December 13, 2023
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Reading along with us in our Advent readings from “The Life of Jesus”? Here’s today’s reading:
Day 13 in the Book: “The Life of Jesus“
The Year of Popularity
Read Sections 3.13 through 3.16 (pages 40-43)
This book is an account of Jesus’ life and teachings told through in chronological order from the four Gospels to create one continuous story.
*If you do not have a copy of the book please contact the church at (401)667-0775 and we can get you a copy.
The Pharisees were just looking for a way to stop the work of Jesus out of their own fears and anxiety. The Sabbath seemed like an easy way to do that because of course if one of our own sheep or even better children were in distress we would of course help them regardless of the timing and all these people Jesus was helping were His, were His Father’s so to Him this was not work but merely caring for His own.
And as we see people were coming to Him in great numbers to hear him, seek healing, and just see Him as He begins His sermon on the mount.
I got excited studying this particular section; I apologize for chiming in off the plan, I jumped to page 65, Jesus, when entering the room of the little girl, He had Peter, James and John join him, on the way there, he was joined by a crowd, but He only had His guys enter the room with Him, Why? Because Jesus didn’t want any naysayers, only those that believed. I was encouraged to mention this.
The Life of Jesus 3.13-3.16; 1 Chronicles 7-9
The sabbath was made for man and not man for the sabbath. What a wise statement to define God’s heart in the gift He gave the Jews in the Sabbath that legalists corrupted with a lot of laws, mostly man made. So Jesus is Lord of the sabbath because we need His help to direct us how to treat it. So many things drew people to Jesus and so crowds sought Him out, especially those who had ailments of all sorts, knowing there was Someone on the scene who could heal them. Jesus was full of mercy and compassion, something the Jewish leaders lacked. There was so much that needed to be done and Jesus’ teaching needed to be spread after He died, and so He calls 12 apostles that He will pour His life into. And what a good orientation to the teaching of Jesus the sermon on the mount is. The beatitudes show the upside down nature of how Jesus’ kingdom works. And I just love how honest Jesus is about how the world will respond to us and His message. But we are blessed when we are persecuted and we are in good company as well. People have always rebelled against those who carry the message of God. Should we expect anything different?
So here we go. Forbidden to do farming in the sabbath. So touching some grain to eat is forbidden. How hard it must have been back then to exist as a Hebrew. It’s so obvious that the pride of the religious leaders had blinded them to the truth that stood before them. Lord of the sabbath. BAM!!!! Jesus created all things including the sabbath The creater more important then the creation. Can’t practice medicine on the sabbath. More important for these morons to protect their laws than to free a man from painful suffering?? If only they understood one inch of what John said. I must decrease!!!
Thank you Jesus that you would not give up when you were dealing with such intense persecution throughout your ministry. Because of this, we can fully trust in you and have hope in eternal life.
A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,
till he has brought justice through to victory.
In his name the nations will put their hope, he will not give up..and people will have hope in him. Isahia 42:3-4
Were the Pharisees following Jesus and His followers. It sure seems that way for they were trying to find wrong in Jesus and His followers. And sure enough they accuse the disciples of picking grain to eat on the Sabbath. Jesus calls out the Pharisees because of their legalism. Even when Jesus enters the synagogue they try to entrap Him but He still heals the man with the crippled hand showing them that it is important to show kindness on the Sabbath. They are so full of legalism that they can`t even understand His teachings but would rather dwell in their legalism looking down on others. Not only that but they wanted to kill Him because it went against their self righteous teaching. Sometimes Jesus had to withdraw from people. They people were crowding Him to heal them for which He healed many. He needed His own space. And then latter He withdrew to pray at a mountain for the choosing of His 12 Apostles. Yes even Judas Iscariot who latter betrayed Him. For He knew that Judas would betray Him even though the others had no clue including Judas Iscariot. Then Jesus discuses at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount the Beatitudes. So shall we should live. God bless us all.
Advent 2023 – Day 13
The Scriptures say, ‘I don’t want animal sacrifices; I want you to show kindness to people.’ You don’t really know what that means. If you understood it, you would not judge those who have done nothing wrong.
The Jewish leaders and teachers are caught up in legalism. They think that if they are coercive, punitive and regulatory that they will have a relationship with God, perhaps they think that they can “save” others by coercion, but that is not how God or people function.
Jesus knows that it is the heart of man that God knows and by which He judges.