APRIL 03 THE JESUS QUESTIONS JQ#12 *Who decides what is legal, God or man?* “What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” (Matthew 12:11-12a)

 

APRIL 03  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

JQ#12 *Who decides what is legal, God or man?*  

“What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls

 into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? 

Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” 

(Matthew 12:11-12a)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily  Prayer   

JESUS, Lord I thank You for this ongoing “physical trial” for it is making me

 more aware of just how much we depend on things we take for granted

 when we are “healthy”.  

Jesus, I thank you mostly today for the immediate answer to my prayer 

for “spiritual healing” as my wife and I awoke to our usual “honeymoon” 

attitude and Lord You know I have never taken that “special blessing” 

You have bestowed on our “God-honoring  marriage” and I know it was

 Your Spirit that quickly resolved the issue. 

Lord I do not pray for You to take my pain away but I do pray that You will

 grant me healing and keep me aware of these wonderful blessings that I

 see already as a result of my situation, like being able to “share Jesus”

 with the medical help you have surrounded me with during my physical 

ailments whom I lift up to You in prayer today and ask Your blessings 

as they are Your healing hands for those You place in their paths.     

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus, being All-Knowing and the Master Teacher asked this most important

 Question because one can easily see that it is the most important Question 

that any society can ask of the government which the society elects to rule them. 

History reveals that government always rises from or eventually becomes

 the “elite ruling” class in any society. It is either kings and queens 

or presidents or governors but there are very, very few large societies 

that are not ruled by a set of officials normally called the “government”. 

We all know that the single purpose of “government” is to “govern” and 

we all know “who” they govern. In the United States of America our 

“government” was established as a symbolic “Trinity” with three main branches,

 each having a specific responsibility but all all three deal with 

laws and legality as the three branches are known as

 the Judicial, Legislative, and the Executive. 

The fact that Jesus confronts the Pharisees on issues of “legality” 

should get our attention and we should pay close attention because Jesus

 addressed “government” and “legalism” several times in His Teachings. 

Jesus, as always, is consistent in His Teaching of Lessons that are universal

 and timeless so that all societies, all races, all nations, and all peoples 

of the world can benefit from studying the Lessons Jesus puts forth, 

especially when He Teaches on such an important issue such as is addressed

 in Matthew Chapter 12 where Jesus calls out the “ruling judicial class”

 of the Jewish community that called themselves Pharisees. 

We can easily demonstrate that Jesus was asking the specific root Question of

 “Who decides what is legal, God or man?” 

because  the Pharisees were declaring that the actions of Jesus and His disciples

 were “unlawful” according to the Jewish religious law called the Halakha

 and referring specifically to the Jewish Sabbath called the Shabbat laws. 

First of all the Jewish nation is a nation founded by God through a man

 named Abraham, who had a son named Isaac, who had a son named Jacob

 and Jacob had 12 sons who became known as the nation Israel. We know of

 this man named Abraham because God of the Bible called out Abraham to 

“go to a land that I [God Himself] will show you” 

and later God promised Abraham that He would give the land to Abraham’s

 descendants as a “possession”. Further evidence that proves the point of

 the “legality” Question asked of the Jewish law by Jesus is that

 (1) God called Abraham (2) God gave Abraham sons whom God said 

would inherit the land God gave them (3) God changed the name of 

Abraham’s grandson Jacob to “Israel” and Jacob’s twelve sons became

 known as “the twelve tribes of Israel” thus firmly establishing 

the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the God of the land and nation

 of Israel and the Jewish people. 

Add to the fact that the Halakha is called Jewish law (but of “legal note” here: 

all the laws in the Halakha are “man’s” interpretation of “God’s Law”) and

 then it becomes obvious that Jesus is asking the Pharisees, 

“What takes precedent — what ‘God’ declares as ‘Right’ 

or what ‘man’ says is ‘legal’?”  

the Question Jesus asked the Pharisees over 2000 years ago should be asked

 today, or do you think the US government can “legally” take God out of our

 schools, our public places, and out of government itself?

 

APRIL 02  THE JESUS QUESTIONS  

JQ#12 *Who decides what is legal, God or man?*  

“What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls

 into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? 

Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” 

(Matthew 12:11-12a)

LIVING FOR JESUS  Daily Prayer   

JESUS, You said we have not because we ask not — Lord I ask for 

physical healing for my earthly body but more importantly Lord I pray for

 spiritual healing and forgiveness for my spiritual weakness I display 

during my physical pain, Lord I know that I should have been mentally 

prepared for the “spiritual attack” that comes at the point of “physical weakness”

 but I wasn’t — so now as I seek the forgiveness that I KNOW you will give me,

 I pray firstly that Your Grace will extend to my Precious Wife for the 

angry words spoken during my physical pain. 

Lord, this is just a very small “bump in the road” and I pray from the depth

 of my heart that You, LORD JESUS, will keep me always focused on

 “the PEACE of getting home” and not the “bumpy road of life” 

that we must travel to get there!     

AMEN

THE JESUS QUESTIONS

Jesus and His disciples were walking through a grain field on a Jewish Sabbath

 and the Pharisees charged Jesus with a crime punishable by death

 according to existing Jewish law: 

“And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, ‘Look, Your disciples

 are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!” 

(Matthew 12:2) 

We must consider the “source of authority” that the Pharisees were using

 to declare the “legality” of the actions of Jesus and His disciples who were

 walking through the fields eating grain because they were hungry. 

When the Pharisees stated “Your disciples are doing what is not lawful” 

they were referring to the “Halakha” which is the Jewish religious law 

and specifically to the part of “Halakha” referring to the Jewish Sabbath called

 the “Shabbat” laws which contains 39 prohibited activities. 

“The Hebrew word shabbat comes from the Hebrew verb shabbat, 

which literally means ‘to cease’’’ 

{{quoted from http://www.thenazareneway.com/sabbath/39_prohib_sabbath.htm 

The Nazarene Way internet article: “The 39 Prohibited Sabbath Activities”}} . 

“The Pharisees were at various times a political party, a social movement, 

and a school of thought in the Holy Land during the time of 

Second Temple Judaism.” {{quoted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharisees}} 

The question of “legality” of the Shabbat was immediately addressed by 

Jesus Himself as he Questioned the Pharisees in reply

 to their claim of “legality”:

 “But He said to them, ‘Have you not read what David did when

 he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered

 the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful

 for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, 

but only for the priests?’”  

(Matthew 12:3-4  JQ#12A) 

Jesus was referring to King David when King David had gone into the house of God

 and asked  Ahimelech the priest for bread for him and his men because 

they were hungry and the Bible states 

“… so [Ahimelech] gave [David] hallowed bread…” (1 Samuel 21:6) 

which according to the Jewish “Halakha” that it was also unlawful for anyone

 but the priests to eat the showbread. 

So Jesus is answering the “not lawful” charges of the Pharisees with references

 and comparisons to King David, Jewish History, and the Jewish Halakha.

 Jesus continues to Question the “tradition of men” using Hebrew law

 to establish “legality” over God’s Law as Jesus immediately follows 

His first Question with a similar second Question,

 “Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests

 in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless?” 

(Matthew 12:5   JQ#12B). 

Jesus is making His point of “determining legality” with the Pharisees 

by essentially asking the implied JQ#12 Question, 

“Who decides what is legal, God or man?” (JQ#12). 

Jesus is bringing to focus what may be the main problem in every society 

when that society begins to “govern” themselves and impose laws

 that are “interpretations by men” as to what is “best for the common good”

 and in making their determination of what is “legal (traditional)” that the

 “lawmakers (men)” do not refer to

 God’s Laws to establish the Moral Standard  

for the passing of national legislation! 

You might ask what a little Jewish Law established by the “doctrines of men” 

has to do with your daily life so I’ll remind you that it was a Jewish Law 

passed by Jewish men that was the Jewish “rulers” justification for the 

Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Son of God! 

It is up to you to decide if the Crucifixion of Christ is important enough to put on

 your “daily concerns” list and to consider the statement  Jesus made to answer

 the “accusation” of the “legality of His actions” made against Him by

 the Pharisees based entirely on the laws established by men: 

“Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. 

But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’

 you would not have condemned the guiltless. 

For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

(Matthew 12:6-8) 

So Jesus sets up a series of Questions/Lessons whereby

 He asks everyone to rethink what is “legal” — 

(L1) laws passed by men to retain “usurped” power over the masses OR

 

(L2) the Commandments of God — the Creator of the heavens and of earth

 and Who is the Source of All Power and All Good in the universe?