Unlimited Resources of Mercy

Matthew 12:1-8Matthew 12:1-8
1. At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath.  His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them.
2. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."
3. He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?
4. He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread - which was not lawful for them to do but only for the priests.
5. Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple descrate the day and yet are innocent?
6. I tell you that one greater than the temple is here.
7. If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice' you would not have condemned the innocent.
8. For the Son of Man is the Lord of Sabbath.

When you are passing by the Court Building, look closely.  You will see an image of a blindfolded executioner with a measuring scale on his left hand and a long sword on his right hand.  The image is depicting that justice is blind to mercy.  It is expressing that who ever is found wanted under the law will also feel the sharp pain of its punitive sword.  This was how the Pharisees understood the Law of God - called Law of Moses.  It never crossed their minds that the law was only a guiding rod unto righteousness and not a killing sword.  That was why they say it was unlawful for the disciples of Jesus Christ   to pick some head of grain to eat when they were hungry. They went further in their ignorance and asked Jesus Christ whether it was lawful to heal on Sabbath day.  The Pharisees saw this as violation of law of Sabbath.

THE PHARISEES FORGOT

I Samuel 21:3-6I Samuel 21:3-6
3. Now then, what do you have on hand?  Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find."
4. But the priest answered David, "I don't have any ordinary bread on hand: however, there is some consecrated bread here - provided the men have kept themselves from women."
5. David replied, "Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever I set out.  The men's things are holy even on missions that are not holy.  How much more so today!"
6. So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the Lord and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away. The Pharisees forgot quickly but the Lord did not forget.  He reminded them that when their forefather, King David and his companion were hungry, they entered the temple of God and ate the consecrated bread, which was a clear violation of the law of God - in that, only the ordained Levite priests were allowed to enter into the inner court of the temple not to mention the offence of eating the consecrated bread in the temple.  God winked at the offence and did not lay the charges against them.

Matthew 12:7 The Lord reminded them "I desire mercy, not sacrifice."  When the Israelites were in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land, they desired food, God was merciful upon them concerning their needs and provided manna for them from heaven.   They desired meat, God remembered in His infinite mercy He filled their camp with quails.   When they were thirsty in the desert, in His mercy towards the needy Israelites at this time, God bypassed the law of nature by providing water for them from a rock.

When Adam and Eve screwed up in the Garden of Eden, the punitive arms of judgment came down upon them.  There is one important thing we always miss in the understanding of the judgement.  God had a choice to completely eliminate the entire race of mankind because of the sin of disobedience.  But He chose not to because of His mercy.   In the pronouncement of the judgement upon Adam and Eve, God tempered mercy with justice.   He incorporated the plan of salvation in the judgment. Genesis 3:15    "While we were yet a sinner he made provision of salvation."

God implemented the mission of mercy through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.   The fairest of ten thousand left his glory in Heaven to put a lasting solution to our sin-sick soul problems because of His mercy towards man. John 8:3-7John 8:3-7
3. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery.   They made her stand before the group,
4. and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.
5. In the Law of Moses commanded us to stone such women.  Now what do you say?"
6. They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.  But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.
7. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." Because of His unparalleled mercy, he challenged the hypocrite Pharisees and Sadducees who wanted to stone a woman that was caught in the act of adultery to cast the first stone if he was not a sinner.  The accusers forgot that it takes two to tango.  They left her adulterous partner, they went after the poor woman.  Even if they did not have sin before, they were about to commit one.   They were about to violate the 5th law in the Ten Commandments.   "Thou shalt not kill".  You know the rest.

Reflect on this:
Reflect upon the way you have been living your life.  Have you been approaching life from the legalistic point of view?   Have you been applying legalistic theories in your relationship at home with your spouse and children instead of yielding to the precepts of God in obedience to His words so that He may direct the affairs of your family?  Whenever you are at the cross road of the righteousness and judgment from the point of view of man, let the understanding of the mercy of God prevail and guide you in your decision. Do not be like the hypocrite Pharisees and Sadducees. Matthew 12:11-12Matthew 12:11-12
11. He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?
12. How much more valuable is a man than a sheep!  Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. A right thinking man cannot leave his bleeding child untreated in the observance of the day of  Sabbath.  Think of this beloved.  Live in the wisdom of the Jesus Christ, the Lord of Sabbath.  Let the divine mercy of the Lord of Sabbath guide you in honoring his law and commandments.