To mark chapter two. The Gospel of Mark. Chapter two is where we find ourselves this morning. You remember that we're in year b, which is to say that the second gospel is correlating with year b. And we are only in chapter two.
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But if you remember, it took us forever to get out of chapter one a few months ago. Because one is just jam packed with things that other gospels expound on even more. Remember that Mark is pretty tight in how he. And short, if you will, in how he says things. And so go with me here to mark chapter two.
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And once you're there, go ahead and stand.
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Notice these words as found in Mark 223 in this episode of Jesus life. One Sabbath, Jesus and his disciples were going through the grain fields. And as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath? And he said to them, have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food?
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He entered the house of God when Abiathar was high priest. And ate the bread of the presence. Which it is not lawful for any but the priest to eat. And he gave some to his companions. Then he said to them, the Sabbath was made for humankind.
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And not humankind for the Sabbath. So the son of man is lord even of the Sabbath. Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the Sabbath. So they might accuse him.
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And he said to the man who had the withered hand come forward. Then he said to them, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath. To save life or to kill? But they were silent. He looked around at them with anger.
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He was grieved at their hardness of heart. And said to the man, stretch out your hand. He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him how to destroy him. Lord, we're thankful for your word this morning.
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We pray now that you, Holy Spirit, would come and help. Lord, we need your help. I need your help this morning. And we pray that the same holy spirit that inspired these words originally by Mark's hand. Would inspire us today.
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And enlighten our minds so that we may obey you and love you. We pray this in your name. Amen. You can be seated in this text today. We.
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It's kind of an interesting one. And you know, you have some big text where it's like something wow happens. And there is a miracle here. But the thrust of the text really has to do with law. And Sabbath and observation or observing these things.
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And when we start talking about law, most people start yawning. Nobody reads a law book, for instance, except for lawyers, right? And you remember that the Pharisees are ultimately experts at the law, okay? So that's, you know, nobody, I don't think, does their, what do you call it, leisurely reading of the law or bylaws or this sort of thing like that. Just is not on most people's radar to do.
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But the Pharisees, I guarantee they probably would relax sometimes, reading commentary on the law. That's how much they liked it. That's how expertly they knew how to decipher it. And you'll remember too, and this is helpful in our text today. Is to remember that the Pharisees also had laws that.
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Oral laws that they had created. That were not in the word of God as the law, all right? But that they had put around the law in order to protect from ever breaking the law. Okay? So just think of it like this.
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You've got the law of God at this center circle, okay? And then around that