Friday, January 11, 2013

Luke 6:1-16

v. 1-2 The disciples began to pick some grain to eat as they were traveling through the grain fields and the Pharisees asked "Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"  Do you ever feel like there are Pharisees watching you and criticizing you for everything you do?  Did they have nothing better to do that to follow Jesus to try to "catch" Him?  You might be doing well and there will always be someone who wants to disrupt your plans.  God's law said farmers should leave the edges of their fields unplowed so travelers and the poor could eat from the bounty (Deu. 23:25).  Harvesting and picking some grain to eat are very different.  The Pharisees had thousands of rules and they were determined to trip up Jesus with as many as they could. 

v. 3-5 Jesus pointed out to the Pharisees that they were only doing what David had done.  So calling Jesus wrong would be calling David wrong as well. 

v. 6-7 Jesus healed a man's hand on the Sabbath.  Apparently you could not do a single thing on the Sabbath per the religious leaders.  Which included healing someone, that was considered practicing medicine.  The Pharisees were more concerned about protecting their laws than freeing a person from painful suffering.  They were focused on what should not be done.  Many churches today focus on what they are against instead of what they are for. 
Are we more concerned with what people are doing than advancing God's kingdom? 
Is our way of being a Christian the only way? 
What about our churches?   
Beware of thinking that your church has all the answers.  No religious system is big enough to contain Christ completely or to fulfill perfectly His desires for the world. 

v. 13-16 Jesus picked the twelve disciples (He had many more disciples, these were His main ones).    Jesus did not pick the upstanding people of the day.  He picked ordinary people, many would have been at the bottom of the list for the religious leaders.  Here are some of the reasons why some would have never been picked by the elite.  I see me in this group, how about you?

Simon Peter - Denied Jesus three times at the end of His life
James (son of Zebedee) - short tempered and judgmental
John - judgmental
Philip - questioning attitude
Bartholomew - initially rejected Jesus because He was from Nazareth
Matthew - he was a despised tax collector
Thomas - doubted that Jesus had risen for the dead
Judas - betrayed Jesus for money, greedy
Paul (Saul of Tarsus) - used to persecute Christians before becoming one (not one of the 12 disciples)

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