2023.03.12 HOW DARE HE!!!

HOW DARE HE!!!

Psalm 23 • Mark 3:1-6

Mark 3:1–6 NASB 2020

1 He entered a synagogue again; and a man was there whose hand was withered. 2 And they were watching Him closely to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. 3 He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” 4 And He said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent. 5 After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might put Him to death.

Today’s reading has a little bit of political background in the context, so let me explain a bit about some of the factions being discussed:

Many of us have heard of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, but today, we see the Herodians. These are all Jewish factions, but they each have their own rival ideologies:

The Pharisees held strictly to the Law of Moses. The Pharisees developed an extensive set of oral teachings about the Law that made God’s strict demands even more strict. Their main emphasis was toward purity, and their approach to the law was to draw a wider boundary than God had drawn so there wasn’t a potential of accidentally violating God’s law. That approach weighs heavy in today’s passage. That’s the theological background, but the political background also plays into today’s story.

Politically, the Pharisees firmly hoped for a Messiah who would overthrow Rome and restore a Jewish empire in Israel with a descendent of David as King.

The Sadducees ALSO held strictly to the Law of Moses. However, they rejected most oral teachings and relied strictly on the written word of the Scriptures. Ironically, most of the Sadducees’ writings have been lost to history! While the Sadducees weren’t Roman sympathizers, they were more connected to Roman authority than the Pharisees. They would have preferred a Jewish empire, but were quieter about it, not wanting to arouse Rome’s distrust.

So, it sounds like the Pharisees and Sadducees should be theologically friendly toward each other, right? Well … not so much. They had one major difference, and that one difference kept them from cooperative leadership: Resurrection. The Pharisees believed in resurrection, and the Sadducees did not believe in a resurrected afterlife. So, if you need help remembering the difference … Sadducees didn’t believe in resurrection, so they were “sad, you see”?

The Pharisees and Sadducees were primarily religious leaders. Their emphasis was on the Jewish faith, and they had varying sentiments toward Rome.

The Herodians, however, were a Jewish POLITICAL PARTY. The Herodians, as their name suggests, were cozy with Roman authorities. While they were Jewish, the Herodians’ primary emphasis was on keeping the political authorities happy enough to leave the Jews alone.

We often see the Pharisees and Sadducees agreeing that ‘this Jesus fellow’ was trouble. In today’s passage, we see the Pharisees seeking out the Herodians to conspire against Jesus despite the fact that they were not generally friendly with each other at all.

What do you learn about God?

What do you learn about GOD from this story?

Our hardness of heart grieves God!

This one is pretty plain in the text, so I won’t dwell on it, but notice:

Verse 5 says that their hardness of heart ANGERED Jesus and his response to that anger was grief!

God feels sorrow because of our hard hearts.

God refuses to stay in our box!

We each paint lines around the ways and places God will work. And he defies our lines … consistently!

Recently, a revival (or they called it an outpouring) broke out at Asbury University. They had their regular morning chapel service, and it didn’t end. Students stayed around and continued to worship, and repent, and give testimonies about what God was doing in their lives.

It soon felt like everybody in the world wanted to express their opinion online about this outpouring. Everybody wanted to talk about whether it was genuine or fake. And every one of those opinions I read … EVERY ONE … was based on what was happening and whether or not the person believed that was consistent with the way God operates.

It’s interesting to me that sometimes we say, “God works in mysterious ways” and don’t bother asking for things like revival. Yet, when he decides to pour out his Holy Spirit, we suddenly think we’re capable of evaluating his “mysterious ways”.

While God is infinitely predictable in many ways … at some point we have to acknowledge … our God WILL NOT submit himself to our laws and rules!

A god who follows our rules is a god made in our image, not the other way around. That’s called idolatry. The God of the Bible is the one who makes the rules, and we get to choose whether to submit to them or not, not the other way around.

God consistently refuses to stay in our boxes!

What do you learn about humans?

What do you learn about HUMANS?

The simplest statement at this point about humans is to say that Humans continue to draw boundaries and expect God to work within those boundaries.

Perhaps a secondary observation for this is that humans are shocked and even offended at times when we can’t control or manage God. Humans don’t like it when God is unpredictable to us. We are frustrated that we have to work at understanding him, and are largely unwilling to do that very work.

Yet we’re offended when he refuses to adhere to the false boundaries we’ve erected.

We continue to draw those boundaries and foolishly expect God to stay within them.

Humans are willing to “unite for the common enemy”

During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union partnered as Allied Forces against Nazi Germany. The common threat was big enough, and dangerous enough to both countries, that we partnered together until we won the war … then we spent nearly 50 years in a “Cold War” with each other that’s still impacting the world today.

The Pharisees disagree vehemently with the Sadducees. But the Herodians actually LIKE the Roman Empire ruling Israel! But all three of them united for the common enemy … in the belief that something had to be done with this Jesus guy!

Jesus agreed with the Pharisees about resurrection, but disagreed with all of their manmade boundaries being applied as if God had made them, which is the context of today’s story.

God said not to work on the Sabbath. So the Pharisees created a list of things that were to be considered work! Those traditions are still present in today’s Judaism. For one example:

Today, there is an 18 mile wire running around a large section of Manhattan. It’s strung from building to building, and people are paid to inspect and repair this wire every week before the Sabbath. It’s called an “Eruv roof”. The Pharisees decided that carrying anything from private property into public is work. So today in Manhattan, there is an 18 mile wire that is technically designated a roof, so that orthodox Jews can carry things on Sabbath within those wires. Think that ridiculous?

Eruv Roofs can be found in 23 countries. There are >100 in the US, in 34 states. The New York City metro area alone can boast 40 Eruvin. There are two in Indiana, one in South Bend and one in Indianapolis.

Jesus not only taught that the Pharisees’ interpretations were man’s law … he demonstrated how ludicrous they were. He healed someone on the Sabbath - HOW DARE HE!!! (If only I had some pearls to clutch.)

That felt like the last straw, so the Pharisees approach the Herodians about getting rid of this dude.

Why would they need the Herodians?

Turn to John 18:28 (I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation)

John 18:28–31 NLT

28 Jesus’ trial before Caiaphas ended in the early hours of the morning. Then he was taken to the headquarters of the Roman governor. His accusers didn’t go inside because it would defile them, and they wouldn’t be allowed to celebrate the Passover. 29 So Pilate, the governor, went out to them and asked, “What is your charge against this man?” 30 “We wouldn’t have handed him over to you if he weren’t a criminal!” they retorted. 31 “Then take him away and judge him by your own law,” Pilate told them. “Only the Romans are permitted to execute someone,” the Jewish leaders replied.

So, why did the Pharisees work with the Herodians? Because the Herodians would have known the proper procedure to get Rome to execute Jesus. This would mean they wouldn’t have Jesus’ blood on their own hands by hiring an assassin. And if you think that’s not something they would’ve done, later today look at John 12 and watch them hatch a plot to kill Lazarus.

[switch slide now] Returning to our story in Mark 3, The Pharisees and the Herodians demonstrate that Humans will unite for a common enemy and Jesus became that common enemy

What do you learn about HUMANS?

So...

Where are you in this story?

What do you learn about YOURSELF?

Where are you in this story?

What boundaries have you drawn around God to make him meet your expectations?

What expectations of his are you denying for yourself? While it’s true that God’s expectations are vague in some areas, many of his explicit expectations, we’re still hedging on. We know God expects these things, “but you know, it’s hard.”

We put limitations on the limitless God, while making excuses for our own obstinance against following his expectations for us.

“Oh, I know I SHOULD read the Bible regularly, but I’m so busy.”

“I know God wants me to talk with other people about him, but they don’t really want to hear my story.”

“I know I’m supposed to love every other person, but surely he doesn’t mean THOSE people.”

We don’t know the Scriptures well enough to make sound judgments about God’s movements. We refuse to do what we already know God wants us to, so we haven’t experienced him moving in all the ways he wants to move in us. Man-made expectations are more important to us than what God tells us we should be doing and becoming.

Our unwillingness to truly submit to him shows up in many ways. One of those ways is when we try to make him mold to our expectations.

Where are you letting your excuses dismiss God’s expectations in your life?

[pause]

Once you know the answers to those questions, the last question is easy to name.

What needs to change as a result of what you’ve learned?

The Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians were all shocked and offended that Jesus worked outside of their rival boxes. But they valued their box more than they valued their God. They were unwilling to submit to what God actually said because they were more concerned with the ideas of humans.

If we want to call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ, we have to be willing to actually be followers. That means HE makes the box for US … and WE STAY IN IT. What needs to change is most likely an issue of submission. We all need to step down off the thrones in our own lives and let God take charge. Because ultimately, He will have us no other way.

HOW DARE HE!!!