Untitled Sermon (3)

In this passage of scripture we find Jesus outside of the city walking among the fields. People followed Jesus wherever He went. If He went to the lake, people followed. If He went up on a mountain, people followed. If He went to the bathroom, people likely followed until Jesus asked for a little privacy. Jesus was constantly surrounded. The Pharisees followed Him as well, but their motives were not usually pure. As Jesus was passing a field, His disciples became hungry and they decided that they were going to take a handful of grain from the crop, which was lawful. Deuteronomy 23:25 “If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.” This passage of scripture allowed passerby’s to satisfy their hunger, but not to make a noticeable dent in the farmers crop nor reap a harvest that they did not work for.

How many of you have heard something that sounded like it was from the Bible, maybe were even told it was from the Bible, but it actually was not? Cleanliness is next to godliness. Or that there were 3 wise men. Or that is was an apple that Eve ate. A whale swallowed Jonah. Money is the root of all evil. (The love of money is the root of evil) God works in mysterious ways. Love the sinner, hate the sin. Be in the world but not of the world. God will not give you more than you can handle. God helps those who help themselves. Everything works out for good in the end.

The Pharisees pull out an archaic law saying that it was wrong to work on Sundays. The bible never said that it was against the law to work on Sundays. Preachers deliver the bulk of their work on Sundays. Is it against the law for you to work but not for me? That’s hypocrisy. What is against the law is working for profitable gain. The law does not prohibit deeds that are necessary. Such as feeding your animals, or fixing a fence that you notice is down, or changing a tire or your oil so that you can get to work. It does not prohibit services to the Lord like working in your church, serving others, and lending a hand where needed. It also does not prohibit random acts of mercy and kindness such as helping the less fortunate. Like the Good Samaritan. If you find someone is hurt, then you help them. If you find that someone is in a great need you do not say “well I would help you if only it was not a Sunday.” God did not create the Sabbath day so that people would become calloused and cold, but that people would simply take a day and reflect on their relationship with the Lord. That they would take a break from that God has given them to do, work with their hand, and think on all that God has done for them. As well as rest and recuperate.

Even David ate bread that was meant to be an offering for the Lord, and was only allowed to be eaten by the priests themselves. 12 loaves of bread were baked weekly and sat before the altar of God. The priests would eat them throughout the week, but they were for the priest’s only. David came by the priest’s at Nod, and he was starving to death. Not like dead yet, but might die if not given food. David is pretty important wouldn’t you say? So the priest sought God’s council, and God revealed that it was far more important to keep David alive than it was to follow some ritual ceremony.

Which brings us back to where we are in this story. It was better for the men to eat than it was to go hungry, and it was not unlawful as they were not making money but only having a snack. What the Pharisees did was bend the law to their favor and seek to throw the book at Jesus. But Jesus being who He is obviously threw the law, correctly, straight back at them.

Jesus then went on to say that He was greater than the temple where they worshipped God because He was God Himself, and if they would have opened their eyes and realized that then they would not be wasting their time with this foolishness and they would have been leading people to Him rather than trying to raise a fuss. The scriptures are clear that God desires love and mercy by human hands above their sacrifices, but all that these men wanted to do was slap people with a law of burden.

Basically where these men came to cause stress and trouble with their unrealistic laws, Jesus came to bring freedom and comfort in the fact that He was going to take care of the hard work, we simply had to place our trust in Him.

Now Jesus moves on back into the city, He and the crowd following Him including the Pharisees, and He came into the synagogue.

The Pharisees sought to put an end to Jesus because He was doing everything that they could not. This caused their pride and their hatred to flair. Knowing this Jesus snuck away and crowds followed.

Jesus. A friend of sinners, healer if the sick, comforter of the broken. Who do you think followed Him? The social elite? Or the outcasts? Jesus came for all who saw their need for Him, and most of those people were the broken and the battered outcasts. Jesus does not see you as the world sees you. He sees you as His child. The world seeks to put you down, it seeks to belittle you, it ultimately seeks to make you feel like you are useless, worthless, and a lesser human being.

Jesus seeks to restore what is broken. Jesus gives you value as the son and daughter of the living God.

Jesus was (and still is) powerful. He healed more than any prophet in the OT ever did because He wanted to show everyone who He was. The crowds loved Him, and the crowds were large. Jesus told them not to be telling others of who healed them because He was afraid the people would revolt. Jesus came for peace. Jesus came for unity, unity in Him. Jesus came to restore. Jesus did not come to rule worlds. He did not come to reign as a king, or an emperor, or a ruler. He came to be with YOU.  He came to have a relationship with YOU. The Son of God came for YOU.