Lord of the Sabbath
Vv1-10: Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath – He
intentionally healed the the man with shriveled hand
to point out to them the true meaning of Sabbath and
to challenge them of their traditional beliefs (Which
is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to
save life or to destroy it?) I pray that my
traditional beliefs will be challenged with His
liberating new life that He has given me… a
Spirit-filled life!
V12: Before choosing the 12 apostles, Jesus spent
time in solitude and in prayer.
Vv20-49: Jesus' sermon on plain appears to parallel
Mathew's sermon on the Mount. Jesus was preaching a
message that is out of the world of His time - It is
the Kingdom message that emphasizes on the authentic
change of heart attitude. It addresses poverty both
physically and more importantly spiritually, the
hungry, the sorrowful , the outcast and rejected and
contrast that with the rich, the well-fed and "happy"
and satisfied people… He was painting a radically
different world - the heavenly kingdom – for the
people of His time. This kingdom is radically
different from ours as well!
The Kingdom Values vv27-36
Jesus uses many examples to further illustrates the
Kingdom mindset -
" If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the
other also."
"If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from
taking your tunic."
"If someone takes what belongs to you, do not demand
it back."
"Love your enemies and do good to them"
"Lend without expecting to get anything back"
"Kind to the ungrateful and wicked"
I believe these values were radical to the people of
the Jesus' time and they are totally radical to
today's values as well!!!!!!
At glance, as a Christian I don't even know if I can
practice all of them. It does not appear to be
earthly values at all. It is truly out of this
WORLD!! We are taught with some very different values
such as an eye for an eye, to know and demand my
rights, not to be taken advantage of of……I see that
Jesus is preaching about not only a change in heart
attitude, but truly a deep deep deep change or
overhaul of our heart, mind and soul. We can no
longer hold on to our worldly values but to slowly
over time rid of the old self and to embrace the new
kingdom values which admittedly not an easy thing on
earth but I believe that as Kingdom people, we need to
prepare ourselves diligently with all the Kingdom
values!
There are more Kingdom Values that I should practice
at all times:
Vv37-38
• Do not Judge
• Do not condemn
• Forgive
• Give
Vv39-42
Jesus reminded that that it is foolish and
hypocritical for us to criticize someone for a fault
while remaining blind to our considerable faults. I
need to always examine myself and not fall into the
trap of being hypocritical.
Vv43-45
V45 – for out of the overflow of his heart his mouth
speaks - may God help me to cultivate my heart. As
each tree is recognized by its own fruit - may the
things stored in my heart reflects Him and His
goodness.
V46- 49
May I be a wise builder, may I not only be a hearer of
God's words but also be diligent to put them into
practice. So that we the flood (bad times) comes, my
faith/house will not be shaken but it is well built as
I put them in practice daily!
Luke, Su
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