Its always the right time to do good

How can you tell if someone is a vegan? Oh they will tell you.

Every group has boundary markers to show whether you are in or out.

I think Jerole might possibly be a Liverpool fan – when they play, he wears the football shirt and tracksuit top. So you can tell.

The Jews have three boundary markers – circumcision, food laws and Sabbath.

The jews were the people of God, chosen by God to be a blessing to the nations. They were told to circumcise all the men, obey some strict food laws and keep the Sabbath as a day of rest and worship.

The trouble with religious people is when the rules become so important that God drops out of sight.

Let's read Mark 2:23-3:6 where Jesus gets in trouble over the Sabbath.

 

Sabbath was the Hebrew word for Rest. When God created the world, Genesis frames it as six days of work and then the seventh day is the day of rest. Even God rested to enjoy what he had made.

Now interestingly in creation the seventh day is only one that doesn't have the phrase “there was evening and there was morning, the nth day”. The day of resting in God's presence was meant to be forever. Quickly sin comes into the human race, and everything becomes about work and trying to earn favour with God again. Working when actually there is grace available.

The Pharisees have got fanatical about the boundary markers, the things that mark who is in the people of God and who isn't. They didn't like Jesus hanging around with sinners and tax collectors. And so in today's passage they are going to make a deal about sabbath keeping.

In Exodus the penalty for working on the rest day was severe – death! Even now many people work themselves to death!

The Pharisees add a bunch more regulations to resting on the Sabbath.

• They taught that you should not look in a mirror on the Sabbath because you might be tempted to pluck out a grey hair and that would be reaping.
• They said that you could only eat and egg which had been laid on the Sabbath if you killed the chicken for Sabbath-breaking.
• It was unlawful to wear any jewellery or ornaments on the Sabbath, since this might be construed as carrying a burden.
• You were allowed to eat radishes on the Sabbath, but you were warned against dipping them into salt because you might leave them in the salt too long and pickle them and this was considered to be Sabbath-breaking. The Pharisees actually had discussions as to how long it took to pickle a radish.

 

In the first section we read Jesus and the disciples are walking through a field of grain (hope it wasn't more than 1km or they are already in trouble). In the Mosaic Law, you are allowed to glean in someone else's field – to pick and eat something as long as you eat it there and then. It's an OT version of Foodbank – looking after the poor.

The disciples pick some grain, rub it in their hands to get the husks off and eat it. To the Pharisees nit-picking they are harvesting, threshing and preparing food on The Sabbath.

The irony is the Pharisees are working hard on a Sabbath to make sure people are resting!

Jesus answers the first time in a smart way. He could have said I'm not breaking the OT law, just your additional tradition. But he says it in a cleverer way than that.

It's a bit like in the news this week when the US vice president disparages “some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years” – which he most likely cluelessly meant the UK and France. Our PM could have shouted back and had a go. But he made the point clearly another way – every Monday the names of soldiers who have died are read out. This week he read out the names of all the soldiers who died in Afghanistan and Iraq. Wise as serpents gentle as doves.

 

Jesus asks them have you read about David? Of course they had, they would have learned of by heart too. He took the bread from the altar and gave it to his men who starving. This incident wasn't just a Pharisaic addition, it was the Law of God from Lev 24:9.

He's appealing to the Kingly authority of David, from who the Messiah would come and using the story to show that when God's people are in need, those needs are more important than religious rituals.

 

A day of rest is an important thing. To recharge, to recreate, to rest and have time to worship God with his people is something we all need! But Sabbath is not meant to be so restrictive it becomes an utter burden.

 

Then Jesus says Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

It's to help us! To give us a chance to recharge our batteries, to recoup, recharge, recreate to rest and to worship. It's not meant to be onerous regulations.

 

A few hundred years before there was a Jewish revolt – the Maccabean revolt. And the enemies would often attack on the Sabbath because the Jews weren't allowed to fight. So eventually the Rabbis came up with an exemption that they could fight and kill if necessary to save lives on the Sabbath.

So that takes us to the next Sabbath. The Pharisees have lost round one. So here comes round two. Ding Ding. There's a man who has a withered hand. Pretty sure that is hindering him being able to work the rest of the week and be productive. The Pharisees pretty pleased he was there. And they were watching. Sitting at the front looking out – they know Jesus has a reputation for healing and they know what he said last week. Will he heal someone?

Knowing what they are thinking, Jesus calls the man over. “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” They have murder on their hearts. And they know the precedent they had set during the Maccabean Revolt. If it is okay to fight to protect yourself on a Sabbath, then isn't it also okay to cure a man of a disease on the Sabbath? They are silent, stumped. And Jesus is angry – orges –  which is the word for settled anger at something that is wrong rather than the blowing a gasket kind of anger we often have. He is lamenting, grieving their hardness of heart.

 

So he heals the man – who on this Sabbath is restored so he can work normally from then on.

God's love meets needs, feeds the hungry, heals the sick and that can be done anyday!

The Pharisees go out to plot to kill him. Isn't it ironic that the religious leaders who make such a big deal about not doing any work on a Sabbath – picking something to eat on a walk, plucking a grey hair out, THEY are the ones who are working out a murder plot on a day of rest. I think they may have missed the point of Sabbath somehow!

On one level Sabbath tells us we need a day  a week to rest, and worship.

On the other level, the sabbath shows us that Jesus death and resurrection allows us to always rest from trying to work to earn God's favour.

 

Getting fanatical about do's and don'ts and what to wear on a Sunday is missing the point entirely.

 

Jesus shows us It's always the right time to do good!

 

Principles to gain?

Do NOT  be more religious than Jesus! Watch out if you have more rules than Jesus has. He came to fulfil the law so that we wouldn't have to be under it. Galatians tells us if we go back to the law, we go under the whole thing, curses and all – better to stick with grace and grace teaches and motivates greater holiness anyway.

 

Anytime is a good time to heal the sick.

1. Jesus healed hundreds and thousands! Contrary to those who say that Jesus healed only a few.
2. Aside from the raising of Lazarus from the dead, there is not a single instance in the gospels where Jesus directly prays for the healing of the sick. Whereas prayer certainly occurs before ministering to the sick, the sick themselves are never prayed for. Rather, the dead are commanded to rise (Mark 5:41-42; Luke 7:14-15; John 11:43-44), the lame are commanded to get up (John 5:8-9; Mark 2:11), the man with the shriveled hand is commanded to stretch it out (Matt. 12:9-13), the ears of the deaf mute are commanded to be opened (Mark 7:31-35), the leper is commanded to be cleansed (Matt. 8:1-3), and before healing the crippled woman Jesus announces to her, “woman, you are freed from your disability” (Luke 13:10-16).
3. No one Jesus touched was left unhealed. No one who touched Jesus desiring healing was unhealed (Matt. 14:34-36). According to Matthew 8:16, he “healed all who were ill.”
4. Virtually all of Jesus’ healings were motivated by compassion. See Matt. 14:14; 20:34; Mark 1:41; 9:22; Luke 7:13-15.
5. Jesus portrayed healing not simply as a sign that the kingdom was coming but as an essential element in the kingdom.
6. Jesus self-consciously healed people by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:14-21; Matt. 12:22-28). Jesus' dependence on the Holy Spirit for all that he did and taught is confirmed repeatedly in Scripture (see Luke 4:1-2, 14-15, 16-19; 5:17; John 3:34-35; Acts 10:38 ). The reason this is important is that the Holy Spirit is Jesus in us! So we can do it too!
7. Most often his healings were instantaneous, but on at least one occasion it was partial and gradual (Mark 8:22-26). If nothing else this is a reminder that we must persevere in prayer. Simply because healing does not come instantly, means don't give up!
8. Jesus’ healings were subject to two factors: (1) the presence or absence of faith (Matt. 13:53-58; Mark 6:5-6; Matt. 13:53-58; 8:1-3), and (2) the purpose of his heavenly Father (John 5:19). As for faith, if you struggle to believe, let others exercise faith on your behalf (see Mark 2).

It's always the right time to do good! So now is as good a time as any to heal the sick. To practice showing love, compassion and how to heal, ready to go out there and give it a go to.

 

At the prayer meeting we prayed for healings and told stories that bring faith for God to do it again and again.