Unreasonable People

Jesus healed a man with a withered hand, so the Pharisees plotted how they could destroy him (Mathew 12:9-14). He healed a lame man, and the Pharisees plotted to kill him (John 5:1-18). He opened the eyes of a blind man and they condemned him (John 9:1-16). The Pharisees did this because he did these things on the Sabbath.

But Jesus did not stop healing the sick, raising the dead or casting out demons. God had given him a command what to do and say and he obeyed, trusting his Father with the results.

God has given each of us tasks to accomplish. There will be unreasonable people who will oppose us, but we too need to place our lives in our Father’s hands. Often scripture says that those who tried to harm Jesus could not because his time was not yet come. We can trust that God also has the timing of our lives in his hands.

Sheep in a Ditch

I am baffled by the Pharisees who were so entrenched in legalism that they the thought healing on the Sabbath would somehow violate God’s law (Mathew 12:9; John 8:13-16). Yet they thought nothing of pulling a sheep out of a pit on the Sabbath (Mathew 12:10). They valued animal more than their brothers.

Being consumed by our own righteousness blinds us to the illogic of our condemning others. We all fall short of God’s commands.

Hungry Men

Jesus told the Pharisees that they judged according to appearances and admonished them to judge righteously instead. We tend to react like the Pharisees. Similar to the man in yesterdays story, we do not see three thirsty and hungry men, we see thieves. God would see men he created who were in desperate need of the oranges.

The disciples were hungry and ate grain from an open field on the Sabbath. According to the law given to Moses it was acceptable to eat grain from any field. The Pharisees were not complaining about the men stealing. They complained because they saw this as “harvesting” or working on the Sabbath. They were twisting the law of Moses so that they looked more spiritual than others.

Jesus told them, “if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ You would not have condemned the guiltless.”

God’s word needs to always be ministered with mercy (Mathew 12:1-7).

Oranges

There were three men walking on a dusty road in late summer. One man pulled a handkerchief out of his back pocket and wiped his face. Another shielded his eyes from the glare coming off a tin roof. The third man groaned heavily as he placed one weary leg in front of the other.

“Look”, said the first man as he pointed to a group of trees a short distance from the road. “Aren’t those orange trees?”

Every man’s step quickened. Their breath no longer weighed heavily on their chest but came in quick successions of gasps as they finally reached the shade trees. One man picked up an orange off the ground, biting into the rind, he sat down under the first tree. The second man quickly peeled away a portion of the rind, then as he bit into the pulp, juice ran down his chin. The third man sat down in the grass and peeled the entire orange before quenching his thirst.

A sharp cry startled all three men as a man in a white shirt and black work boots stomped toward them from the door of the church with the tall steeple that sat across the way. “Stop! Thieves! Those oranges belong to God!

“That’s a relief,” said the man with the handkerchief. “I thought at first they belonged to you.” (Mathew 12:1-8)