Mark 2:8

The Son of Man is LORD

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Summary & Study

1. Dispute Over Fasting (Mark 2:18-22)

Context: The Pharisees and disciples of John question why Jesus' disciples don't fast like others.
Jesus' Response: He uses three illustrations:
- Wedding Feast: As long as the bridegroom (Jesus) is present, it's a time for celebration, not fasting.
- Old and New Cloth: Jesus indicates the incompatibility of His new teachings with old traditions.
- New Wine in Old Wineskins: This symbolizes the new era He brings, which cannot be contained in old systems.

2. Dispute Over Sabbath: Picking Grain (Mark 2:23-28)

Context: Pharisees criticize Jesus' disciples for plucking grain on the Sabbath.
Jesus' Teaching: He references David eating showbread, emphasizing the human need and the purpose of the Sabbath. He declares Himself the Lord of the Sabbath, suggesting a new understanding of its observance.

3. Dispute Over Sabbath: Healing on Sabbath (Mark 3:1-6)

Context: Jesus heals a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath, causing outrage among the Pharisees.
Key Point: Jesus emphasizes the importance of doing good and showing mercy, even on the Sabbath. This incident leads to further plotting against Jesus by the Pharisees.

4. Practical Applications

Fasting and Joy: Reflect on the purpose of fasting and joy in Christ's presence.
Sabbath Understanding: Consider the Sabbath as a time for rest, worship, and doing good.
Compassion and Mercy: Emulate Jesus' example of mercy and compassion, regardless of societal norms or religious traditions.

5. Theological Reflections

Westminster Confession of Faith: Reflect on the doctrine of Christ's lordship over all things, including the Sabbath (Chapter VIII).
Westminster Larger Catechism: Understand the moral law and the Sabbath (Q&A 116-121) in light of Jesus' teachings.
Westminster Shorter Catechism: Reflect on the meaning of the Fourth Commandment (Q&A 57-62) and how it relates to Jesus' actions.

Closing Prayer

Acknowledgment of Human Fallibility: Confess our tendencies towards legalism and overlooking the essence of God’s commands.
Request for Guidance: Seek wisdom to understand and apply Jesus' teachings in daily life.
Gratitude for Christ’s Example: Thank Jesus for His example of love, mercy, and the new era of grace He ushered in.

Automated Sermon Manuscript

Well, you open your Bibles with me to the Gospel of Mark the good news according to Mark, Matthew, Mark chapter two and we'll be beginning this morning at verse 18. And we'll be going through chapter three, verse six, Mark Chapter Two beginning at verse 18. If you're using your pew Bibles, you'll be able to find that on page 184. Mark chapter two, beginning at verse 18. The disciples of John and the Pharisees were fasting, they came and said to him, why did the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? And Jesus said to them, can the Friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. And then they will fast in those days. No one so is a piece of unstruck cloth on an old garment, or also the new piece pulled away from the old and the tear is made worse. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Or else the new wine burst, the wineskins the wine is filled and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins. Now it happened that he went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And as they went, his disciples began to pluck the heads of green. And the Pharisee said to him, Look, why did they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath? But he said to them, Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him how he went into the house of God in the sit in the days of Abiathar, the high priest and ate the Showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who are with him. And he said to them, the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath. And he entered the synagogue again, and a man who was there who had a withered hand. So they watched him closely, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. And He said to the man who had the withered hand, stepped forward. Then he said to them, Is it lawful on the Sabbath, to do evil, to do good or to do evil, to save life, were to kill. But they kept silent. And when he had looked around them with around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, Stretch out your hand, and he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him. Let's pray. Lord, we have read your word, historical truth. Father, we plead with you now that these words would be used by your Holy Spirit, to open our eyes that we might see. Father, we pray that you would unstop our ears that we might hear, and that you would soften our hearts that we might receive and rests in Jesus alone. In his name we pray amen. It seems like every time there's a new president elected, there's a whole bunch of fights. Right? Because there's something out with the old and in with the new. And whether you like it or not, this is what happens. And some people really don't like it as of late. Whatever election cycle you want to think back to, that seems to be the case. That's the case in Jesus's era as well. A new era has come upon them, a new time has come. An old things don't belong anymore. Or at least they don't stay the same, the way that the people of the first century wanted them to. And so we find in this passage in Mark chapter two, verses 18, through chapter three, verse six, the Son of Man has come. And he's the Lord of a new era, and things are going to change. That doesn't mean there aren't disputes. So this passage before us is marked with three different disputes, three different fights that are going to happen, three different contingencies that occur. And so we're going to look at those three for disputes and how they show us how Jesus ushers in a new era. So first, we'll see the dispute over fasting and then the dispute over works of, of necessity on the Sabbath. And lastly, we'll see the dispute over works of mercy on the Sabbath. So first, the disputes over fasting on the Sabbath. Now, we need to look at this section, verses 18 through 22. And we need to recognize the in the, in this first century era. The Pharisees are one sect of Jews. And they are ultra religious, strict law observing Jews. They're the people who look down their nose at people like the Sadducees, who are in cahoots with a Romans, and who kind of keep the law but will fudge on things to stay in power. So this is what you might think of the holiness movement in Israel. See, and in Israel, there's in God's law, there's only one day of fasting and all the law of Moses, there's only one day required of fasting Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. But by the time we get to Zachariah, what we find out is, there's at least four more facets that Jewish people are observing. And if we read the story in the in the Gospel of Luke, what we would find out as the Pharisees that they want to make sure that they are watching over their lives, that they're so holy, that they're fasting twice a week, two times a week, these people go without food for a time to try to practice righteousness, extreme contrition, repentance and this desire to be holy. So they they come to Jesus, the Pharisees and the disciples of John, we don't know how often the disciples of John are fasting, but they're probably fasting because of repentance for sin. But both these these groups come before the Jesus and they're scratching their heads. No, so don't go to the disciples. They go straight to Jesus. And they say, it's the disciples of Pharisees, they fast. The disciples of John they fast. But why don't your disciples, right, they're following after your teaching. So why aren't they practicing this holiness? Why are they practicing this asceticism? Why are they they physically grieving and showing their desire for repentance? And Jesus explains it in three different illustrations. Why his people don't fast at this time. The first illustrations he gives is that of a wedding banquet. Look with me at what he says, verses 19 and 20. And Jesus said to them, can the Friends of the bride groom fast while the bride groom is with them? As long as they have the bride or groom with them? They cannot fast. I mean, Jewish weddings are a big deal. Sometimes this these, these festivals lasted for almost a week. Now I've been to over 100 weddings, right? This is what we used to do for a living. And I gotta tell you, I've never seen someone in sackcloth and ashes at a wedding. I've seen people in tuxes, I've seen people in dresses. I've seen people in camo I've seen people in jeans, but I've never seen somebody fasting. I always see people eating at receptions. I mean, this is such a big deal. And it's so even ingrained in our culture that I remember when we were training up a cinematographer, right? There's a guy who I was teaching how to do videos of weddings, and he was just kind of this naturally introverted, dour guy. He didn't smile regularly and that was just his personality and that was okay, but I had to tell him No, hey, this is this these people's favorite day is the biggest day of their life. I know you might not mean it, but you got to smile. Because if you walk into the room, especially where the bride and the groom are, and everybody else is smiling, and you're melancholy, it's going to affect everyone and they're not going to want us in the room. Jesus saying, it doesn't make sense. Right? The the groom is here.

The groom is right in front of you. You've been waiting for this moment. Now, this is a little bit different than our culture, right? And our culture seems like all eyes are on the bride. But in this culture, go read Psalm 19, the first half and you'll see your the sun comes up like a bride groom coming out of his chamber, right or rain and decked in glory. Or the eyes were on the groom during Jewish weddings. It's not that there wasn't any light on the bride go read Psalm 45. And she's in her gown woven with strands of gold, right? That's, that's true, also, but it's if the groom is with you, you know, the weddings coming? How are they? How are they going to fast. My disciples have been waiting for me, my followers have been waiting for me. My students have been longing for the coming of the Messiah for hundreds of years. And now I'm with them and you went down the fast. It doesn't make any sense. Now there's going to come a time. This is a veiled reference of Jesus to his death, there's going to be come a time when the groom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. Then they'll long for the groom again. Right now, when Jesus is standing before them, it's the era of rejoicing. It's an era of joy, that the long for Promised Messiah is right in front of their eyes. It's not a time to grumble and complain. It's not a time to put on sackcloth and ashes. It's a time to behold Jesus Christ. Now in our lives, so I wish that part of me wishes that we were in that first part. I kind of wish that we were still in verse 19. We had to groom. But we find ourselves in verse 20. Now's the time for fasting. Maybe you're not given over to this habit or pattern of fasting in your life. I remember when I first became a Christian, I was reading these very words and I was scratching my head. And I went to my pastor on the ship, my chaplain, and I asked Chaplain laogai said, so, so talk to me about fasting as I caught him in this little hallway, this little metal corridor in the inside of the ship. He just looked at me with his piercing blue eyes, and he said, Brian, don't overthink it. Instead of eating, pray don't let other people see it. Right. Don't be showy. But just pray. How often is that blessing now of fasting do we neglect to do? Maybe one of the reasons we don't long for Jesus is we're too satisfied with our bellies. Maybe if we actually practiced what Jesus says you're longing for the bridegroom to return? And we did so so much that we would say I'm going to skip breakfast this morning. I'm going to skip dinner tonight. And I'm going to pray instead, maybe if we prayed that way, we would desire Jesus more. Well, this is the first illustration He gives us His other wedding feast. The second illustration he gives as patches right in verse 21. No one says a piece of unstrung cloth on an old garment, or else a new piece pulls away from the old and the tear is made worse. Right? This is just Jesus saying this is first century common sense. Did you never do laundry with your grandma? Did you never go out into the square all the ladies were were scrubbing out their laundry and they were all man and you go Amos's jeans have a hole in it again, they're threadbare. They don't take a new patch and and sew it on there. Why what's going to happen when they put it into hot water next time, the threadbare already shrunken material is just going to stay there. But the patch is going to shrink and it's going to rip it and make it worse. So it's just common sense. You can't do that. So there's common sense the Messiah is right here. The air of joy is upon you. It's not time for fasting. And it gives a third illustration in verse 22 of wineskin And no one puts new wine into old wineskins or else a new wine burst the wineskins the wine is built in the wind screens are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins or even new new wine is a time for rejoicing. When you come to the Psalms and and you and you hear about the harvest time is a time when there's grain and new wine. Right? This is a time when you when you when you went out into the vineyard and you grab gathered all the grapes, and you got to go fresh them out. And you got to press out the juice and and everybody knew that this was going to care for your family. That was a time to rejoice. And when you learn from your Uncle Paul, how you were supposed to do this. You didn't figure out oh, you go get the the oldest most dried up cracked wine skin made out of goat's bladder and fill that up with a wineskin. Why? It don't stretch anymore. It's brittle, it's going to break and guess what's going to happen to the wine all over the floor. First Century common sense, guys, come on, listen up Pharisees, it's not a time to fast, it's a time to rejoice. Did you not just see what I did with the leper? Did he not just see that the Spirit came down upon me and anointed me for the ministry of the kingship. The joy of the Messiah is right in front of you. And it's not going to fill fit into your own old forms. I know you're in this habit of fasting twice a week. But that's not the time. You know this, don't you? There's a appropriate thing to do at an appropriate time. And then there's a wrong time to do something that might be appropriate at another time. All right, if you came in here, as a silly example, I can't ever see this happening. But if you walked into church, that's an appropriate thing to do. And you started doing a conga line, that would be an inappropriate thing to do. Not because conga lines are inappropriately bad all the time, but it's not the right time in place. And Jesus is saying common sense here guys, it's not the time and place for fasting with the groom is in front of you. I'm right with you, he says. But what we're going to find out is that this new era of Jesus doesn't sit well with the Pharisees. I don't like this new era don't like being called old garments. Useless wineskins. Don't take this very well. And so we find now is is this dispute between them is really going to get heated. As we find a dispute over the Sabbath, the next two disputes are over what's allowed and not allowed on the Sabbath. That starts in verse 23 of chapter two. Now it happened when he that's Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and they went, and as they went to his disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. And the Pharisee said to him, Look, why did they do it's not lawful on the Sabbath. It's right to do this. Any other day of the week, the picking of grain from the edge of the field was totally lawful. Deuteronomy chapter 23 allowed it. Alright, if you are poor, if you are a traveler, and you're walking along the field, you know now I'm not suggesting you do this with the Beanfields. Or with the corn around here, you're not going to like what you taste. But if you were walking along the barley, or you're walking along the wheat fields, and you found it you are perfectly allowed and God's law and the economy of Israel to pluck a few heads of grain. But there was a problem here. See, as they took that grain and plucked it up what they would do with the heads of barley or with the heads of wheat as they would rub it together. Blow let the chaff fly off and eat the berries itself. Harvesting. See no longer are you just eating, gleaning, but you're harvesting. Remember the Sabbath. The Pharisees are these people who have a deep ingrained desire for holiness, for keeping the law of God. And we need to give the Pharisees a little bit of credit here and I mean God specifically said to remember the Sabbath, the Sabbath day is his day desecration ordinance. In six days the LORD made heaven on earth. And on the seventh He rested. Therefore, were to remember the Sabbath day into Halloween. It was so serious that in the Old Testament there's, as God is raining down manna from heaven, and the people are supplied from the rock that gushes forth water, somebody goes out on the Sabbath day, they collect a whole bunch of sticks. On the Lord's day, nobody else is doing that, but this guy does. And they take him to Moses, and what is the Lord say, death penalty? Capital punishment.

So the Pharisees in their minds are thinking, well, we don't want to do that. We don't want to break the Lord's Day. We don't, we don't want to violate God's Sabbath. I mean, he'd said in Isaiah 5813, if you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath, and doing as you please, there's going to be great blessings that flow from that, and they want those blessings. And so they don't want to break the Sabbath. So they come up with all sorts of rules, or they don't want to do work on the Sabbath. And so they start thinking, Okay, well, I don't want to travel too far on the Sabbath, and do work and break it. So here's what we'll do just to make sure we all understand we're not to work on the Sabbath by traveling too far, you could take a rock and you could throw that rock, and as far as you can throw it, you could walk that distance, but then you need to rest. And after you've rested, then you could throw the rock again. And that's how you could travel. This is so much so that we might think this on site is kind of strange, right? If you go to Manhattan today, and you go to Hasidic communities, a few to ortho other Orthodox communities. And you look up there is a wire that goes around a certain area of Manhattan on the on the poles, cost the Jewish community about a million dollars a year to maintain this wire. Because they have a tradition, you're able to walk in your home as much as you want on the Sabbath, that's not breaking the Sabbath, and your neighborhoods, kind of like your home. And so if we put a wire around the neighborhood, it's like walking in your home. Now that means in Manhattan, you can walk 25 square blocks, and supposedly you're still in your home. But this is the point is they're trying to figure out how can we how can we make these rules because we don't want to break the Sabbath. And meet with God Himself and Exodus 3421, who said that you are to rest on the Sabbath day even during the plowing and the harvest. So you want to do any form of work? No, shucking, corn, no thrashing of any, any type of wheat? No going out into the garden and picking wild strawberries? No, none of that you don't want to do any of that because you don't want to possibly be doing work on the Sabbath. So what does Jesus point out in verses 25? Through 28? When he points out the situation, points out the intent of the law. And then he points out who he is. Okay with me? Verses 25 through 28. But he that being Jesus said to them, Have you never read by the way, that's a funny thing to say to a Pharisee? Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him how he went into the house of God and the days of Abiathar the high priests and ate the Showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests and also gave some to those who were with him. And he said that, um, the sun, or the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath. See, this situation is about basic human needs. The intent of the law was not to be a heavy burden laid upon people's shoulders, but was to give them rest. And Jesus's making it very clear at the end of this that he is a Lord of the Sabbath. It's his day. Now, it's interesting that he uses an illustration here to make this point, Have you never read? And then he compares himself with who? David, the King, the type of Christ, the one from whose line would come a king who would sit on his throne forever and rule and righteousness. And he says do not have you never read for Samuel. Have you never read that point in the book? When David is being chased around by Saul, and as he's being chased around I saw he's desperate for food. He's got a gang of guys with him, they go to the house of God, they go to the tabernacle itself. And there's Abiathar, his father's deputy, the high priests. And as he's there Abiathar sees his need, and takes the Showbread he takes us 12 loaves that were only meant for the priests, and he brings them out. And he gave them to David and his companions. And he wasn't wrong in doing so. So Jesus is comparing himself to what happened between Abiathar and David Abiathar sees David, The Lord's anointed, and he loves him. Abiathar sees the need of David S and his men, and he loves them. And yet, now the Pharisees see David in the flesh, the type of the type that was to come, the King of kings, and they don't love him. They don't care about his needs. They don't see that it's a Sabbath day. These men are away from home. They're traveling and they're hungry. Most likely going to different synagogues. Jesus has been most likely healing people along the way. Notice what they never did. Jesus, we saw your guys picking some heads of grain. That's poor people food, why don't you come to our house, and we'll give you a good proper Sabbath meal. They don't show him hospitality. They don't show him love. They don't care for him. Instead, they they judge. Jesus explains the parable of the Sabbath when he says the Sabbath was made for rest. The Sabbath was made for us to slow down and see our need for God. The Sabbath was given for us to realize that we depend upon God, because he's our Creator, every time we stop our work. And we remember that there's one day of the week that doesn't belong to us. We remember that we're not God, and that we're utterly dependent on Him for everything. The Sabbath was given and made, not as a burden. But that we might delight in God and love each other wasn't made for self righteousness. Do you see how the Pharisees had twisted this? This good gift from God? They're using as a marker for how holy they could be rather for how good God is. Possibly right things, but wrong motivation. As teachers have said, Jesus, Jesus from his lips teaches us that He is the law giver. Jesus's himself teaching us here that he is the one who authoritatively interprets the law. And Jesus is the one who tells us how we keep the Sabbath. I love that the book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is our eternal Sabbath. Do you want to find rest for your soul? Do you want to find Sabbath for your weary heart? You find it exactly where the disciples were being with Jesus. Jesus then claims in verse 28, something that would really make them grit their teeth. A new era has come and He is Lord of the Sabbath. Maybe that doesn't sound radical to you. But it is who made the world? God? And how many days did God make the world? Six days? And who made the seventh day? God? Who told us to rest on the seventh day? God. So whose day is the seventh day? God God's. And what does Jesus say? It's my day. It's my day. The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. It's Jesus who dictates the Sabbath. It's Jesus who interprets the Sabbath. It's Jesus who fulfills the Sabbath. It's Jesus who gets rest on the Sabbath. It's Jesus who's ushering in a new An era where God is dwelling with his people Yaqui in the flesh is standing right in front of them. And they're worried about rubbing hands together. The one who is calling tax collectors and sinners, and they're responding in repentance, are mad that his disciples are eating poor people's food on the sixth or on the seventh day. Lord of Glory

is before their eyes. But all they can see is hatred. And that leads us to the final dispute in verses in chapter three verses one through six, a dispute over work of mercy on the Lord's Day on the Sabbath. This is an era Jesus is ushering in an era of mercy. Look at me at verses one through six. And he that being Jesus entered the synagogue again, and a man who was there who had a withered hand. So they watched him closely, whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. And He said to the man with a with our hands step forward. Then he said to them, Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill, but they kept silent. And when he had looked around them at them with anger, being removed by the hardness of their hearts, he said that the man stretch out your hand, and he stretched it out and his hand was restored, as whole as the other than the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with a Herodians against him, how they might destroy him. Notice Jesus enters a synagogue. He goes in and as he enters the synagogue, the heart of our Savior is set on a man with needs. He's going in, and now all eyes are on Jesus, but Jesus, his eyes are on the person who needs mercy. And their Jesus as he's going to have compassion to the needy. The adversaries are looking on in verse two. They know his pattern. his adversaries know, his demeanor. They're wondering, Is he is he really going to do it? They know this man with a withered hand, as a community assembly. They know that Jesus is going to walk in here and he's going to see this man, this man's going to have a withered or paralyzed and some type of, of immobility or, or something wrong with his hand. And they know Jesus is going to take notice and they wonder, well, he heal on the Sabbath. I don't care. I wonder what he's gonna open up to and Moses today. I wonder how he's going to tell us how the scroll of Isaiah is fulfilled. I wonder how he's going to explain to us this teaching with authority. They don't care about any of that. Notice that's the condition of their heart is bent against Jesus. Matthew Henry commented, commenting on this, he says people who are bent on ill will can always find a reason to fault and our hearts are built, bent on ill will towards Jesus. See, they see this man with a withered hand as a pawn. And they see Jesus as an adversary. There's a problem. There's a new order. And there's a teaching with authority. It's an error coming in. That's not like the one that they've been in charge of, and they don't like it. Jesus is a heretic. He's a law breaker. They just saw on that with his disciples defending them on the Sabbath. And He's a blasphemer, making Himself equal with God by forgiving sins, and they don't want him around. Jesus knows this. So he says to the man with a paralyzed hand, he says, Hey, bud, go stand in the middle. by the seat of Moses is at one part, there's their seating all around the outside. The center is open and he says, I want you to stand right here. And as Jesus is hard is moved with compassion towards this man, his eyes gaze around the room, and he looks at domine has a question What's lawful to do on the Sabbath? To do good or evil, to save a life or to kill?

long silence in their hearts are screaming out, neither. We don't want you to do anything we just want you to leave. They don't care what Jesus is going to do, no matter what he does, they're going to be mad at him. What's in their hearts? Because they're silent, as they just want this man to continue to suffer. They don't want Jesus to heal him. Why couldn't he have done this on Tuesday? Thank God that He made the Sabbath for us. That He meets with us not just on the Lord's day, but on every day, as compared to compassions are new every morning. And that the Sabbath is no exception for that. As he looks at them, and they're silent in their hearts, it's now Jesus who's seething with anger is an old picture, isn't it? The read through the Old Testament. Their hearts are hardened. Their necks are stiff, like oxen, who are plowing a furrow of death, and they won't be moved either to the right or to the left. They're just bent on sin. And here he's saying the same thing. You guys act like you don't want to be like your fathers who are irreligious. So instead, you come and you be self righteous, and you end up in the same trap.

Jesus has righteous anger. Notice as well, and this is a helpful thing for us not all anger is sinful, or even commanded in Ephesians chapter four, be angry, and yet do not sin. Jesus hates this type of self righteousness. Jesus hates this type of non loving attitude. Jesus hates when we're so stiff neck that we would see other people's needs. And just turn around and say, not my problem. Not keeping the first tablet of the law of the law, to love the Lord, to honor the Sabbath day. And they're certainly not keeping the second command the second table of the law to love their neighbor so themselves. If they truly love God, what would they be doing? They'd be bringing this man with a withered hand to Jesus, like the four men did with a paralytic from last week, desperate to see him healed. But instead, we see them loving their tradition, loving their worn out garments, loving their old wineskin rule. Rather than knowing this air of mercy. And Jesus lovingly, the Lord of the Sabbath, mercifully says, To the weatherman, where everyone can see it, Stretch out your hand. I need to make sure you understand this is not some fable. This is not some made up story. This is history. This man with a paralyzed hand will be in heaven. And someday he'll say to you, I remember when Jesus told me to stretch out my hand, and I don't know how it happened. But somehow there's nothing in me that for the last years, I've been able to just move. I know some of you who have problems with your hands. And I'm sure if you woke up tomorrow, and all of a sudden you had full dexterity you would be praising God. This is what Jesus does for this man. But notice, this, the Pharisees aren't pleased about it. I mean, what would you expect, or this guy's hand has just been healed. Jesus just told them that there's a new era upon them. as the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath, that is right to do good. It's right to show mercy. It's light right to save life, it's right to heal on the Sabbath. And you would expect these people to cry Oh, hallelujah. But immediately they go out and conspire with a Herodians how they might, interestingly, on the Sabbath, or doing this, how they might destroy him? What did Jesus just ask them? What's lawful to do on the Sabbath? To save a life or to kill? And what do they immediately go? Do these people who are supposedly the keepers of the law? Plot, how to kill the Lord of the Sabbath?

I have eight closing questions for you. As we think about this new era, a new pattern? Where do you find your rest? Where do you find your rest? This world is constantly trying to find it. And we're a culture that loves entertainment. Loves vacations and experiences. I'll never fully give you rest. Where do you find your rest? Are you like the disciples listening to Jesus? Are you walking with him? And the grainfields even though you might be hungry, eating poor people's food? Do you follow Christ? Forth? Are you rejoicing in Jesus? What's your heart like? Do you rejoice when you hear about Jesus who's so merciful? are so gracious. Who heals? fifth layer redundant question. Are you resting in Jesus? Six more practically, at least in this life? Are you looking for the needs of others? As you look to Jesus as you follow Jesus as you love Jesus, that that end up in your life with you looking for needs like Jesus did. Seventh as you look for those needs, are you willing to find yourself in uncomfortable situations? You might think showing mercy to people loving people who don't have much is just an easy thing to do. It ain't easy. It's uncomfortable. Sometimes you have to ask people questions. And they're not comfortable. Sometimes you have to step into other people's lives and other situations that aren't comfortable. Sometimes you'll start associating with people, the other people will raise their eyebrows and say, Why are you talking to that person? Don't you know they're kind of an outcast? Yeah, we put up with them. They're in the synagogue meeting there they come to church, but not quite the people you want to interact with? Lastly, are you ready? For the rejection and opposition that will come from caring for people like Jesus cares for people? Isn't it weird how this world works? Those who show love the most are often those who are the most overlooked. Those who serve the most are often those who find themselves lonely and neglected. Those who care the most are often spat on by our society.

What model are you walking? Are you following in the era of Jesus Christ? An era of joy resting in Jesus. An era of hope that the Lord of the Sabbath is calm in an era of mercy, when we can do good and show love to others. It's not a moralistic sermon. I hope you don't walk away with it that way. It's not even a sermon necessarily on the Sabbath. I hope that you know that you have a Savior, a Messiah, who has ushered in a new era, an era of grace. And he's the Lord of that era. Let's pray. Father, we confess to you how often we are self righteous. We confess to you how often our hearts are cold and hard to those in need. We confess to you how easy it is to get caught up in religiosity and lose sight of you. Father, we pray that you would teach us to love you with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength, and that we would love our neighbor as ourselves. Thank you, Lord, that You have sent us our king who has done this perfectly. And who has shown us the way to walk in Jesus's name we pray

Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's word for you. The Ministry of Sharon RP church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website. Sharon rpc.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10am Every Sunday at 25204 160 Avenue. Morning Sun Iowa, 52640 may God richly bless you this week.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai