Small congregation pastor...Matthew 12:1-14...Lord of the Sabbath

 

Sometimes being a small congregation pastor means making sure all the lights are of the same color.  24 canister lights with 4 bulbs each.  48 times up and down the ladder not to mention the switching out of the indirect lighting on the sides.  Also, it might mean switching out the faucet at the kitchen sink in the fellowship hall that has been there for 25 years.  I always have a new appreciation for plumbers when I am partially in the kitchen sink cabinet.  It does say on the packaging that this is easier to install if the sink has yet to be installed.  Yes, I am one of those people who do read the instructions.

We are back to Matthew 12 after spending two weeks on the Palm Sunday passage and then the Resurrection Sunday passage.  Jesus is now preaching what His kingdom is like and it is very different than the one we and they are living in.  He is instructing them that they need to change their way of thinking to line up with His.

In days gone by, a winter trip back from Texas after visiting two of our children in college there put us in southern Illinois and I was calculating out in my head when we would be back home.  Calculating MPG, my cruise setting and no more gas/potty stops and this was before a smart phone with maps and GPS, I was getting good at my predictions.  But then it happened.  It started to rain.  Then the rain started to freeze on the windshield.  Then came a voice from the back of the van alerting me of these conditions that I was aware of.  Then the voice also asked if I still had the van on cruise as the road was starting to show a glare.  Then the voice asked me to slow down and there went all my calculations.  The rain turned to ice and then to snow and my thinking had to be changed.

My thinking had to change because of the outside conditions that were changing and also because of the voice from the back of the van letting me know words of caution for these conditions.  What I was observing and what I was hearing were the two factors that made me change my thinking about when we would arrive at home.

Jesus is going to be preaching about many different areas and practices that needed a change in thinking.  This passage deals with how they were thinking about the Sabbath, the day of rest in honor of God.  Men had made this all about what you couldn't do on the Sabbath but Jesus is emphasizing what you should do on His day.  Jesus pulls in the things He is observing and He is also voicing instructions as the One who made the day.  One observation was those who were condemning the hungry getting food on His day.  Another observation was those who were making exceptions to their man made rules to serve God in the temple were elevating themselves over others.  A last observation was that acts of mercy that landed on His day were being neglected because of their man made rules.

Jesus takes them back to the Scriptures to help them see that they needed to change their thinking.  He also gave them a prime example of what could be done on the Sabbath by healing the man with the withered hand.  The religious authorities planted the man there to accuse Jesus but I think He used their trap to expose them.  After performing this miracle right before their eyes they gathering up to devise a plan to destroy or kill Him.  Jesus exposed that they were more concerned about people keeping their man made rules than recognizing the miracle performing Messiah as prophesied in the Scriptures.  

We, the Christian church, over the centuries have fallen into the same trap as the Pharisees of Jesus' day.  We have created man made rules about His day that have gone beyond what the Scriptures require.  We have set limits that have sometimes hindered the hungry getting their food or have elevated one over the other because of our adherence to the rules or we have missed opportunities to show the mercy of God and therefore share the knowledge of God with others.  All they received in understand was that we need to follow the rules to be accepted.

A change of thinking has been part of my life as I have observed and been a part of a church family from 9 months in the womb.  I had seen first hand regulations that went beyond the words of Scripture; I have seen the use of exceptions to the rule to elevate oneself over another; and I have seen opportunities missed that appeared on His day and therefore opportunities missed to share of where this act of mercy is coming from.  Jesus, the voice in the back of the van, said, "But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless."  This is a quote from Hoses 6:6a.  There would have been a different outcome of the Pharisees pointing their fingers at Jesus' disciples who were hungry and needing food if they would have responded to the need rather than just state their man made rule.

Lord help us to see what is happening around us and be listening to your voice for the right guidance and thinking to follow.

Adam