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?
