perfection in righteousness and thus was the standard for living right. Given
this, did Jesus rebuke His disciples for eating the grain?
No, but as you might expect the Pharisees, the Jewish
religious authorities of the day and ardent defenders of the Mosaic Law, did.
Or at least, as was their tendency, they defended the Law when it suited them,
a Law they also chose to violate as well when it suited them, something we know
that incensed Jesus. Indeed, the Pharisees represented everything bad that
comes from having a self-righteous attitude and unfortunately we still see
their mistakes repeated today by many.
Well, the scriptures tell us that when the Pharisees saw Jesus’ followers feasting on the grain, they challenged Jesus, bringing the actions to His attention saying, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."
This obviously angered Jesus who reminded the Pharisees about the behavior of some of the most esteemed members of the Jewish society. We read where He said to them:
“Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”
Well, the scriptures tell us that when the Pharisees saw Jesus’ followers feasting on the grain, they challenged Jesus, bringing the actions to His attention saying, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."
This obviously angered Jesus who reminded the Pharisees about the behavior of some of the most esteemed members of the Jewish society. We read where He said to them:
“Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”
In other words, before Jesus and His disciples came along, Jewish history contained incidents where those who were revered as holy and good violate what the standards of the Sabbath as well. And frankly, a lot of the strict standards the Pharisees held the people to were self constructed, fabricated through their interpretation and application of the Law.
So at this point, we find things at an impasse. The Pharisees thought that Jesus’ disciples were in the wrong while Jesus obviously felt differently so He settled the issue by doing what He does best, by exerting His authority.
Back to the scriptures as Jesus says this to the disciples:
“The Sabbath was
made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the
Sabbath.”
In other words, there is nothing on earth, nothing constructed or produced by people, nothing that mankind might revere and worship that was or will ever be greater than the Lord Jesus Himself, the Lord who was the Lord of all things, including the Sabbath.
But Jesus wasn’t done with these words of authority. As we see, He was ready to put His authority on full display as well.
For we read that He next went into the synagogue, the Pharisees’ house of worship, where He encountered a “man with a shriveled hand”. The Pharisees, seeking any reason to continue to discredit Jesus and His followers, were watching intently to see if Jesus would break their rules pertaining to the Sabbath. In Matthew’s account, we find them even asking Jesus the following open ended question:
"Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"
Why did they ask?
Because under their regulations, the Pharisees forbade anyone healing on the Sabbath unless a person was dying and the condition of the man with the deformed hand was not life threatening.
So how did Jesus respond?
Well, as we see Him do so often, He gives them their answer through an illustration. Go back to Matthew’s account where we find Him replying:
Well, as we see Him do so often, He gives them their answer through an illustration. Go back to Matthew’s account where we find Him replying:
“If any of you has
a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it
and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is
lawful to do good on the Sabbath."
Here we find Jesus posing a question to the Pharisees that He already knew the answer to. For He knew that if a certain circumstance presented itself, like a sheep falling in a pit, the Pharisees would break their own rule to save the sheep. Using this truth to make His point, Jesus posed to the Pharisees that saving a man would be even more important than a sheep because there could be no debating that a man was more valuable. This is what Jesus was getting at. And further, if the Sabbath was indeed a holy day, then why wouldn’t someone always want to do something good on it? It only made sense.
And so with that, Jesus asked for the man to stretch out his shriveled hand and when he did, we read that “it was completely restored”, looking just like His other. It was nothing short of another amazing miracle performed by way of His almighty power.
Now you would think that even the legalistic Pharisees could place their law enforcing aside to rejoice in the man’s healing but, as we see in these passages, that was not the case. Instead, the scriptures tell us that they went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus, partnering with the Herodians (Luke’s account). They obviously didn’t know that Jesus knew their ill intentions before they even acted because fully aware of their scheming, He withdrew from that place. His time had not yet come.
So what are we to do with this passage today? What is this Word of God teaching us?
I believe it is telling us that no matter how much man might try and establish rules and regulations, those rules and regulations aren’t binding unless validated by the Lord, the Lord of true rules, the sole Authority and Author of righteous living, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He and He alone is the Lord of the Sabbath, and the Lord over every other day for that matter. He is the Lord of time.
He is the Lord over all provision, the Lord who lavishes us with a harvest of blessings.
He is the Lord over all worship, the only Lord deserving of our honor, glory, and praise.
He is the Lord over all authorities, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
He is the Lord over all miracles and healing, the Lord of restoration and restoral and salvation.
Here we find Jesus posing a question to the Pharisees that He already knew the answer to. For He knew that if a certain circumstance presented itself, like a sheep falling in a pit, the Pharisees would break their own rule to save the sheep. Using this truth to make His point, Jesus posed to the Pharisees that saving a man would be even more important than a sheep because there could be no debating that a man was more valuable. This is what Jesus was getting at. And further, if the Sabbath was indeed a holy day, then why wouldn’t someone always want to do something good on it? It only made sense.
And so with that, Jesus asked for the man to stretch out his shriveled hand and when he did, we read that “it was completely restored”, looking just like His other. It was nothing short of another amazing miracle performed by way of His almighty power.
Now you would think that even the legalistic Pharisees could place their law enforcing aside to rejoice in the man’s healing but, as we see in these passages, that was not the case. Instead, the scriptures tell us that they went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus, partnering with the Herodians (Luke’s account). They obviously didn’t know that Jesus knew their ill intentions before they even acted because fully aware of their scheming, He withdrew from that place. His time had not yet come.
So what are we to do with this passage today? What is this Word of God teaching us?
I believe it is telling us that no matter how much man might try and establish rules and regulations, those rules and regulations aren’t binding unless validated by the Lord, the Lord of true rules, the sole Authority and Author of righteous living, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He and He alone is the Lord of the Sabbath, and the Lord over every other day for that matter. He is the Lord of time.
He is the Lord over all provision, the Lord who lavishes us with a harvest of blessings.
He is the Lord over all worship, the only Lord deserving of our honor, glory, and praise.
He is the Lord over all authorities, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
He is the Lord over all miracles and healing, the Lord of restoration and restoral and salvation.
He is the Lord over all spiritual teaching done in His name, the Lord of the way and the truth and the life.
And He, Jesus Christ, is the Lord over all creation, the Lord of the earth, the Lord of the living and the dead.
Yes friends, Jesus is the Lord of all things.
Do you acknowledge Him as such?
Is He Lord of your life and everything in it?
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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