First, See the Person
22 January 2019
I admit it, there is something in me that loves rules. You see, we have rules for a reason. There is a right way to do things! To me, rules are a measure to be applied to human behaviour to define the right way and the wrong way; what’s in and what’s out.
I think I would have made a very good Pharisee.
This sounds (almost) blasphemous, but I can even see how (from a certain perspective) Jesus was a bit, well, annoying.
I mean it’s simple enough isn’t it? The Law states perfectly clear that no work is to be done on the Sabbath. Picking corn for food is work. There are six perfectly good days on which one can pick corn. What part of ‘no work on the Sabbath’ do these free-wheeling disciples of Jesus not understand?
Fortunately, Jesus has a wider, broader, deeper perspective on humans. I see members of a society who need to work within key parameters if this enterprise is going to work, Jesus sees beloved sons and daughters of the Father, who He came to save. Moreover, He invites all of us pharisaic types into the same way of thinking:
And he said to them, ‘The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath’
And to really rub it in to the Pharisees He declared,
‘… the Son of Man is master even of the sabbath.’
It seems Jesus is bigger than any rule we apply, even if we do it in God’s name.
So, next time you are tempted to judge someone who is struggling to live up to your expectations of them, ask the Holy Spirit to give you the eyes of the Master of the Sabbath for them instead. Lord, let us see through your eyes!