Two types of hearts are revealed in Mark 2:18-3:6. We see a heart of compassion and shriveled hearts. Which of these do you find yourself associating with?
1. Did the people really want to know the answer to the question of why Jesus’ disciples were not fasting? verse 18. Was it a genuine question that concerned them, or more a way of stirring up dissention?
Are you one who stirs up dissension and seeks to find fault as these people did?
2. Jesus did not take offence at the question about fasting, but took their words at face value and answered their question calmly and reasonably.
Often when people question something we are doing or not doing in our lives or they want answers about our faith, we jump in and seek to defend our actions. We can learn from the calm, rational way Jesus answered their questions, seeking at the same time use it to teach them more of the new covenant he would usher in,verses 19-22. .
3. On the Sabbath, as Jesus and his disciples walked through the grain field, the disciples began to pick some heads of grain, verse 23. This was allowable according to the law, Deuteronomy 23:25. The big problem was not what they were doing but when. It was the Sabbath. The Pharisees were so hung up on rigidly keeping the law, to the minutest detail, that they saw this small picking a few of grains as harvesting and therefore work.
Jesus replied using an example from scripture. He pointed them to a time where David’s need and that of his men overrode the law, verse 25. It appears that need, not rigid rule-keeping, was the main criteria.
Do we allow rigidity to rules to override the practical needs of others?
4. Jesus pointed out that the Sabbath was given by God as a blessing and a day to meet people’s need for rest, worship and refreshment rather than as a rigid and inflexible rule never to be broken, no matter what the circumstances, verse 27. Jesus did not condemn David for using the bread to fulfill a practical need in his life. Jesus in concerned about the practical needs. He was not overturning God’s law but merely the strict interpretations and additions to it which the Pharisees had arrived at. The Jewish leaders had made it a nightmare, bound up in strict rules and interpretations about what exactly constituted work or even how far a person could walk on the Sabbath.
5. The Pharisees watched Jesus closely. They were looking for an excuse to accuse Jesus, Mark 3:2. Jesus would have known this. It did not stop him from healing the man.
People are watching us too to see if what we profess and what we do, match up.
6. Jesus tried to make them see how unreasonable and illogical their reasoning was, But they refused to answer. Sure they were ready to jump in and tell Jesus what he was doing wrong but not prepared to become involved themselves. They made sure Jesus was aware of their stubborn disapproval as they stood silentverse 4.
Do we give in to the disapproval of others and allow it to deter us from doing the work God has for us to do?
7. Jesus used the incident of healing the man as an opportunity to publicly teach God’s truths.
We can use our current situation as an opportunity to help others learn truths from God’s word.
8. Jesus saw and was distressed by the stubborn resistance of their hearts, verse 5.
Is there some area of your life where you are stubbornly resisting what Jesus would teach you?
9. The cure was public and immediate, intended for the benefit of the man certainly but also those around. However, the Pharisees chose not to rejoice in what Jesus had done but instead went out and plotted how to kill Jesus, verse 6.
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