Matthew 12 : a Flexible Heart
One Sabbath, Jesus was strolling with his disciples through a field of ripe grain. Hungry, the disciples were pulling off the heads of grain and munching on them. Some Pharisees reported them to Jesus: "Your disciples are breaking the Sabbath rules!"
Jesus said, "Really? Didn't you ever read what David and his companions did when they were hungry, how they entered the sanctuary and ate fresh bread off the altar, bread that no one but priests were allowed to eat? And didn't you ever read in God's Law that priests carrying out their Temple duties break Sabbath rules all the time and it's not held against them?
"There is far more at stake here than religion. If you had any idea what this Scripture meant—'I prefer a flexible heart to an inflexible ritual'—you wouldn't be nitpicking like this. The Son of Man is no lackey to the Sabbath; he's in charge."
I am someone who like to know the scriptures and to apply them to my life and life situations. Applying them to my own life is difficult enough but when I use my inherited high standard (my preacher Grandfather used to scream the truth into people! Very lovingly person though but a man of strict truth and integrity) to apply the scriptures to other people in situations, even the ones that I am involved with them in, that is when the problems start. This is something that I am just now learning in my almost 40 years of life and 20 years of following Jesus.
My mother, my wife and many of my closest friends, have all, in love, told me that I can, at best, be very inflexible or, at worst, extremely harsh and superior. What's worse is that I always had the TRUTH of a scripture verse to back up my position and show why I was right. I was not forcing my own agenda, I was just truly trying to live according to the scriptures guidance and especially when I felt is was very clear.
Well a few days ago this passage above from Matthew 12 completely undid my. Not only did I see Jesus saying "don't you read that the Priests break the law everyday and IT IS NOT HELD AGAINST THEM." This was very shocking to me and caused to pause a bit but the real punch in the gut that still has me humbled and picking up the broken pieces of my arrogant and Pharisee like ego was when Jesus told them "If you understood what this scripture really meant.... There is far more here at stake than religion and I prefer a flexible heart to an inflexible ritual"
I was floored, once again by the "living" nature of the scriptures, given that this passage could not have entered my life at a more perfect time to not only teach me this deep truth about the heart of God desire my heart to become more flexible (which I admit honestly it has grown to be rather rigid, superior and over-confident - Pride comes before the fall!) but it also came while I was looking in ti the scriptures to find a passage about Jesus instructing something about how to exercise integrity in religious ceremonies or rituals, in order to apply it to a situation that would have led to my certain destruction in almost every way. I would have been proven wrong, shown ungraceful, it would have been clear that I didn't fully understand what Jesus ,said were the larger things at play because I was the nit-picking Pharisee..... And I now realize it hasn't been the first time... It happens often...
Jesus seems to be saying, by saying "The Son of Man is no lackey to the Sabbath", in the context of summarizing this passage that God has to be free to lead His people to do whatever He feels is needed even if that is not "correct" or within the "rules" (by citing the David in the Temple story this reading takes on more depth) and I am struck that Jesus begins by responding to the Pharisees with "Really?". As if to say, are you really going to be so bold as to try and interfere with what God might be doing that you may have no understanding of at all, even if it looks like or is most certainly "against the rules"..... God is doing something bigger than rules and religion....
I have learned that I know very little about the scriptures and understand even less.... I will be taking sometime to listen rather than speak and see what kind of wisdom God brings my way....
Remember to keep your heart soft above all things....
"There is far more at stake here than religion. If you had any idea what this Scripture meant—'I prefer a flexible heart to an inflexible ritual'—you wouldn't be nitpicking like this. The Son of Man is no lackey to the Sabbath; he's in charge."
I am someone who like to know the scriptures and to apply them to my life and life situations. Applying them to my own life is difficult enough but when I use my inherited high standard (my preacher Grandfather used to scream the truth into people! Very lovingly person though but a man of strict truth and integrity) to apply the scriptures to other people in situations, even the ones that I am involved with them in, that is when the problems start. This is something that I am just now learning in my almost 40 years of life and 20 years of following Jesus.
My mother, my wife and many of my closest friends, have all, in love, told me that I can, at best, be very inflexible or, at worst, extremely harsh and superior. What's worse is that I always had the TRUTH of a scripture verse to back up my position and show why I was right. I was not forcing my own agenda, I was just truly trying to live according to the scriptures guidance and especially when I felt is was very clear.
Well a few days ago this passage above from Matthew 12 completely undid my. Not only did I see Jesus saying "don't you read that the Priests break the law everyday and IT IS NOT HELD AGAINST THEM." This was very shocking to me and caused to pause a bit but the real punch in the gut that still has me humbled and picking up the broken pieces of my arrogant and Pharisee like ego was when Jesus told them "If you understood what this scripture really meant.... There is far more here at stake than religion and I prefer a flexible heart to an inflexible ritual"
I was floored, once again by the "living" nature of the scriptures, given that this passage could not have entered my life at a more perfect time to not only teach me this deep truth about the heart of God desire my heart to become more flexible (which I admit honestly it has grown to be rather rigid, superior and over-confident - Pride comes before the fall!) but it also came while I was looking in ti the scriptures to find a passage about Jesus instructing something about how to exercise integrity in religious ceremonies or rituals, in order to apply it to a situation that would have led to my certain destruction in almost every way. I would have been proven wrong, shown ungraceful, it would have been clear that I didn't fully understand what Jesus ,said were the larger things at play because I was the nit-picking Pharisee..... And I now realize it hasn't been the first time... It happens often...
Jesus seems to be saying, by saying "The Son of Man is no lackey to the Sabbath", in the context of summarizing this passage that God has to be free to lead His people to do whatever He feels is needed even if that is not "correct" or within the "rules" (by citing the David in the Temple story this reading takes on more depth) and I am struck that Jesus begins by responding to the Pharisees with "Really?". As if to say, are you really going to be so bold as to try and interfere with what God might be doing that you may have no understanding of at all, even if it looks like or is most certainly "against the rules"..... God is doing something bigger than rules and religion....
I have learned that I know very little about the scriptures and understand even less.... I will be taking sometime to listen rather than speak and see what kind of wisdom God brings my way....
Remember to keep your heart soft above all things....
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