Thoughts From Luke - Day 22

                                              Luke 5:33 - 6:11

They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”
³⁴ Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? ³⁵ But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”
³⁶ He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. ³⁸ No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. ³⁹ And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”
One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. ² Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
³ Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? ⁴ He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” ⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
⁶ On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. ⁷ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. ⁸ But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there.
⁹ Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”
¹⁰ He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. ¹¹ But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

       Criticism. It is what happens when you fully decide to do God's will. Why? Because it makes those who are comfortable with a religion that is a part of their life just like work, family, entertainment, hobbies, etc, - uncomfortable. It makes them look bad. It makes them question their commitment so they, in their minds count the cost, find it too demanding, and they justify their commitment, or lack thereof, by criticizing the real thing. I once had a doctor warn a patient when he referred her to me that I was hyper - religious so be careful. I have had religious people criticize me for leaving my family and going on short term mission trips. I have had people pull me aside and counsel me about moderation. The interesting thing is that the criticism comes from religious people. The world expects Christians to be fully committed so they have no problems with you following the Lord whole heartedly. By the way, I haven't received any criticism lately much to my shame.

      The criticism actually started with the previous passage. The religious people criticized Jesus for hanging out with sinners. They said, "a true follower of God doesn't go to parties that have liquor, loose women, drunkenness, and the like" (or something like that) Now, one has to approach Jesus status to go to parties like this and not be tempted, but I do know people that could and if they did, I'm sure the rest of us would criticize them for being there and think less of them. Jesus would say, "Where else am I going to find such a high percentage of people who need me?"

      Then they criticized His freedom. He didn't follow all the religious rules that make you feel "Godly". Religion has a real comfort level in traditions and when these are violated, it makes people anxious because it exposes the absence of a relationship with God. I have heard of people leaving churches because the pastor wore a polo shirt or read from anything other than King James. I've heard people leave churches because of humor from the pulpit or the lack of quiet when people enter the sanctuary. I've heard complaints that the pastor doesn't have the congregation stand during Bible reading or he cancelled the Sunday evening service because it fell on Christmas day. "A Saturday night service is not the Lord's Day!" Our pastor talked about the church going through three stages of "m's" movement, machine, and monument. There starts a movement of the Holy Spirit and a church is born. Committees form, pastors get hired, and the church begins to operate as a machine. It could function without the Holy Spirit. Lastly it becomes a monument, an icon to past glories that gives people warm feelings but is dying off in reality. People getting moved by the Holy Spirit often ruffle the feathers of the machine and monument people because they want the old garment - the old wineskins.

      Lastly you get criticized for helping people. "You know that guy is just going to buy alcohol with that money." "Paying that bill isn't going to help - they will just need help again next month." "You are enabling that person." "Have you checked to see if he is being helped by another church, too"? "I know someone from our body who needs help before that person." All these criticisms can paralyze your helping hand. They could be true and certainly some good principles to consider and find ways to implement more effective benevolence, but they should never keep us from helping people.

      If you are being led by the Spirit and sold out for the Lord, religious people will criticize you. Embrace it because Jesus too experienced it. If you aren't experiencing criticism remember this, "A turtle that isn't moving forward is in no danger of getting his head chopped off."

      Lord, I confess that I am so comfortable in my life, that I am in no danger of ruffling feathers. Help me to follow You wholeheartedly and not worry about what others think. Amen