Lord of the Sabbath

At seeing this the Pharisees said to him: ¨Look! Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.¨  Matthew 12:2 (Reference Bible)

We humans have some stubborn qualities.  We can hold something true, understand it and teach it to others, but somehow within the mix, we don´t actually live this truth with anything resembling conviction.

For example, a Christian places all his or her cards on the table saying, that only by the work of Jesus we are saved unto God.  Our simple faith in Jesus Christ is what activates that work Jesus does to correctly adjust us to our Maker.  This concept I believe we all share, those who hold to the teachings of the Holy Bible.

However, at the very same time that we all claim to hang our eternal and present situation with God on this very fact, we also march right out with a secret bent on doing right things.  It is the age old dispute between justification by faith and justification by works. 

There could be nobody that calls themselves Christians, who would not agree that we should be good people and Christ Himself said that by their fruit we shall be known.  So really there can be no real argument here.  The problem does not lie in whether or not we do good things, the problem arises when we lose Christ.

In Matthew 12 verses 1 through 13 we find Jesus confronting us once again with this age old problem.  People were getting things messed up again by focusing on external and temporary worldly things.  Jesus was here among men going about doing everything for a different set of rules and different objectives to those of the church.  The church was concerned that people followed the things they were teaching about honoring and worshipping God.

God had been dealing with this problem since the dawn of ages.  His dilemma was not that people were not following His commands; it was that they were constantly getting these commands and making them bigger, more real and more important than following God.  The very ways God gave for us to draw closer to Him and share more with Him, becomes our all while He watches and waits for us just beyond.

Let´s attempt to make this clearer through an example.  God tells us to pray to Him.  He knows we will need the doors of communication open between us and must feed off of what we learn through this quiet meditation and directing our hearts to Him.  But somehow we start with our propensity for screwing things up.  We run off with all the best intentions to obey Gods wishes and do what He asked because we know it is important for us.  Up to this point we are doing alright.

But then we throw ourselves into the task of praying.  We work up a routine or time frame for doing it.  We teach it to others because it is important.  We start getting caught up in the command and little by little without knowing it; we have left God completely outside of what we are doing.

Are we praying?  Yes, of course!  Are we doing something that pleases God?  Sure!  But are we following the great heart of God?  Well, perhaps this is where we are straying.  We take the very words and wishes of His and make them into little things we have to do.  We do this all the time and with all kinds of different things.

God is here just behind a veil where we cannot see clearly His face.  He has beckoned us to Him.  There are many ways and expressions that He has given us to use to help us draw nearer.  But each and every little hint is geared for and meant for us to do just that.  Nothing He has ever intended us to do would ever separate us from Him in any way.  The direction must always be in personal living expression of our complete soul in open communion with Him.

He does not call for actions alone, each and every intention and result must be filled with true spiritual context.  Our very soul and heart must be open and lifted up to God in actual experience, if not, whatever we are doing are just actions.

So let us not get into discussions of what is permissible or not.  Let us not lose experiencing and working along with God in any given moment.  Let us do everything, absolutely everything, with Him.  When we say we want to find Jesus, let us make that to mean an extremely real relationship that we live with each and every minute.  If we have a thought or do some action, let us do it while lifting it up to Jesus.  Bring the thought and the action before His council; learn to hear His voice telling us how to feel about it.  Let His voice direct us in all that we do and say.

Jesus Himself lived His life in this way and if we would have a part with Him we would be like Him.

Dear Lord, help us today to open up our entire hearts to You.  Draw us so close to You that we feed off of Your Spirit for everything.  Let us take nothing and remove it from You, not even the things we know you have asked of us.  Make all that we think and do to be an expression of You in us, holding up in constant communion our hearts to our God.  Then we will understand our Savior when He says that He is Lord even of the Sabbath.

Amen

Scott W