Life of Christ 55
On His way to the
synagogue on the Sabbath Jesus and His disciples walk through a wheat field,
pluck some grain, eat it, and get ambushed by the Pharisees about it (Matthew
12.1-8). Today's story (Matthew 12.9-14) revolves around what happens when He
was finally able to get to that synagogue a little while later.
It was a common point of
discussion amongst the rabbis just how much medical care could be given on the
Sabbath without violating the commandment to keep it holy by not working.
Obviously, the Pharisees believed that Jesus' miracles, being a kind of medical
care, so to speak, crossed that line. In fact, the text implies that they
planted a man with a withered hand in the synagogue specifically in order to cause
a confrontation with Christ (Matthew 12.10).
Jesus, of course, had
just tangled with some Pharisees in a wheat field a few steps away, and in that
conversation He gave them several justifications for plucking wheat on the
Sabbath. For instance, He told them that David ate the shewbread, thus implying
that great need over ruled minute lawyerly observances. He told them that the
priests worked on the Sabbath in the Temple and weren't faulted for it, and
then told them that He Himself was greater than the Temple that hallowed the
working priests. Then, to top it all off, He informed them that He was Lord of
the Sabbath itself, and the Lord who made the very rules they followed
certainly knew how to apply them.
Now, in this immediately
next confrontation about the man with the withered hand, Jesus gives them an
additional and very rational reason for not abiding by their absurdly minute
sabbath regulations. He simply pointed out that even their ridiculously strict
interpretation of the Torah allowed for the work necessary to help an animal
that had gotten hurt on the Sabbath, and then followed it up with this obvious
point, 'How much better then is a man than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to
do well on the sabbath days' (Matthew 12.12).
At this point Jesus gets
both mad and sad at the same time (Mark 3.5). He is angry at their stubborn
refusal to yield to Him, and saddened by their stubborn refusal to yield to
Him. And knowing full well that the Pharisees were simply trying to trap Him
into doing the 'work' of a miracle on the Sabbath He looked at the man in great
need and said, 'stretch forth thine hand.' The man did, and immediately
strength flowed into it, and with great ease he found it limbered up and as
useful as his good hand.
The reaction of the Pharisees
to this blatant, in-your-face miracle, in their synagogue, on the Sabbath,
after they had already confronted Him about His egregious errors, was huge.
They got insanely angry with Him (Luke 6.11), started the process of plotting
His death (Matthew 12.14), and actually were willing to go so far as to enter
into an alliance with the Herodians, their implacable enemies, in an effort to
accomplish this (Mark 3.6).
The inconsistency and
stubborn rebellion of the Pharisees is illustrated perfectly here. Jesus had
given them logical reasons why the Torah permitted His actions. He had given
them logical reasons why even their own ridiculous rules permitted His actions.
If it didn't, He had explained to them that need over ruled such minute rules.
He had explained to them that, as Lord of the Sabbath, He knew the rules better
than they did. Then He pointedly did yet another miraculous sign in their
direct view. Sadly and madly, instead of softening them, they chose to ignore
all of this, and to go against their own deeply held principal of 'keep the
Jews Jewish' in order to embrace the Herodians out of their deep hatred for
Jesus.
You see, with the
Pharisees, as much as they talked about keeping the Torah, it wasn't actually
about keeping the Torah in their heart of hearts. It was all, completely, about
rebelliously and sinfully refusing to yield to Jesus Christ. This is exactly
the same reaction that a different group of Pharisees had in a very similar
situation that we looked at in our last post: 'And ye will not come to me, that
ye might have life' (John 5.40).
In these three similar
stories and interactions with the Pharisees, closely related in time together,
over Jesus' actions on the Sabbath day I see illustrated a practical, if sad,
truth. Beloved, people do not reject Christ logically; they reject Him
rebelliously.
This was brought home to
me again just four days ago as I sat in a restaurant in a neighboring state
having breakfast with someone whom I love very much. She sat across from me,
her breakfast untouched, tears in her eyes, as she recounted all that she had
been through in the last 20 years since walking away from God. After listening
for a while I asked her two questions. The first question was why. Her answer
was, and I quote, 'I've always been a stubborn person.' She chose to go her own
way, trampling over the love, affection, and teaching that had been poured into
her for two and a half decades because she wanted what she wanted and refused
to take 'no' for an answer. She had informed me that independent Baptists were
all the same, too judgmental by far, and 'they kept trying to put me in a box',
in other words, they expected her to conform to a certain standard of behavior
with which she didn't want to conform. So I asked her the second question. If
she couldn't attend an independent Baptist church was she willing to try a
contemporary church of the kind that is known for not being so judgmental. She
said, and I quote, 'No, they just want to put me in a box too.' A bigger box,
in my view, but still a box in her view.
Her problem was and is
summed up with one word – rebellion. She wanted what she wanted, no matter the
cost, and though the price has been steep she still refuses to yield to the
commands and love of a holy God. She is just rebellious. She was 15 years ago,
and she is now. No one would ever look at her life and call her a Pharisee.
That is a term much more likely to be hurled at me. But the Pharisees did not
reject Christ logically; they rejected Him rebelliously, and this is exactly
what she has done. It isn't a head problem. It is a heart problem.
In John 5, when the
Pharisees were mad at Him for healing the palsied man on the Sabbath, He gave
them four logically compelling reasons to believe on Him, and they flat out
refused. In Matthew 12, when they were mad at Him for plucking wheat and
healing on the Sabbath, He gave them five totally different yet equally
compelling reasons to accept His actions, and thus Him, and they flat out
refused. It isn't a lack of compelling and logical evidence that keeps men
lost; it is pure cussedness, an ornery rebelliousness that refuses to humble
itself. Are there some people who haven't accepted Christ because they don't
know about Him? Sure. But the only reason those who do know of Him do not
accept Him is because they won't. It is a matter of will, of rebellious
sinfulness.
The problem wasn't that
He did miracles on the Sabbath, for He soundly dealt with their objections, and
gave them clear and compelling evidence why it was appropriate. The problem was
rebellion. It was a heart problem.
If you would like to listen to the audio version of this blog you may find it here on our church website. Just press 'launch media player' and choose We Preach Christ 27, 'Stretch Forth Thine Hand'.
No comments:
Post a Comment