F O O T H O L D
READING
9 OPPOSITION MOUNTS
PRAY Give me an open mind as
I study the Scriptures today, please Lord.
READ Mark 2:1828.
THINK What does this passage
teach about your relationship with God?
What steps can you take to
make sure your life is inspired by
lively, wholehearted
devotion to Jesus rather than grim, tight
fisted attitudes?
FOCUS The Jewish religious
leaders continually criticised Jesus, often
on pernickety, fussy issues.
FASTING (1822). Only one
day in the whole year was set apart in
the Old Testament for
fasting. Yet many Jews fasted more often
because of tradition.
Fasting can have an important place in our
lives; it can play a
valuable part in our worship. But, whether
we fast or not, our
Christianity should be flavoured by joy. Joy
comes from knowing that
Jesus is with us (19).
Wine was stored in special sewnup animal skins. When new they
would expand with the still
fermenting wine, but when old they
became hard and brittle. The
truth Jesus brought was new wine
it would not fit into the
stiff traditions of the old systems. It
was a new way of coming to
God and a new way of serving him. The
church, too, should be
flexible, ready to move into exciting new
ways of life to which Jesus
is calling us through his Spirit.
THE SABBATH (2328). God had
instituted the Sabbath holiday for
people's benefit (Exodus 20:811),
but by the time of Jesus many
human traditions had been
added. Various categories of work
forbidden on the Sabbath had
been itemised. Threshing was one of
them.
According to the Pharisees,
rubbing an ear of corn in your hand
and eating it was threshing;
this was forbidden on the Sabbath.
But Jesus makes it clear
that basic needs, like the need for food,
can be satisfied. Some laws
are necessary in any society. But
laws must be for the good of
people, as God's laws are.
