Among the many questions that have plagued mankind over the centuries, there are few that have sparked such heated debate as the age-old dilemma, “Which came first the chicken or the egg?” Perhaps you are among the many who have come to the conclusion “Who cares?” but the answer to this question is more significant than most of us realize. For within that answer a person’s basic theology and world view is revealed. The Creationist believes that God started with the chicken, creating it with the ability to reproduce. (Genesis 1:20-23) With God the creature always comes first.
In today’s Bible Story, we are faced with a similar question, the answer to which will determine our understanding of the love and purpose behind God’s holy commands. Jesus and His disciples were walking through the grainfields on the sabbath day. To satisfy their hunger, they broke off some of the heads of wheat, rubbed them in their hands and put them in their mouths. Although it required very little effort on their part, it was too much for the Pharisees to swallow. “Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days?” (Luke 6:2) And if that wasn’t bad enough, on another sabbath, Jesus actually had the nerve to heal a man with a withered hand in their synagogue - an act that drove the scribes and Pharisees into a mad rage, sparking a discussion as to how they might destroy him. Blinded by their religious zeal, they chose suffering over satisfaction and death over life.
Could God’s command have really meant to let the hungry remain in their hunger and the hurting to continue in their pain? Was rest more important than people and the law more important than mercy? The Pharisees thought so – and without exception! Jesus knew better… he knew his Father’s heart.
The question came down to this … “Which came first … the man or the commandment?” The answer is easily found. “So God created man in His own image … male and female created He them. … And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. (Ge. 1:27 & 31) And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.” (Ge. 2:3) The Pharisees’ philosophy was God made a commandment and needed to create someone to obey it, while Jesus taught that God created man, and needed a commandment to ensure his health and spiritual well-being. You see the difference? The Jewish leaders honored the law above the life and heaped on men unreasonable burdens to keep the commandment from being violated. They decided what constitutes work! Jesus accused them of condemning the guiltless by their traditions. (Matt. 12:7)
Their harsh attitude revealed just how blinded they were to God’s original purpose in issuing this command. Jesus called attention to examples in the scriptures where God made certain allowances in order to meet a more pressing need. By the Pharisees’ standards, David, the Priests, and God Himself were all guilty of breaking the law. This lack of mercy grieved Jesus deeply and caused him to look on them with anger. (Mark 3:5) And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. (Mark 2:27)
Jesus never violated any of God’s commands but often disregarded the commandments of men. As a matter of fact, He seemed to go out of His way to do so in order to teach them the difference. As revealed in the Sermon on the Mount, there is a letter of the law (the command), and a spirit of the law (its purpose), and we have to be careful to keep them both. Their leaders turned everything into a moral issue. Jesus taught that man is not defiled by what goes into him but rather by what comes out. (Matt. 15:16-20)
I wonder how often we have grieved the Lord by putting our own construction upon God’s Word rather than seeking the Spirit’s interpretation. How many souls we may have turned away by insisting on our idea of holiness rather than His. The Scripture warns that the natural mind is an enemy of God (and man as well). These things need to be spiritually discerned. (I Cor. 2:14) Now the end [purpose] of the commandment is [love] out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned. (I Timothy 1:5)
God’s word never changes – people and circumstances do. Let all things be done with love.
Prayer: Merciful Heavenly Father, give us discernment. May the Holy Spirit help us to apply Your Word with understanding and help us to see through Your eyes.
