Yesterday we explored a story about Jesus and his followers eating grain in the fields on a Saturday, a day of rest, and getting in trouble from the religious authorities.  In his response, Jesus referred to one of the great heroes of the Jewish faith, David, who ate holy bread in the temple when he was starving.  He mentions the story, and lets the religious authorities do what they do best – argue about God while God is standing right there.  He asks them why David got away with eating holy bread, since David was never condemned for eating it.

This story illustrates Jesus’ approach to two kinds of law.  There is God’s law given at creation about the Sabbath: rest on the seventh day…period.  That stands, and that’s actually what Jesus is about – giving us eternal rest, even today.  But there is also the ritual/Sabbath/ceremonial law that is built on top of the basic commandment at creation.  Think of it like scaffolding around a structure to help build it – it can be very helpful in following God’s law.  But we don’t want to let it obscure God’s original purpose and law.  This scaffolding is a reality of our sin or rebellion from God.  Our hearts don’t naturally follow God’s law anymore, and so we need these additional structures.  But, don’t forget they are provisional…until something comes along and makes them obsolete

Then Jesus comes along and says, “I am Lord of the Sabbath.”

He claims to be God, and gives an invitation to find rest in him, and to stop wrestling with sin and other sinful realities around us, to stop wrestling with ourselves, and just rest in him as he fights those battles.

Claims like this got him in trouble with the Pharisees and Scribes, and eventually their urging that he be killed.   But in doing, they made him Lord of the Sabbath…exactly what he’d said.

On the cross, he is restless for us – huge work.  He takes on the restlessness of our sin and because of that, we can rest, not on our work overcoming sin and brokenness in our lives, but on his work.

We see him showing that the day of rest, the Sabbath, isn’t the point, just as the temple bread wasn’t the point.  God is the point.  Resting in God is the point.  We’ll see how tomorrow.

Question: Why do you think Jesus’ claims were so offensive to the religious legalists?

Ryan Sim - September 19, 2013

Thursday - Act On It - Strangers to Neighbours

Yesterday I asked you to complete a neighbourhood grid. How did it go? This grid has been completed by people all over North America, and the creators report that about 10% of people can fill in every name on the grid. About 3% can write down one fact about each neighbour, and less than 1% can write something of depth about every neighbour. Yes, Jesus says love your enemies, and we should work towards this. Unfortunately, we can’t start there very easily, since if we aim for everything, we usually hit nothing. Trying to be neighbours with everybody all at once often means we’re neighbours with nobody. We need to start somewhere. In our culture, we often experience the opposite problem as Jesus’ original hearers. They lived in a tightknit community with strong traditions and bonds. Loving their similar neighbours came naturally, but loving enemies did not. Their definition needed broadening. In contract, our culture can make this story too metaphorical and remote. We don’t regularly see wounded enemies laying on the road, and can tell ourselves, “if I do, I live in a country with universal health care so I can leave it to the profesionals.” For us, our definition of loving neighbour can start out too broad, and needs narrowing so we can learn to truly love, and not just write people off. There are two ways we will start off easy. We’ll start with our actual neighbourhood or cubicle cluster. Secondly, if love sounds mushy or weird, we can just start with learning names, and then we can figure it out from there. Challenge: For this week, work on learning all the names possible in your grid. If you don’t know them all, just go knock on their door and ask. You may find out they forgot your name, too! Have you completed the neighbourhood grid yet? If not, click here: https://www.redeemthecommute.com/2013/09/11/strangerstoneighbours

Related Topics: Love, Names, Neighbours | More Messages from Ryan Sim | Download Audio

From Series: "Won't You Be My Neighbour?"

Discuss

More Messages From Ryan Sim...

Powered by Series Engine