Rules.  They are everywhere!  Rules are posted anywhere and everywhere people gather.  Don’t flush paper towels or other large objects down the toilet. Okay, we get that one.  Don’t ride your bikes on the sidewalk where pedestrians walk.  Well, that makes sense.  Stop at red lights, speed up at yellow lights.  Wait, no, don’t speed up at yellow lights!  (And there is no “orange” excuse, people!)  Green means GO as quickly as you can or someone behind you will honk at you.  Yield unless you think you can beat the car coming up beside you in the lane you want to be.  Merge has different interruptions according to the education of drivers!  Rules, meant to protect us, are translated as rules meant to be broken or set aside when it applies to certain people it seems. 

But when rules are added to become ways to push people around for their own advantage in order to gain power over an already oppressed people, we need to revisit the intent and purpose of the rule.  That’s what Jesus is doing in this passage where the religious leaders are questioning every detail of Jesus’ behaviors and habits as they use their manmade rules as a way to measure and judge His lifestyle. 

The Pharisees and other religious leaders do not know or accept Jesus as Messiah or Lord of the Sabbath.  They do not know Jesus was with God when He wrote The Law, given to Moses, to teach people how to love God back and to love each other. The religious have developed more of a taste for judgement and punishment.  Because of this taste of power, they made a plethora of rules that were ridiculous, hard to keep, and had little to nothing to do with God or His people. 

Here’s an example of one of hundreds of detailed rules:  You were punished and/or fined if you dragged a chair across the dirt floor of your home on the Sabbath because they would be considered work as you “plowed” a furrow across the room!  Oh yeah, there were many manmade rules like this developed over time!  The “religious” felt it was their duty and right to make new rules that suited them.  These manmade rules were not of God but by men who wanted power.    

Jesus is not being rebellious to The Law but is showing the religious the true meaning of reconnecting and relating to God who is The Law!

Mark 2, The Message

Feasting or Fasting?

¹⁸ The disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees made a practice of fasting. Some people confronted Jesus: “Why do the followers of John and the Pharisees take on the discipline of fasting, but your followers don’t?”

^19-20 Jesus said, “When you’re celebrating a wedding, you don’t skimp on the cake and wine. You feast. Later you may need to pull in your belt, but not now. As long as the bride and groom are with you, you have a good time. No one throws cold water on a friendly bonfire. This is Kingdom Come!”

^21-22 He went on, “No one cuts up a fine silk scarf to patch old work clothes; you want fabrics that match. And you don’t put your wine in cracked bottles.”

^23-24 One Sabbath day he was walking through a field of ripe grain. As his disciples made a path, they pulled off heads of grain. The Pharisees told on them to Jesus: “Look, your disciples are breaking Sabbath rules!”

^25-28 Jesus said, “Really? Haven’t you ever read what David did when he was hungry, along with those who were with him? How he entered the sanctuary and ate fresh bread off the altar, with the Chief Priest Abiathar right there watching—holy bread that no one but priests were allowed to eat—and handed it out to his companions?” Then Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made to serve us; we weren’t made to serve the Sabbath. The Son of Man is no yes-man to the Sabbath. He’s in charge!”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Years ago, Randy became the new pastor of a small country church who said they wanted to grow in number.  He was called of God to go there with a mind to follow what God wanted for His church.  Things were going well until that first Easter.  We had great services, some accepted Jesus salvation, lives were changed.  One woman, however, didn’t speak to us for weeks afterwards and we couldn’t figure out why. Finally, in a board meeting, we learned that Randy didn’t go to the basement and carry up the cross stored there and put it up in front, behind the pulpit for Easter.  “We always have the cross.”  We didn’t know the “rule” of habit.  Yikes, help us, dear Jesus.

The Sabbath was set aside to “serve” our need for focusing on God!  And in this time set aside, we spend it thanking and praising Him.  We enjoy resting from the daily routines of our work lives to center our thoughts on God and all He has provided.  The disciples’ “breakfast” in the field didn’t break The Law if Jesus who is The Law told them to eat to satisfy their physical hunger!

THIS is Kingdom come!  Leaders, Jesus, who is the Messiah you’ve been waiting for, has come and is standing right in front of you!  But you are so religiously concerned over your rules that you are missing Him!  How many times do we miss our Savior as He passes by or miss out on seeing His glory at work when we get overly concerned about our rules of habit not being observed?  Too many!

God is here!  God is The Law and The Law is being fulfilled in His Son, Jesus!  Jesus is not breaking the Law but living it in the way God intended—bringing all our attention and focus back on God!

To “patch up” The Law with our own manmade rules is as ridiculous as putting new wine in an old worn out, cracked bag that will break when the wine ferments and swells as wine is supposed to do.  Jesus is the new wine.  Jesus lives in us who believe. Jesus will become greater in us when we give all of ourselves to Him.  Don’t try to fit Jesus into your old lifestyle.  Let Jesus be in charge of your new life with Him! 

Lord,

I love you with all that is in me.  I offer my life to you.  Cleanse our hearts, renew our minds, refresh our souls, and restore the joy of your salvation at work within us.  I don’t want to miss a think you do or say!  Thank you for all you have provided. Thank you for your Word and Your Holy Spirit who guides us to all Truth.  You are Truth.  Help me now to live who and what I know.

In Jesus Name, Amen