Today’s Bible Reading:
Exodus 11:1-12:21; Luke 14; Job 29; 1 Corinthians 15: Proverbs 28
“It happened that when He [Jesus] went into the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching Him closely. And there in front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy. And Jesus answered and spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?’ But they kept silent. And He took hold of him and healed him, and sent him away. And He said to them, ‘Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a well, and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?’ And they could make no reply to this.” Luke 14:1-6, NASB
How quick we can be to judge the Pharisees. We certainly do not want to be like them! I have been reading through a little book by Peter Haas, Pharisectomy: How to Joyfully Remove Your Inner Pharisee and Other Religiously Transmitted Diseases. Like many books I pick up I do not agree with everything within it, but it does have me thinking about whether or not I have an “inner Pharisee.” The passage I have quoted here from Luke caught my attention this morning. It caught my attention as I asked myself whether I put my own sense of right and wrong ahead of the people who cross my path. What I mean by that, is do I hold back from helping people because of some notion I have about it being proper. Would it be right for me to take someone to the grocery store on a Sunday afternoon if I think it is wrong to expect people to work on Sunday? Would it be right for me to help out a person in need rather than attend my Bible Study?
The Pharisees were watching Jesus very closely to see if he would break the Sabbath-they were waiting for Him to do something wrong. Jesus knew all about their agenda and blew them out of the water. He knows all about my agenda’s as well-and I do have them, each day when I get up I have an agenda-my well laid plan. Often the Lord has other plans for me, and I can be very resistant. While not directly drawn from this passage, I often need reminding that the Lord works in mysterious ways-and His ways do not always line up with my agenda. I have to ask myself: which is more important-my agenda or people? Which is more important-following a list of rules or people? Which is more important, the Sabbath or people? Jesus has a way of turning things on their head so I guess it would be good to learn to be flexible-not one of my strongpoints. When I have a plan, when I have a goal, I do not want anything getting in the way- I can be very driven and then miss an opportunity that God puts in my path. Opportunities to love others come before any well laid plans I might have. Isn’t that kind of what I have been thinking about the last two days…what love is?
Grace, peace, and mercy,
Debra
Exodus 11:1-12:21; Luke 14; Job 29; 1 Corinthians 15: Proverbs 28
“It happened that when He [Jesus] went into the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching Him closely. And there in front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy. And Jesus answered and spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?’ But they kept silent. And He took hold of him and healed him, and sent him away. And He said to them, ‘Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a well, and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?’ And they could make no reply to this.” Luke 14:1-6, NASB
How quick we can be to judge the Pharisees. We certainly do not want to be like them! I have been reading through a little book by Peter Haas, Pharisectomy: How to Joyfully Remove Your Inner Pharisee and Other Religiously Transmitted Diseases. Like many books I pick up I do not agree with everything within it, but it does have me thinking about whether or not I have an “inner Pharisee.” The passage I have quoted here from Luke caught my attention this morning. It caught my attention as I asked myself whether I put my own sense of right and wrong ahead of the people who cross my path. What I mean by that, is do I hold back from helping people because of some notion I have about it being proper. Would it be right for me to take someone to the grocery store on a Sunday afternoon if I think it is wrong to expect people to work on Sunday? Would it be right for me to help out a person in need rather than attend my Bible Study?
The Pharisees were watching Jesus very closely to see if he would break the Sabbath-they were waiting for Him to do something wrong. Jesus knew all about their agenda and blew them out of the water. He knows all about my agenda’s as well-and I do have them, each day when I get up I have an agenda-my well laid plan. Often the Lord has other plans for me, and I can be very resistant. While not directly drawn from this passage, I often need reminding that the Lord works in mysterious ways-and His ways do not always line up with my agenda. I have to ask myself: which is more important-my agenda or people? Which is more important-following a list of rules or people? Which is more important, the Sabbath or people? Jesus has a way of turning things on their head so I guess it would be good to learn to be flexible-not one of my strongpoints. When I have a plan, when I have a goal, I do not want anything getting in the way- I can be very driven and then miss an opportunity that God puts in my path. Opportunities to love others come before any well laid plans I might have. Isn’t that kind of what I have been thinking about the last two days…what love is?
Grace, peace, and mercy,
Debra
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