Today's Passage: Matthew 12
If I were going to preach from this passage, I doubt that I would do so in its entirety...there are several very diverse accounts of the life of Jesus here. Because of my personal journey with Christ recently, I will focus on the first story (1-14) here today.
I've been thinking a lot about both the need for truth and love in the church and the conflict between the two. (As a side note, we will be looking at this very thing Sunday morning as we begin John 4) Jesus and his disciples were walking through a grain field and got hungry....no crime there, except this happened to be on the Sabbath. There were very strict religious laws about working on the Sabbath, and this act would have been considered "work." The Pharisees, looking for a way to discredit Jesus (and turn the attention back to themselves), jumped at the chance to say, "Look at them! Working on the Sabbath! They aren't even good, law-abiding Jews! No one listen to them!" They had no desire to love Jesus...just the desire to point out the flaws in others.
Why is it human nature to be so quick to point out the flaws in others, yet excuse the flaws we have personally? We all struggle with sin, but our personal sin can be explained away. "Well, you don't know my story." "I've just made some bad choices." "Things conspired to make me the way I am." Almost always, these things are true...we often fall into sin based on a series of circumstances and bad choices. Why, then, is that not our first thought of others? Why is it our nature to assume that someone else is, for lack of a better word, "bad'?
Jesus gives such a wonderful answer in two parts. First, He basically says, "You follow the law...well, I'm greater than the law. I AM the law." He then takes them to the synagogue...they probably thought they were lucky to find another trap, but didn't realize the trap was for them. They thought they could force Jesus to choose between truth (the law about working on the Sabbath) and love (his compassion for the man). Jesus correctly points out to the Pharisees that they wouldn't let a valuable animal perish because of the Sabbath...so He will not deny this valuable human being from his love. The man is healed...Jesus, as always, is correct...and the Pharisees are even more angry.
The law of the Sabbath was made so that people would honor God. Now, God is in their midst, and they are so focused on how to honor Him that they miss Him completely. They are so focused on truth that they miss love entirely. While we must...we must...stand for the truth of scripture, we must also never forget that the love God has for us must pour into a lost and dying world!
More on this Sunday morning at 11:01 a.m. at Bear Creek if you are interested!
a big misconception that many people have is that it's either one or the other (truth or love) and that's simply not the case. paul speaks about that in ephesians 4. it's an easy thing to read and conceptualize, but when it's crunch-time and you have to have those conversations, it ain't easy! but i rejoice that God has not called us to the easy life!!!
ReplyDelete