Tuesday, May 3
Losing the plot
Scripture: 1 Samuel 5-6, Psalm 52, Mark 3
Mark 3:1–6 Jesus entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a shriveled hand. 2 In order to accuse him, they were watching him closely to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 He told the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand before us.” 4 Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. 5 After looking around at them with anger, he was grieved at the hardness of their hearts and told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 Immediately the Pharisees went out and started plotting with the Herodians against him, how they might kill him.
Observation
Here are two diametrically opposed views of God and what it means to follow Him.
The Pharisees were concerned about the rules and the rituals: keeping the Sabbath. Jesus was concerned with the man in front of Him, meeting his need. People mattered to Jesus more than rules.
Barclay says that the Pharisees were about ritual; Jesus was about service.
Jesus felt both anger and grief at their hardness of heart. The anger He felt for a moment (aorist tense); the grief was sustained (present tense).
Jesus forced the issue, calling the man to stand up, and raising the question of whether it was lawful to do good or evil, to save life or to kill on the Sabbath. The irony is that He was eager to do good, to save life; His opponents started plotting His death.
What an example of losing the plot! The Pharisees’ religion was totally misdirected!
Application
When I was in college, I was part of a band called The Joyful Noise. One Friday afternoon, we were setting up for a concert in a church in Portland. We had gotten hot lugging in our equipment, and without thinking about it, took our coats off and laid them on the communion table up front. A staff member from the church came in, saw our coats and exploded in anger, ordering that we remove our coats from the sacred furniture, and giving us a wrathful lecture. What is more important to God: the furniture or the people? He had lost the plot.
We all do this in various ways. When we make our pet issue more important than the other person, we have lost the plot. When we have rigid rules and have no mercy for the person in front of us, we have lost the plot. When we are willing to sacrifice a person for whom Christ died for the sake of our principle or preference, we have lost the plot.
It’s easy to do. I’ve done it.
How to keep the plot? Focus on the person in front of you. What does God want for that person? How can you love him or her? Show mercy? Do good? That’s my call today.
Prayer: Lord, I see those same Pharisaical tendencies in me. Help me to be more like Jesus who valued people above rules, who showed mercy and met needs.