HG050-53 Mark 2:23-3:19, Matthew 12:1-21, Luke 6:1-16

1 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. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.” 3 He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 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. 5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? 6 I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” 9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10 and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” 11 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? 12 How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 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. 14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. 15 Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. A large crowd followed him, and he healed all who were ill. 16 He warned them not to tell others about him. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: 18 “Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. 19 He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. 20 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory. 21 In his name the nations will put their hope.”

This week we see how the very uppity the Pharisees were in the way they treat Jesus in relation to the Sabbath.

Jesus and His disciples go through some grain-fields and just like at a pick your own fruit farm they began to pluck and eat. Why? Because they had nothing better to do? No, they were hungry. Mind you, I am always hungry when I go to fruit farms but funnily enough, not when I leave. Anyhow, it was quite mindless action, pluck a head here and there and eat. I’m not really into eating grains but it is apparently healthy to do so. They were having the healthy option. Why were they hungry? All the travelling they were doing in following Jesus. And just as the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head there was no time to eat and maybe not even the funds for food.

I am glad that last week(25/10/17) the Nephew of Benny Hinn, Costi Hinn, said that the Gospel of Benny Hinn is a false one based on false promises of health and wealth in the here and now. Benny believes in the teaching that “believers have a right to the blessings of health and wealth and that they can obtain these blessings through positive confessions of faith and the 'sowing of seeds' through the faithful payments of tithes and offerings.” It is , 'if you do this, and do this, and do this, you'll get this.' And God is like your magic genie," Costi said. "If you rub Him right and do all the right things, your bank's going to grow, you're going to get that promotion, you're going to get that woman that you want to marry, that perfect man, your life is going to be perfect, because that's what God wants for you." That is not Christianity, he said.

You see, being poor or remaining poor as a Christian is not a sign of lack of blessing from God as demonstrated by Jesus and His disciples. And demonstrated by the vast majority of the world’s Christians. Only in the West can we think that they are not blessed if they do not have this or that.

So, surely there was nothing wrong with the disciples getting some food in their bellies. But there were some naysayers present. “What you are doing is not lawful on the Sabbath?” There really can be some nitpickers. Well, let us not get too far ahead of ourselves. Was it lawful for them to do this on the Sabbath? Well, we saw last week that the law was that you were not to do any work. The Pharisees thought that rubbing a grain head together was work. They considered this as reaping which was against their 39 activities prohibited on the Sabbath. This is quite an extreme and meticulous view of work. Even today these same 39 things are very restrictive on Jewish families such as not putting on the oven which is lighting a fire or cooking, two of the 39 things not allowed as well as not turning on any electrical appliance or driving.

What was Jesus’ response to the Pharisees? He gave an example of one who did break the Sabbath in the Old Testament; their favourite King, David. Actually he is my favourite too being a man whose heart was after God - mind you I like Jehoshaphat too. What was it that David did? Well, when he was travelling with his men in their escape from Saul they stopped to see the High Priest for bread but the only bread available was the show bread which was not allowed to be eaten but because the men were hungry the law was put aside to take care of the men. Then Jesus said, actually, the priests themselves have to work on the Sabbath Day and therefore they break the Sabbath every week. Jesus is saying; what’s the issue here?

Someone greater than the Temple is right here. What on earth is Jesus alluding too? Well, what was the Temple? It was the place that God lived, a place where people went to meet with God. Though Solomon said that God is too great, too large, to be contained within a Temple, well, actually larger than the heavens and earth as well but it was the place God chose to set His name. So, the Temple represented God’s presence. Then what is Jesus saying? He is saying that God’s presence was right before them, He was saying that He is God and He is present with the people right at that very moment - no need to go to the Temple when Jesus is here. This is the desire of the Godhead: Father, Son and Holy Spirit want to be with us. From the beginning to the end of Scripture this has been the case.

Jesus is God, is Divine, is the Deity in the flesh among them and therefore He has the right to allow or disallow anything on the Sabbath. The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath - and He is allowing His people to eat crushed grain that they picked on the Sabbath. God wants mercy to be shown over and above the sacrifice of obedience to the Sabbath Day - mercy triumphs over law. Jesus is saying I gave the Sabbath to you in the first place so I know what you can or cannot do on the Sabbath.

What was the Sabbath for in the first place? It was a day set up in the law for the Jews to set aside time to stop working and rest. No religious significance at all. No call to worship. No sacrifice. It was a day to give people and animals a break. The Sabbath was made for man not the other way round. The Sabbath is the only commandment not given to Christians and has never been observed except by sects such as Seventh Day Adventists. Our Sunday is not the Sabbath but we celebrate this day because the resurrection was on a Sunday; they called it the Lord’s Day. Was this the day God’s people met? Yes. Well, actually, the early church met every day not just Sunday for they were devoted to fellowship - you can see that as we go through the Book of Acts.

Later on Jesus and the disciples went to Pharisees’ Synagogue and they asked Jesus a loaded question: “is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” These people could not see the wood for the trees. First of all, who had ever seen anyone heal someone before? They did not consider miracles at all. They accepted them but did not think what they might signify.

If I was to ask you if you believe in miracles I’d hope you’d say yes. If I was to ask if you believe a miracle can happen today, right now, I sense that there would be some doubts. But, for Christians, it is necessary to believe that Jesus rose from the dead which is about as great a miracle as you can have.

What is shocking to me is that the Pharisees believe in miracles yet it has absolutely no affect upon their hearts except to make them angry. The Pharisees want to accuse Him of breaking the Sabbath and were so obsessed with doing this that the wonder of a miracle was completely lost on them. They were only concerned that He might break their precious rules.

So Jesus answered by asking them what they would do if an animal fell into a pit. Would they leave it or pull it out and therefore, in their own understanding, be working. Well, they would not answer this for they knew very well what they would do. According to the Jewish Halacha they were allowed to break the Sabbath if someone's life was in danger. But to heal a man, hmm, that would not be permitted. But Jesus asked them whether they were allowed to do good on the Sabbath and save a life? Is not a man worth much more than an animal?

There was a man present who needed healing and so Jesus asked him to stand. He had probably been placed there by the Pharisees to catch Jesus breaking their law but this mattered not to Jesus for He healed him right there in front of them all. He didn’t save this man’s life from death but from living a life impaired. But before He healed Him Jesus looked at them all and He was angry. How could they all be so calloused? How could they be so blind? How could they be so vindictive? It is hard to understand why they behaved in this way. Were they that concerned about their law being broken and so got caught up in the minutiae of their understanding? Well, plainly, they were for the outcome was the concentrated effort to kill Jesus when there was opportunity. Jesus came to give life but the Pharisees, in contrast, wanted to take life. People’s needs trump ritual observations. Love overcomes the law.

The Pharisees wanted to kill Jesus. Jesus does not leave us neutral. I find it hard to comprehend their mentality. Some people are impossible to reason with. They get something in their head and that is it. Murder was in their hearts for it was the devil who incited them.

Jesus left there to get away for the time was not yet for any confrontation; there was still work to be done. Where Jesus went the crowds followed. They were intrigued and curious and, of course, there were many sick hoping to be healed and Jesus saw them and every single one was healed. Unlike the man that Jesus singled out from the crowd that we saw two weeks ago, this time all who were sick Jesus made whole. And even though He did He wanted those who were made well to keep it to themselves. His identity was to be kept quiet so that things will be fulfilled at the right time.

He is compassionate and loving and wanting to help people. He was gentle to those who needed gentleness for a smoking flax He would not put out, but even though this is all true people still have to choose Him, for, if not, judgement is coming. Matthew chose a passage from Isaiah that equates Jesus with the suffering servant, the one who came to die. In the end the Pharisees get their way and kill the Lord of life; the One who had given them life. But it was all prophesied beforehand. Nothing caught God out by surprise.

In Him the Gentiles will trust. Though these Jews, the Pharisees and others rejected Jesus in the end, and though Jesus had come for His people, for let us not forget that Jesus was a Jew, it is because of their rejection that the Gospel, through Peter and Paul, came to us who are Gentiles and we put our trust in Him. A prophecy fulfilled.

But the time was not yet. Still there were to be more chances and if we read the passage in Mark we find that this is when Jesus chooses his 12 disciples that were to be with Him until the day He ascended. Remember that I said that nothing catches God out by surprise including the very one that would betray Jesus, his friend and disciple, Judas. Though God was making chances for repentance the ball was already rolling that led to the cross.

Why was it necessary to appoint these men? So, that the message could be spread more widely through their preaching along with the power to heal and cast out demons. To give the Jewish people every opportunity. This is what we have been appointed to do as well, not with the Jews, unless that is what we are called to, but with the rest of the nations, with Wales, with Swansea, with Manselton, with out next-door neighbour. The Good News is not a message to be kept to ourselves but to be spread and though this message led to opposition against Jesus, even to the point of murder, we will also find opposition against us for this is a war for souls. John 15 tells us that if Jesus was hated so shall we for He has called us each by name. And great is our reward in Heaven.

To conclude and ask some pointed questions: do we nitpick? do we hate because something goes against our rules? or does mercy triumph? are we getting the good news out there?

Benediction

John 15:16, 18-20, 25 18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 25 But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’ 16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

Bibliography

Augsburger, M. S., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1982). Matthew (Vol. 24). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.

Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Elwell, W. A. (1995). Evangelical Commentary on the Bible (Vol. 3). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.

McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: The Gospels (Matthew 1-13) (electronic ed., Vol. 34). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Neusner, J. (1988). The Mishnah : A new translation. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

The New King James Version. (1982). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

(2011). Journal of Dispensational Theology Volume 15.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 17:16 03 November 2017.

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