Look for the Need
Mark 2026 • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful?
And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him?
And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.
And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.
Introduction
Introduction
In our passage this morning, we see two opposing outlooks on life. One cares for the needs of others and the other cares for their own. We will see the care of Jesus as He looks for the needs of others.
Mark was likely the first Gospel written. Under the inspiration of God, he writes with an intent to point his readers toward the Cross and the Empty Tomb. Those who read are faced with a question: who is this Jesus?
As we grow in our walk with God this year, we want to be Following in the Life of Faith. That means that we must begin with the correct Person to put our faith in. Mark gives us the message of Jesus to all people.
Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Will you commit each day to believe God and His promises? Will you confess your sins and choose to grow in relationship to Him? If you have not yet, will you believe in Him for salvation? Let’s Follow in the Life of Faith this year and see God do what He says He will!
Needs are everywhere. I can think of needs that I have and needs that others have. Maybe you have a need today. God is the God who fills needs. Spurgeon reminds us,
I have a great need for Christ; I have a great Christ for my need.
Charles Spurgeon
In our passage here in Mark 2 and 3, we see two men who have needs. David had a need for food as he was on the run from Saul. He comes to the place of the Tabernacle at Nob and asks of the priests for food to make it to the next place of safety. The second man that had a need is the man with a withered hand in front of the people in this town. Jesus calls him to stand forth before them all as an example of a man who must depend on someone else for something.
Around us each and every day, we see people with needs if we will look for them. As Christians, we are to care for those that are in need around us with the blessings that God has given to us. We need to listen to the Holy Spirit this morning as we look at this passage. How is your perception of the needs of others? Following a series of parables at the end of Jesus ministry, we have a poignant picture of this care for others.
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
The greatest need of every person is the need for salvation. What can we learn in this passage about the needs of others?
Declaration
Declaration
Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath as well. There are people in the world that need our help even now. Today, we must choose to care for those that Jesus brings into our lives and bring the healing that only He can provide. A truth and an application are shown in these two stories this morning.
1. Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath
1. Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath
And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful? And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
There are two stories that are connected in this pericope of Scripture. Together, they are the final story in a series recorded by Mark showing the growing opposition to Jesus as He preaches and heals in Galilee. The truth in verses 23-28 is that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath.
We see in verse 23 that this story takes place as Jesus and the disciples are walking through a field of wheat that is ready to be harvested. The disciples reach out and take some of the grain because they are hungry. Part of the Law regarding the reaping and sowing of fields allowed for this practice.
When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour’s standing corn.
Watching these men taking and eating the grain is a group of men known for their adherence to the rules of men added to the Law of the Old Testament. One of Laws was that no work could be done on the Sabbath from Friday evening until Saturday evening. One of their rules included over thirty different specific ways that work was prohibited. These men, the Pharisees, are quick to ask Jesus why His disciples would do this clearly prohibited action.
In response, Jesus asks them about the interpretation of a specific passage of the Scriptures. Turn to 1 Samuel and we will see the story that Jesus uses here.
Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee? And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me, Let no man know any thing of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee: and I have appointed my servants to such and such a place. Now therefore what is under thine hand? give me five loaves of bread in mine hand, or what there is present. And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from women. And David answered the priest, and said unto him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel. So the priest gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there but the shewbread, that was taken from before the Lord, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
In Lev 24:5-9, there is a clear law that is broken by David as he eats this bread. The bread was one or more of the special loaves that were placed weekly in the Holy Place near the Presence of God. These loaves were only to be eaten by the Aaronic priestly family and pictured the twelve tribes before God continually. Jesus tells this story and gives them a principle from this story. In verse 27, we see that principle. The Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath. Rest was the most important feature of this day that God gave to Israel in the Law and especially the Ten Commandments.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Verse 28 logically follows from the principle in verse 27. Because of what Jesus has said, we know that He is the Lord of the Sabbath! The truth is that our needs are more important than the following of a religious formality. The Sabbath was to be kept sacred but the needs of man were the reason that God had instituted it in the first place.
David had a “need” and went to seek help. Think of the greatness of this truth, “when he had need” there was someone who was ready to help him! The lack of food was met by the priest and ultimately by God. Jesus is saying to us this morning that He is the source of the meeting of our needs just as He made the grain that the disciples ate, the bread that David ate and the Sabbath for the rest of mankind.
Where is your perception of the needs of other people? Jesus is the source of all that we need in our life. He created the rest and the food that we and everyone else needs. From the truth, we find an application in the next story.
2. Follow His Example and Do Good
2. Follow His Example and Do Good
And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.
From chapter 2 we move to chapter 3 of Mark. On possibly the same day, we see that the challenge of Jesus on the Sabbath grows greater than it has already been. Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, therefore, follow His example and do good.
Verse 1 takes us inside another synagogue where the Jewish men would gather for the reading of the Scripture, worship, and fellowship each Sabbath. Jesus is here with His disciples. Another man is there with a “withered hand.” He has a severe need but not a life-threatening one.
At issue for this man is his ability to carry out any meaningful work in the village. Another of the Gospels tells us that this was his right hand that was dried out. This man was severely hampered by his physical condition. The Pharisees are watching to see if Jesus will do the work of healing a man, the occupation of a doctor prohibited on this holy day. Verse 2 shows us that they have now arrived at a point where they are prepared to “accuse him” or bring legal proceedings against Him.
Jesus, the Lord of Sabbath, has an question for these men and each that listen. We see that He commands the man to stand in front of all the people. Jesus, knowing their hearts and thoughts, asks them “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?” The question is fundamental to the grace and mercy of God.
The word used here for “life” focuses on the condition of the man as a person. He is not just alive like a tree or animal. Instead, he is a soul who is dependent on God for life and death. Is it right to do something for another person on a holy day? Is the focus of the law on a set of rules or on a worshipping community? Are we to let a person be without help because we are trying to impress others with our showiness?
In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses has the same question for his hearers. Will they choose life or death? Good or evil?
See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
Jesus chooses life as He heals the man who obeys Him in faith in verse 5. Stretching out his hand in response to Jesus would not have been possible if healing had not taken place. Yet, those who should have seen the spirit of the Law in the care for this man reject Him.
Jesus was very concerned and upset inside because of how these men felt about helping a man in need. The greater picture of the arrival of the kingdom and the good will to all men is lost on these calloused Pharisees. Verse 5 shows us the heart of Jesus who is concerned about their rejection of the love of God just as the children of Israel to the call of Moses. One writer highlights the significance of verse 5,
This is the only explicit reference to Jesus’ anger in the New Testament.
Paul goes father in using this same language to show that each of us is plagued with the same sickness. Our pride and our selfishness pull us away from the love of God. We place our own works higher than caring for the needs of others.
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
How is your care for others? Jesus saw this man in need. He could have let him suffer until the next day. The condition of the man was not life-threatening but it was life-altering. Jesus ask us today if we see the needs of the people around us. Their greatest need is salvation. Their second greatest need is healing.
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
Caring for others is one of the greatest gifts of the church. We as believers see people in the light of Scripture. We known the ravages of sin and the damages of the curse. We are the best equipped for the care of others. This is the ongoing work of discipleship that we are called to in our Christian life. Jesus shows this example to His disciples as He prepares to commission them in the next section of Mark. Are you looking of the need of others? We have this application to go and do good and seek souls!
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; And he that winneth souls is wise.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath as well. There are people in the world that need our help even now. Today, we must choose to care for those that Jesus brings into our lives and bring the healing that only He can provide.
The Sabbath was a gift by God to provide rest for mankind. He rests on the Seventh day after creation even though God has no need of rest. God cares about our needs. Do we meet the needs of others?
David and the man with the withered hand both had needs. The disciples were hungry and had a need. God met all of these just as He meets needs today. And we are faced with the same question that Jesus had for these men.
And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
What will your answer be? You have the greatest truth and the greatest healing that has ever been created in the Gospel message but you don’t share it! You have the blessings of God to provide for the physical needs of others but you hold onto them yourself. You have the desire to be involved in the work of ministry but you have other priorities.
Each of us have a choice whether we will chose this path of discipleship. Will we Follow in the Life of Faith? The Pharisees chose death.
And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.
Choose life! Choose service! Choose obedience! Choose revival! When we look at people as the Bible does, as Jesus does, we will see that they are just like us, people in needs. And God, God is the Meeter of needs! Let’s seek to carry out this ministry for Him!
If you have never accepted the free gift of salvation, there is good news today. Jesus has died for you. If you will agree with Him that you are a sinner and place your complete trust in His perfect blood to take away your sin, you can be saved today. He gave His life for you and filled our greatest needs. Believe Him today!
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
