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Jesus had to show the religious leaders of their day what
was wrong that they either couldn’t see or wouldn’t admit. He quoted Scripture, saying, “I want kindness more than I want animal sacrifices.” Doing
the right thing was much more important that doing things right.
The Pharisees and priests had developed Sabbath traditions in trying to quantify every conceivable aspect
of the Law. Those traditions had not been given by God or handed down by
Moses. They’d gone from “do no work on the Sabbath” to disallowing
people from taking heads of grain that God had caused to grow for food when they were hungry! They’d taken out compassion by forbidding the good
deed of healing on the Sabbath. The religious leaders had uncompassionately
used a man with a crippled hand as a weapon against Jesus, attempting to goad
Him into healing on the Sabbath. He
simply told the man, “Hold out your hand.”
He never said, “Be healed.”
Jesus knew their
hearts and called them out on it by saying that they’d certainly pull their sheep out of a ditch on the Sabbath,
but not a man!
One thing my commentary pointed out I hadn’t considered
before – Jesus mentioned how an evil spirit could come out of a person, then
come back with seven more spirits and make the person much worse off. It said, “It is not enough to clean house; we must also invite in the right tenant.
The Pharisees were proud of their clean houses, but their hearts
were empty! Mere religion, or reformation, will not save. There must be regeneration, the receiving of
Christ into the heart.”
Finally, Jesus identified his true family members as “those
who do what My Father in heaven wants.”
It’s not about what we want,
but about what God wants, and Jesus
had quoted that at the first of this chapter:
“I want kindness more than I
want animal sacrifices.”
Father, help me to see those who are hurting and show me the
best way to show compassion to them. Don’t
let me not be compassionate because
of manmade rules.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
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