Relationship
I can remember as a kid, going to the grocery store with my mama…seeing all those products on those shelves, all lined up so neatly…all that colorful fruit and candy. I can still recall wishin we had plenty o’ money, where i could take my own buggy up and down them aisles and fillin it with the things i wanted. It never happened. But i DID get to pluck a grape or two off a bunch and eat em while i trailed my mama. “Hungry” … or just “shoplifting”? Whatever it was, Jesus has me covered NOW ! I couldn’t help but remember this when i was reading Matthew chapter 12:1-14 this morning. Jesus and his disciples were cuttin through some dude’s field in their travels…in was the Sabbath, so all the Laws established were well-known to Jesus…i mean, HE established em; right ?!? So as they’re walking, a few of the disciples just reached down and stripped a little grain from the heads of the wheat and ate it, because they were hungry. Immediately, the “church police” … the Pharisees call em out on it saying, “ Look ! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.” Jesus’ answer rocked em to their heals ! He reminded em that even king David and his companions ate the sacred bread in the house of God…and how the priests desecrate the Sabbath in the temple, but yet they are innocent. ( Here’s the clincher that choked em out…) “ I tell you that one greater than the temple ( AND the Law ) is here. If you had known what these words mean, ‘ I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” We tend to forget that God calls the shots … not man. These disciples didn’t ignore the Law because they were with Jesus, the Law Writer … they picked a little grain because they were hungry ! And Jesus knew their hearts…just as He knew those Pharisee’s hearts. Jesus wasn’t “condoning” sin…He was simply teaching a valuable life-lesson : GOD ain’t so concerned about whether or not we keep every “letter of the Law” or never slip up and sin … He desires a “RELATIONSHIP” over “religion” and “religious do’s and don’ts”. He quoted ( Hosea 6:6 ) … “ For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of GOD rather than burnt offerings.” GOD desires “love” over everything else … “Love GOD, first … love others, second “ ( Mark 12:30-31 ). His word is clear…if we really wanna hear it… when we don’t try to tell Him what to say.