Closely Watched

On The Sabbath

Jesus again has been invited to a Pharisees house after church

V 1-2

across from Him is a man who suffers from dropsy

swelling of the leg due to water retention

so seeing this man Jesus asks is it lawful to to heal on the Sabbath?

V 3

if they said no they would be seen as not compassionate

if they said yes then they would be going against their beliefs

V 4

they could not answer, so, they kept quiet

Then Jesus asks another question

V 5

this question involved someone they loved or a valuable animal

they could be compassionate to their son who flee into a well and could down

they could rescue a valuable farm animal

because there would be a threat of monetary loss

so Jesus made these people see their hypocrisy in what they wanted to accuse Jesus of

again the total depravity of man is seen here

there is a miracle displayed to them

Jesus God the son id preaching to them

and there is no turning to Jesus for forgiveness

these people in fact want and will eventually kill Jesus

these people proved over and over that the miracles Jesus had done did not for the most part did not change lives

Miracles don’t change people

The Holy Spirits regenerating power

the Holy Spirits conviction in the hearts of people change lives

V 6 these men would not reply

they remained hard

again I have used all the verses in my introduction

I want to go back and look at the last phrase in V 1

they watched Him closely

A Close Examination

all throughout Jesus ministry people watched him closely to see if they could find fault

lets go back to the passover in Egypt

turn to Exodus 12 1-6.

the passover lamb has to be without spot or blemish

then they are to bring it into the home and observe it for 4 days

to closely examine the animal to insure it is perfect

then on the 14th the animal is slaughtered

the blood is put on the door post so the death angel will passover this house

V 12-13

that night the people were free from slavery

and they left Egypt

this is the beginning of the lessons to the Israelites and to us that the sacrifice had to be a perfect sacrifice

later on the people were bringing sacrifices that were not pure

sacrifices that were blind

sacrifices that was not really a sacrifice to give

Malachi 1:7–10 LSB

“You are presenting defiled food upon My altar. But you say, ‘How have we defiled You?’ In that you say, ‘The table of Yahweh is to be despised.’ “But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Please, bring it near to your governor! Would he accept you? Or would he lift up your face?” says Yahweh of hosts. “But now, entreat God’s favor, that He may be gracious to us! With this thing which is from your hand, will He lift up any of your faces?” says Yahweh of hosts. “Oh that there were one among you who would shut the gates, that you might not light a fire on My altar in vain! I have no delight in you,” says Yahweh of hosts, “nor will I accept an offering from your hand.

these sacrifices was not acceptable

they were not perfect

and only a perfect sacrifice is acceptable

so Jesus was closely examined through out his life

not because He was seen as a perfect sacrifice

but because they wanted to trap Him in a discretion

lets look at Judas who betrayed the Lord

sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver

that night he saw the way the people were treating Jesus

the false accusations

I think he had some remembering that he did that night

remembering all of the time spent with Jesus

Matthew 27:1–5 LSB

Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel together against Jesus to put Him to death; and they bound Him, and led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate the governor. Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? See to that yourself!” And he threw the pieces of silver into the sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself.

I betrayed innocent blood

Judas could not find any defect in Jesus

the thief on the cross knew that Jesus was innocent of any sin

Luke 23:39–41 LSB

And one of the criminals hanging there was blaspheming Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? “And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for what we have done; but this man has done nothing wrong.”

Jesus was watched closely

every action was scrutinized

and in the end no sin was found in him

The Acceptable Sacrifice

when the children of Israel chose the lamb to be the sacrifice instead of the first born it had to be perfect

or God would not accept the sacrifice

the child would die along with the children of Egypt

the people during the time of Malachi were giving blind and diseased animals as a sacrifice

God would not accept this sacrifice

if Jesus had one sin that He had committed He would be in hell today because the wages of sin is death

there would be no way that we could be saved today

because Jesus would have died for his own sin

but we know that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for our sins

the perfect substitute for us

because the Father raised Him on the third day

the sacrifice of the passover was a substitute for the first born

the sacrifice of Jesus is for all who believe and put their trust in Jesus to give them eternal life

If you are already a believer

We Are Being Watched

Just like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we are being watched by the world

the world would like nothing better than to expose our sin

we are called to be the light of the world

and to be that our lantern globe must be clean and spotless

our Christ like reputation needs to be untarnished

people are watching to see if you are truly different

and to see how you react in stressful situations

if the world does not see anything different in you they will not want what you have

so we need to be Christ like in all that we do