Obeying Law at the Expense of Doing Good - Audio
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Mark chapter 2. And as you're turning there, I wanted to tell you a story about, oh, six years ago, my wife and I were, I was, I had just probably started seminary not too long before and my wife was, was still in probably her last year of college, we were married and we were driving with my sister. My sister was in town. And we were driving down Beach Boulevard in, in La Habra, California, just up north here near Biola University. And as we, as we're driving, we come to a stoplight. And I pull up, there's three lanes and I pull up and I'm in the middle lane and I, I come to the stoplight and I stop. And I, I'm looking in my mirrors just kind of check in surveying the scene and I look in my rear, in my side mirror and I notice a very small car coming very, very fast in the lane next to me. I had a red light in front of me and yet there was a green arrow turning left, but yet our, our lane was, was a red light going straight. And this car, which I could see in my left, left side mirror was accelerating in the left hand lane, intending to go straight and apparently thinking that the, that the light was theirs. And I could tell as I was stopped at the stoplight that this person did not realize that they did not have the right of way. And I remember seeing them accelerate and I remember just thinking in my head and I think Casey heard me. I just said, Lord, Lord, Lord, I was just praying for this person as they were going past me at about 45 miles an hour. And sure enough, as they accelerated right through, I tried to flip my blinkers on, I tried to honk my horn and they accelerated right past me and a person turning from the other lane turned directly into them and crushed this, this, this lady's car. Her car got slammed by the person coming over and she just rolled over to the side across three lanes of Beach Boulevard and into some fencing, some residential fencing, just absolutely crushed. I had a red light and I remember the light was so red and yet instinctively, without hesitation, I stepped on the gas and went traveling after this woman who had been crushed by this car. And my wife, as I was doing it, my wife was yelling at me, no, no, no, what are you doing, what are you doing? Because the light was red. And yet I went, I just instinct, I just went straight through, followed the woman down until her car came to a stop and I got out of the car and I walked up and I checked to see if she was okay and she was okay, she was bleeding. And I, there was a towel in her, in the back of her seat, why there was a towel in the back of her seat, Lord only knows. I believe the Lord provided that for her. And I took the towel and I put it up to her head, which was bleeding. And about ten minutes later, the ambulance came and the lady was rushed to the hospital and God, God be praised, she was okay. She, she made it, she made it through the crash and the person who hit her was just fine. I bring this story up not to emphasize the crash. The crash was dramatic and I, to this day, I just have very vivid memories about it and it was, it was an amazing thing to be a part of and to have opportunity to help in that situation. I bring this up, not to emphasize the crash. I bring this up to emphasize what transpired between me and my wife at the red light. You see, while we were stopped because of law, while we were stopped because of tradition, because of what our nation and what international law has, when you see a red light, you stop, you don't go through it. While we were stopped at that red light, when that car got hit, and when that woman was obviously significantly injured and running off into the fencing to the side, all of a sudden, the red light, the law, the tradition was a very, very little significance. I went through that red light and my wife was like, no, no, what are you doing? What are you doing? Because she was trying to process this as I was and her instinct was wait until it's green. And my instinct was, I don't care that it's red. This woman needs our help right here, right now. I went, I broke the law. I went through the red light, followed the woman, and went to her aid. I broke the law to do good. I broke law and tradition to do a greater good. Friends, in our message today, Mark chapter 2 verses 23 to chapter 3 verse 6, we are going to be looking at two instances in Jesus' life in which he breaks law breaks tradition, if you will, to do the greater good. There are times in which law, in which tradition, is to be usurped in order to carry out the greater good. Turn in your Bibles to Mark chapter 2 verse 23, the title of my message today is "Obaying Law at the Expense of Doing Good," "Obaying Law at the Expense of Doing Good." And of course, the title of my message is going to be from the viewpoint of the Pharisees. They are people who were obeying law at the expense of doing good. They were going to keep the tradition to law, to doing the things that their religion had instructed them to do and their oral tradition had instructed them to do at the expense of doing good. And with holding good from others and doing what is right, that's what they were doing. And that's what we want to see today. What were the Pharisees doing? What was Jesus doing in this text today? But before we read it, I want to make note of this. In the eyes of the Pharisees, in the eyes of the Pharisees, Jesus was doing everything wrong, everything wrong. From their perspective, number one, Jesus had blasphemed by proclaiming to forgive sins. Jesus had blasphemed, had made Himself like God by claiming to forgive sins. Two, Jesus had approved of the lifestyle of the tax collectors and other sinners of society by sharing a meal with them. And three, Jesus and His disciples were lacking in religious piety due to their refusal to pay heed to the fasting practices of the religious elite. Friends, these three vignettes, these three stories that I give a summary statement of behind me are what are preceding our two stories today. And you can see here that this was the perspective of the Pharisees. When they looked at Jesus, they saw a blasphemer. He's doing it wrong. He shouldn't be claiming to forgive sins. When they looked at Jesus, they saw Him as one who approved of tax collectors and sinners. He's sharing a meal with them. In our culture, if you share a meal with them, that means you approve of their lifestyle. He's doing it wrong. And three, third and finally, Jesus and His disciples were lacking. They were lacking in religious piety and holiness in being reverent men of God. Because, why? Because they refused to pay heed to the religious practice of fasting in that culture, particularly fasting twice a week by the religious elite. In their eyes, Jesus was doing it all wrong. But their assessment of Jesus was entirely incorrect. Their assessment of Jesus was entirely incorrect. And they were blinded to the fact that Jesus was, in fact, God's very messenger to them, the very Messiah. And so we see two final stories in our text today that's going to, in the eyes of the Pharisees, be yet another transgression of Jesus. And yet, Jesus came to show them that there are times in which law, in which tradition, in which what has already previously been established as right and good must be forsaken for the greater good. Take a look at Mark 2, verse 23, it says this, "Now it happened that He went, that is Jesus, through the grain fields, on the Sabbath. And as they went, His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. In the Pharisees he said to Jesus, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" And he said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry?" He and those with him, how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar, the high priest and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat, except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him. Jesus said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."
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Jesus declares to the Pharisees that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.