Mark 2:23-3:6
Today we are going to be in Mark 2:23-3:6. The end of chapter 2 and the beginning of chapter 3 fit together very well. Very similar in theme.
And remember that the chapters and verses that we find in our bibles today were not in the original writings of the bible. They were added in much later, around 1227 AD initially, in order for quicker and easier reference.
But rather than doing a 2-part sermon on these verses, I’ve chosen to do them all today for continuity.
And I just want to walk through these verses and explain them and then look at some application and points throughout and at the end of the message. I don’t have an outline today. I will on most Sundays, but not today.
Verse 23: Now, this seems like an extremely mundane verse, doesn’t it? The disciples were picking and eating grain as they were walking along through a grain field. But the Pharisees saw this. And the Pharisees didn’t like Jesus at all. They were jealous of His ministry success. As large numbers of people were beginning to follow Him around that made the religious leaders jealous.
So, they were looking for things to try to discredit Him. And this was an opportunity to do so, they thought. The disciples of Jesus were picking grain on the Sabbath to eat as they walked along.
Verse 24: To you and I what they were doing wouldn’t bother us at all. Now, someone might ask the question, were they stealing from another person’s grain field as they walked along. Well, in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 23 and verse 25 it states this: “When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor’s standing grain.
In other words, what they were doing was completely in bounds with OT law. So, what was the big deal? Why were the Pharisees so upset with this? Well, to the Pharisees what Jesus and His disciples were doing was transgressing the law of God because they were doing this on the Sabbath. The Sabbath day each week was set aside as a day of no work. It was mandated by God to be a day of rest for His people.
But all throughout the gospels we find the religious leaders angry at Jesus related to the Sabbath. Jesus or His disciples would do something on the Sabbath that the leaders didn’t like and they would confront Him about it. And what they saw here in their interpretation was Jesus and His disciples working on the Sabbath. And they wanted so desperately to make Jesus into a breaker of the Law of God that they would look for any opening.
Now, working on the Sabbath was, indeed, prohibited in the OT Law. Exodus 20:8-11 and other places tell us that. However, as we normally see with the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, they had added more of their own laws to the law of God. I’ve told you this many times in the past, but they would “build fences” around the law of God in an effort to not break the law. And while those fences might have been built for the right reasons at one point, by this time they had become a huge problem.
Because by this time the religious leaders considered the fences they built, their own rules, to be the same as the law of God. And breaking one of their laws was to break the Law of God, they thought.
For example, at this time, the scribes had come up with 39 kinds of work that THEY prohibited on the Sabbath. These things were simply from the minds of the scribes. This was not God’s law; this was their law that they felt to be equal to God’s law.
And out of those 39 forms of prohibited work, one that was prohibited by the scribes was about reaping on the Sabbath. The OT law prohibited a person from harvesting a field on the Sabbath. But the religious leaders had taken that to the extreme. And here, the Pharisees interpreted the disciples simply picking a few heads of grain as they walked through a field to be reaping that field! It was non-sensical. It was silly!
What the disciples were doing was completely fine. It was completely within the allowances of the OT scriptures. But this gives us some insight into the Jewish religious world at that time. This was an example one of the many extreme burdens that the religious elite had placed on people in their day.
And here they were looking for their “gotcha” moment with Jesus and His disciples, trying to prove that Jesus was breaking the Law of God.
Verses 25-26: In these two verses Jesus was referencing an event from the book of I Samuel 21:1-6. There were 12 loaves of consecrated bread that were placed on the table in the tabernacle each Sabbath. And these loaves represented both the 12 tribes of Israel and the provision and presence of God among His people.
And these loaves were eaten only by the priests at the end of each week. But there in I Samuel we find the account of David and his men fleeing from King Saul. Saul wanted to kill David. And as they were fleeing, they came to a place called Nob, where the tabernacle was at that time. And when they arrived, they were desperately hungry since they had been on the run from Saul. And ultimately the priest gave them consecrated bread that only the priests were supposed to eat.
Now, notice here in Mark, Jesus started a bit sarcastically maybe. In verse 25 He said to the Pharisees, the experts of the OT, “Have you never read what David did….”
In other words, you are experts of the OT. How do you deal with that passage where the great King David ate consecrated bread?
Now, the point Jesus was making was not that the law doesn’t matter. Again, Jesus didn’t break the law here. He broke the scribes’ legalistic rules, which they had come up with, which didn’t matter. In fact, Jesus breaking their man-made laws was actually the point. His point was simply that legalism is not from God! God cares about people, not man-made laws of religion.
Verse 27: What did Jesus mean by that? He meant that the Sabbath was given by God to bless people with a day of rest each week. And yet the Pharisees had turned the blessing of God into a burden by adding their own rules to it. The OT Sabbath was never intended to weigh down people; it was intended to do just the opposite. It was intended to provide people with space each week to slow down and rest.
Verse 28: Now, we might not hear it this way, but Jesus’ claim here would have caused the Pharisees’ blood to boil. Because they thought that they were the keepers of the Sabbath. And they thought that their made up rules were part of the Sabbath laws of God.
And yet Jesus said that He was greater than the Sabbath. He is in charge of what the Sabbath is and what it is not, no matter what all the Pharisees had tried to add to it. Jesus made the Sabbath; therefore, He is the Lord of the Sabbath.
Now, there is a lot of irony throughout the gospels as we often find the religious leaders trying to school Jesus about the very things that He came up with!
There is a well-documented story about Pablo Picasso, the famous artist. One day he was standing near one of his paintings and another person walked up. And this was a person that he didn’t know and who didn’t know him. And when they began to speak, the stranger began to explain the painting to Picasso. He began to tell him what the painter was trying to convey in his painting. He explained in great detail thinking that the man he was talking to didn’t understand the painting. And all the while he was talking to the very person who imagined the painting and who put ink to the canvas.
Here is the irony in Mark 2 and all throughout the gospels. The Pharisees were trying to explain the Law of God to God. They were trying to condemn the One who created the Sabbath because He was breaking, not the law He created, but the laws that they created, which were not in line with the law that He did create.
You see, Jesus was not merely claiming to have a better understanding of the Sabbath than the Pharisees. He was claiming absolute authority over the Sabbath because He is the One who instituted it. Just like we saw in chapter 1 where Jesus has absolute authority over sickness, over demons, and absolute authority in the words He spoke. He truly is Lord over all.
Now, right after sharing these truths, we move into chapter 3, where we find a very personal and a very connected example of Jesus being the Lord of the Sabbath. And in this account, we see that people matter more than man-made legalistic traditions. And even greater, we see that people matter because they matter to Jesus. And if we want to look like Christ, people will matter to us too.
Chapter 3:
Verse 1: This is still on the Sabbath, verse 2 tells us. And when He entered the synagogue, He found a disabled man, a man whose hand was withered. Now, like much of Mark, there is no explanation given as to how this happened. We don’t know if the man was born with a withered hand, was in an accident, or had an illness that caused it. The point isn’t to focus on the condition.
Because no matter how this happened, this was a man who needed help. There was a visible representation of a man in need. And Jesus had compassion on this man. But Jesus didn’t just have compassion, Jesus also had the means, the ability, and the willingness to do something about this man’s condition.
But, as we often see in the gospels, standing in contrast to the compassion of Jesus, we find the calloused nature of the Pharisees. Jesus was compassionate while the Pharisees cared nothing about the man’s condition or need.
Verse 2: Once again, in their jealousy, they were concerned only with looking for a way to accuse and condemn Jesus. The synagogue was supposed to be a place of worship. But they were there that day, not to worship God, not to provide comfort to the hurting people, but to look for something to hold over Jesus.
Sinful jealousy, pride, and hatred are nasty, vile things, aren’t they? They lead a person to a dark and horrible place. And we find that with the Pharisees.
Verse 3: He called the man forward. This was going to be a public miracle, done for everyone there to see. I wonder what was going through the man’s mind as he came forward?
Verse 4: “Is it lawful to do good or harm on the Sabbath?” This was a question directed squarely at the Pharisees. Do your traditions, do your rules matter more than what is good and right? Jesus then asked the question, if someone has the ability to save a life on the Sabbath is that ok to do? Obviously, the answer is yes. And yet, the religious leaders didn’t see it that way. Because here is the twisted part in this…..They had elevated their own rules to the point that nothing, not even saving a life was ok if it was deemed by them to be “work” on the Sabbath.
Listen, just like pride and jealousy and hatred, legalism can also lead to extremely dark, twisted places.
And so, the religious leaders wouldn’t answer. They couldn’t. To answer correctly would have been to admit that there were flaws in their system. And in their pride, they simply could not and would not do that. It says they “kept silent.” They were cowards because of their pride. But the other side is the bold courage of Jesus.
Verse 5: Jesus wasn’t going to be swayed or influenced or intimidated by the legalists. He wasn’t going to allow their religious structure to keep Him from mercy and from ministering to the needs of those who were hurting. Jesus simply didn’t care about the man-made laws that the Pharisees had added on and were burdening the people with.
In fact, those things angered Him, it says here. Their sin angered Him. He looked around at the people who should have been the merciful shepherds of Israel and instead saw men who didn’t love God and who didn’t love people. They loved themselves and their own rules. And it angered and grieved Jesus. And what grieved Him was the hardness of their hearts, it says.
Like pride, like jealousy, like legalism, hardness of heart is a scary thing as well. What this means is that their hearts had become so hardened that they couldn’t understand what was true, even though it was obvious. Is it lawful to save a human life on the Sabbath! Clearly….except that it wasn’t clear to the Pharisees. They couldn’t see it because their hearts had become so hardened over time in their arrogance.
May this be a warning to us! Prolonged and unchecked sin can absolutely cause this. Whether it is pride or jealousy or unforgiveness or bitterness or something else. A continual refusal to repent of things like that will eventually lead to a calloused heart, to an unfeeling heart, to a hard heart.
Truth no longer mattered to the Pharisees nor were they even able to understand certain parts of truth.
Here was a man in need standing before them. A real person with a real, visible need. But they didn’t see a person; they saw a pawn to be used in their religious system.
And that hardness of heart caused righteous anger and indignation in Jesus because it was harming people and dishonoring God. And Jesus knew that the leaders were watching Him to see what He would do with this man on that Sabbath day.
But I love the resolve and courage of Jesus. Jesus wasn’t swayed by their rules, their opinions, or their threats. And so, Jesus did what He often did. He restored the man to perfect health.
And once again, this should have been a cause for celebration! An afflicted man who was made whole by the power of God! But the leaders considered this to be sin. The audacity of Jesus to break one of their rules in order to change this man’s life.
Look at their response.
Verse 6: This is interesting. The Herodians were not a religious group. They were, in fact, the opposite of that in many ways. They were a political group aligned with Herod Antipas, who was a ruler in Galilee and Perea. And even though the Herodians were aligned with Rome, the Pharisees made an alliance with them here. Religion and politics came together in an unholy alliance.
The Herodians stood for everything the Pharisees hated and stood against, yet here they were united in their hatred for Jesus and in their desire to kill Jesus. Both groups wanted to hold onto their power and status and they feared that Jesus was in the way of that.
So, they began plotting how they could “destroy” Jesus, it says.
Talk about irony again. The Pharisees condemn, Jesus, the Giver of life while at the same time plotting to take His life. They were accusing Jesus of breaking God’s law, while they themselves were plotting murder which would actually break God’s law.
Now, let me share something in closing for the next few minutes.
I think we all can struggle with legalism from time to time. Some more than others perhaps. One of the dangers of legalism is that see our rules or preferences or opinions as being all important. And we begin treating our preferences and opinions as though they are the commands of God.
The truth is that we all battle our inner Pharisee. We may not create Sabbath regulations like the Pharisees did here, but we can do the same thing in other ways.
Here are some examples. If you don’t align with me in this area, then you are outside of God’s will. If you don’t align with me in this area then we can’t be Christian friends. If you don’t align with me in this area then you are lesser than and I’m going to look down on you. If you don’t align with me in this area then you are probably not truly a Christian. What are some areas that we might find this in today?
·Bible translations (probably not a Christian if you read that version of the bible)
·Style of worship (Churches have divided over this)
·Dress standards (Lost people have been turned away from churches over this at times)
·Homeschooling vs. public schooling (My family won’t associate with those people if they don’t align with my belief on this)
·Political preferences (If you are of this or that party you can’t be a Christian)
·Church traditions (We’ve always done it this way and if we change it there will be consequences)
It can be so easy to get wrapped up in our preferences or opinions that we can elevate those things to the point where we place them alongside the doctrines of God. And we can legalistically pressure or burden others with those things at times too.
I think in some ways this temptation is even more amplified today. I think we live in a very polarized culture today. Social media, instant access to information. People having multiple platforms to express their preferences and opinions to the world.
And if we are not careful that can cause a lot of division if we elevate our preferences to an unhealthy place. Some people go through friends faster than they change clothes. If a person or family doesn’t align with them on one of their strongly held opinions then they are done with that person of family. And that’s unloving. And that leads to isolation and loneliness.
The Pharisees took a gift from God and turned it into a burden. And we have to be careful to not place expectations on people that God Himself has not placed on them. We should be careful not to disciple people toward our preferences and opinions instead of making disciples of Jesus.
The Pharisees loved their system more than people. Jesus loved people enough to die for them.
The Pharisees placed burdens on people. Jesus came to bear burdens for people.
The Pharisees used people as a means to an end, to protect their power. Jesus set aside His privileges to come to the earth to save people.
And that is why our hope is not found in man-made religion. Our hope is found in Christ.
You see, ultimately the Sabbath was always pointing beyond a day to a Person. The One who says, 'I am Lord of the Sabbath,' is also the One who gives the rest that the Sabbath pointed toward.
Just like a lot of the OT, the Sabbath pointed to something greater. True rest, true Sabbath, is not ultimately found in a calendar but in Christ Himself. Hebrews 4 tells us that there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, and that rest is entered into through faith in Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath.
The Lord of the Sabbath went to the cross for sinners and rose again in victory. And today He still calls people to come to Him and find rest for their souls.
1.Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. He is Lord over all, in fact. Is He the Lord of your life?
2.How is your soul? Is it softer today toward God than a year ago? Is it hard toward God?
3.Are you battling any legalism today? Are there any areas of your life that you are living under the burden of legalism? Are there any areas that you are placing that burden on others?
Today we are going to be in Mark 2:23-3:6. The end of chapter 2 and the beginning of chapter 3 fit together very well. Very similar in theme.
And remember that the chapters and verses that we find in our bibles today were not in the original writings of the bible. They were added in much later, around 1227 AD initially, in order for quicker and easier reference.
But rather than doing a 2-part sermon on these verses, I’ve chosen to do them all today for continuity.
And I just want to walk through these verses and explain them and then look at some application and points throughout and at the end of the message. I don’t have an outline today. I will on most Sundays, but not today.
Verse 23: Now, this seems like an extremely mundane verse, doesn’t it? The disciples were picking and eating grain as they were walking along through a grain field. But the Pharisees saw this. And the Pharisees didn’t like Jesus at all. They were jealous of His ministry success. As large numbers of people were beginning to follow Him around that made the religious leaders jealous.
So, they were looking for things to try to discredit Him. And this was an opportunity to do so, they thought. The disciples of Jesus were picking grain on the Sabbath to eat as they walked along.
Verse 24: To you and I what they were doing wouldn’t bother us at all. Now, someone might ask the question, were they stealing from another person’s grain field as they walked along. Well, in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 23 and verse 25 it states this: “When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, then you may pluck the heads with your hand, but you shall not wield a sickle in your neighbor’s standing grain.
In other words, what they were doing was completely in bounds with OT law. So, what was the big deal? Why were the Pharisees so upset with this? Well, to the Pharisees what Jesus and His disciples were doing was transgressing the law of God because they were doing this on the Sabbath. The Sabbath day each week was set aside as a day of no work. It was mandated by God to be a day of rest for His people.
But all throughout the gospels we find the religious leaders angry at Jesus related to the Sabbath. Jesus or His disciples would do something on the Sabbath that the leaders didn’t like and they would confront Him about it. And what they saw here in their interpretation was Jesus and His disciples working on the Sabbath. And they wanted so desperately to make Jesus into a breaker of the Law of God that they would look for any opening.
Now, working on the Sabbath was, indeed, prohibited in the OT Law. Exodus 20:8-11 and other places tell us that. However, as we normally see with the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, they had added more of their own laws to the law of God. I’ve told you this many times in the past, but they would “build fences” around the law of God in an effort to not break the law. And while those fences might have been built for the right reasons at one point, by this time they had become a huge problem.
Because by this time the religious leaders considered the fences they built, their own rules, to be the same as the law of God. And breaking one of their laws was to break the Law of God, they thought.
For example, at this time, the scribes had come up with 39 kinds of work that THEY prohibited on the Sabbath. These things were simply from the minds of the scribes. This was not God’s law; this was their law that they felt to be equal to God’s law.
And out of those 39 forms of prohibited work, one that was prohibited by the scribes was about reaping on the Sabbath. The OT law prohibited a person from harvesting a field on the Sabbath. But the religious leaders had taken that to the extreme. And here, the Pharisees interpreted the disciples simply picking a few heads of grain as they walked through a field to be reaping that field! It was non-sensical. It was silly!
What the disciples were doing was completely fine. It was completely within the allowances of the OT scriptures. But this gives us some insight into the Jewish religious world at that time. This was an example one of the many extreme burdens that the religious elite had placed on people in their day.
And here they were looking for their “gotcha” moment with Jesus and His disciples, trying to prove that Jesus was breaking the Law of God.
Verses 25-26: In these two verses Jesus was referencing an event from the book of I Samuel 21:1-6. There were 12 loaves of consecrated bread that were placed on the table in the tabernacle each Sabbath. And these loaves represented both the 12 tribes of Israel and the provision and presence of God among His people.
And these loaves were eaten only by the priests at the end of each week. But there in I Samuel we find the account of David and his men fleeing from King Saul. Saul wanted to kill David. And as they were fleeing, they came to a place called Nob, where the tabernacle was at that time. And when they arrived, they were desperately hungry since they had been on the run from Saul. And ultimately the priest gave them consecrated bread that only the priests were supposed to eat.
Now, notice here in Mark, Jesus started a bit sarcastically maybe. In verse 25 He said to the Pharisees, the experts of the OT, “Have you never read what David did….”
In other words, you are experts of the OT. How do you deal with that passage where the great King David ate consecrated bread?
Now, the point Jesus was making was not that the law doesn’t matter. Again, Jesus didn’t break the law here. He broke the scribes’ legalistic rules, which they had come up with, which didn’t matter. In fact, Jesus breaking their man-made laws was actually the point. His point was simply that legalism is not from God! God cares about people, not man-made laws of religion.
Verse 27: What did Jesus mean by that? He meant that the Sabbath was given by God to bless people with a day of rest each week. And yet the Pharisees had turned the blessing of God into a burden by adding their own rules to it. The OT Sabbath was never intended to weigh down people; it was intended to do just the opposite. It was intended to provide people with space each week to slow down and rest.
Verse 28: Now, we might not hear it this way, but Jesus’ claim here would have caused the Pharisees’ blood to boil. Because they thought that they were the keepers of the Sabbath. And they thought that their made up rules were part of the Sabbath laws of God.
And yet Jesus said that He was greater than the Sabbath. He is in charge of what the Sabbath is and what it is not, no matter what all the Pharisees had tried to add to it. Jesus made the Sabbath; therefore, He is the Lord of the Sabbath.
Now, there is a lot of irony throughout the gospels as we often find the religious leaders trying to school Jesus about the very things that He came up with!
There is a well-documented story about Pablo Picasso, the famous artist. One day he was standing near one of his paintings and another person walked up. And this was a person that he didn’t know and who didn’t know him. And when they began to speak, the stranger began to explain the painting to Picasso. He began to tell him what the painter was trying to convey in his painting. He explained in great detail thinking that the man he was talking to didn’t understand the painting. And all the while he was talking to the very person who imagined the painting and who put ink to the canvas.
Here is the irony in Mark 2 and all throughout the gospels. The Pharisees were trying to explain the Law of God to God. They were trying to condemn the One who created the Sabbath because He was breaking, not the law He created, but the laws that they created, which were not in line with the law that He did create.
You see, Jesus was not merely claiming to have a better understanding of the Sabbath than the Pharisees. He was claiming absolute authority over the Sabbath because He is the One who instituted it. Just like we saw in chapter 1 where Jesus has absolute authority over sickness, over demons, and absolute authority in the words He spoke. He truly is Lord over all.
Now, right after sharing these truths, we move into chapter 3, where we find a very personal and a very connected example of Jesus being the Lord of the Sabbath. And in this account, we see that people matter more than man-made legalistic traditions. And even greater, we see that people matter because they matter to Jesus. And if we want to look like Christ, people will matter to us too.
Chapter 3:
Verse 1: This is still on the Sabbath, verse 2 tells us. And when He entered the synagogue, He found a disabled man, a man whose hand was withered. Now, like much of Mark, there is no explanation given as to how this happened. We don’t know if the man was born with a withered hand, was in an accident, or had an illness that caused it. The point isn’t to focus on the condition.
Because no matter how this happened, this was a man who needed help. There was a visible representation of a man in need. And Jesus had compassion on this man. But Jesus didn’t just have compassion, Jesus also had the means, the ability, and the willingness to do something about this man’s condition.
But, as we often see in the gospels, standing in contrast to the compassion of Jesus, we find the calloused nature of the Pharisees. Jesus was compassionate while the Pharisees cared nothing about the man’s condition or need.
Verse 2: Once again, in their jealousy, they were concerned only with looking for a way to accuse and condemn Jesus. The synagogue was supposed to be a place of worship. But they were there that day, not to worship God, not to provide comfort to the hurting people, but to look for something to hold over Jesus.
Sinful jealousy, pride, and hatred are nasty, vile things, aren’t they? They lead a person to a dark and horrible place. And we find that with the Pharisees.
Verse 3: He called the man forward. This was going to be a public miracle, done for everyone there to see. I wonder what was going through the man’s mind as he came forward?
Verse 4: “Is it lawful to do good or harm on the Sabbath?” This was a question directed squarely at the Pharisees. Do your traditions, do your rules matter more than what is good and right? Jesus then asked the question, if someone has the ability to save a life on the Sabbath is that ok to do? Obviously, the answer is yes. And yet, the religious leaders didn’t see it that way. Because here is the twisted part in this…..They had elevated their own rules to the point that nothing, not even saving a life was ok if it was deemed by them to be “work” on the Sabbath.
Listen, just like pride and jealousy and hatred, legalism can also lead to extremely dark, twisted places.
And so, the religious leaders wouldn’t answer. They couldn’t. To answer correctly would have been to admit that there were flaws in their system. And in their pride, they simply could not and would not do that. It says they “kept silent.” They were cowards because of their pride. But the other side is the bold courage of Jesus.
Verse 5: Jesus wasn’t going to be swayed or influenced or intimidated by the legalists. He wasn’t going to allow their religious structure to keep Him from mercy and from ministering to the needs of those who were hurting. Jesus simply didn’t care about the man-made laws that the Pharisees had added on and were burdening the people with.
In fact, those things angered Him, it says here. Their sin angered Him. He looked around at the people who should have been the merciful shepherds of Israel and instead saw men who didn’t love God and who didn’t love people. They loved themselves and their own rules. And it angered and grieved Jesus. And what grieved Him was the hardness of their hearts, it says.
Like pride, like jealousy, like legalism, hardness of heart is a scary thing as well. What this means is that their hearts had become so hardened that they couldn’t understand what was true, even though it was obvious. Is it lawful to save a human life on the Sabbath! Clearly….except that it wasn’t clear to the Pharisees. They couldn’t see it because their hearts had become so hardened over time in their arrogance.
May this be a warning to us! Prolonged and unchecked sin can absolutely cause this. Whether it is pride or jealousy or unforgiveness or bitterness or something else. A continual refusal to repent of things like that will eventually lead to a calloused heart, to an unfeeling heart, to a hard heart.
Truth no longer mattered to the Pharisees nor were they even able to understand certain parts of truth.
Here was a man in need standing before them. A real person with a real, visible need. But they didn’t see a person; they saw a pawn to be used in their religious system.
And that hardness of heart caused righteous anger and indignation in Jesus because it was harming people and dishonoring God. And Jesus knew that the leaders were watching Him to see what He would do with this man on that Sabbath day.
But I love the resolve and courage of Jesus. Jesus wasn’t swayed by their rules, their opinions, or their threats. And so, Jesus did what He often did. He restored the man to perfect health.
And once again, this should have been a cause for celebration! An afflicted man who was made whole by the power of God! But the leaders considered this to be sin. The audacity of Jesus to break one of their rules in order to change this man’s life.
Look at their response.
Verse 6: This is interesting. The Herodians were not a religious group. They were, in fact, the opposite of that in many ways. They were a political group aligned with Herod Antipas, who was a ruler in Galilee and Perea. And even though the Herodians were aligned with Rome, the Pharisees made an alliance with them here. Religion and politics came together in an unholy alliance.
The Herodians stood for everything the Pharisees hated and stood against, yet here they were united in their hatred for Jesus and in their desire to kill Jesus. Both groups wanted to hold onto their power and status and they feared that Jesus was in the way of that.
So, they began plotting how they could “destroy” Jesus, it says.
Talk about irony again. The Pharisees condemn, Jesus, the Giver of life while at the same time plotting to take His life. They were accusing Jesus of breaking God’s law, while they themselves were plotting murder which would actually break God’s law.
Now, let me share something in closing for the next few minutes.
I think we all can struggle with legalism from time to time. Some more than others perhaps. One of the dangers of legalism is that see our rules or preferences or opinions as being all important. And we begin treating our preferences and opinions as though they are the commands of God.
The truth is that we all battle our inner Pharisee. We may not create Sabbath regulations like the Pharisees did here, but we can do the same thing in other ways.
Here are some examples. If you don’t align with me in this area, then you are outside of God’s will. If you don’t align with me in this area then we can’t be Christian friends. If you don’t align with me in this area then you are lesser than and I’m going to look down on you. If you don’t align with me in this area then you are probably not truly a Christian. What are some areas that we might find this in today?
·Bible translations (probably not a Christian if you read that version of the bible)
·Style of worship (Churches have divided over this)
·Dress standards (Lost people have been turned away from churches over this at times)
·Homeschooling vs. public schooling (My family won’t associate with those people if they don’t align with my belief on this)
·Political preferences (If you are of this or that party you can’t be a Christian)
·Church traditions (We’ve always done it this way and if we change it there will be consequences)
It can be so easy to get wrapped up in our preferences or opinions that we can elevate those things to the point where we place them alongside the doctrines of God. And we can legalistically pressure or burden others with those things at times too.
I think in some ways this temptation is even more amplified today. I think we live in a very polarized culture today. Social media, instant access to information. People having multiple platforms to express their preferences and opinions to the world.
And if we are not careful that can cause a lot of division if we elevate our preferences to an unhealthy place. Some people go through friends faster than they change clothes. If a person or family doesn’t align with them on one of their strongly held opinions then they are done with that person of family. And that’s unloving. And that leads to isolation and loneliness.
The Pharisees took a gift from God and turned it into a burden. And we have to be careful to not place expectations on people that God Himself has not placed on them. We should be careful not to disciple people toward our preferences and opinions instead of making disciples of Jesus.
The Pharisees loved their system more than people. Jesus loved people enough to die for them.
The Pharisees placed burdens on people. Jesus came to bear burdens for people.
The Pharisees used people as a means to an end, to protect their power. Jesus set aside His privileges to come to the earth to save people.
And that is why our hope is not found in man-made religion. Our hope is found in Christ.
You see, ultimately the Sabbath was always pointing beyond a day to a Person. The One who says, 'I am Lord of the Sabbath,' is also the One who gives the rest that the Sabbath pointed toward.
Just like a lot of the OT, the Sabbath pointed to something greater. True rest, true Sabbath, is not ultimately found in a calendar but in Christ Himself. Hebrews 4 tells us that there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, and that rest is entered into through faith in Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath.
The Lord of the Sabbath went to the cross for sinners and rose again in victory. And today He still calls people to come to Him and find rest for their souls.
1.Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. He is Lord over all, in fact. Is He the Lord of your life?
2.How is your soul? Is it softer today toward God than a year ago? Is it hard toward God?
3.Are you battling any legalism today? Are there any areas of your life that you are living under the burden of legalism? Are there any areas that you are placing that burden on others?
