Heavenly Father, thank You for helping me work through some things on my mind today. It was a burden that I did not need to carry. I am grateful for all You do for me.
Luke 6:1-5 (<<click to read the passage)
Sometimes the law of the land can be a tricky thing. Being on the road quite a bit now with driving a bus I see lots of “trickery” when it comes to the law. Rolling stops occur way too often. Another one I have seen several times is when one person legally stops at a stop sign the person behind them will roll right through the stop as if their stop behind the car in front of them was good enough. It’s not!
A law, at least here in Ohio, that many ignore is school zone speed limit signs. Several years ago, we were under the impression that the only time you had to go 20 mph in between the signs what held the flashing yellow warning lights was when they were flashing…wrong! My wife was heading back to school one day and a State Highway Patrol officer pulled her over for doing 35 in a school zone. Her argument was that the lights weren’t flashing. We even went to court to argue her point. After more expense for court fees, we were very clearly informed by the judge that it makes no difference if the lights are on or not. A marked school zone is 20 mph.
During my training to drive a school bus, it was stressed that when you are driving a bus the best procedure is to drive 20 mph in every school where students are present! We have 3 marked school zones around our schools and people blow through them all the time – except of course when a sheriff’s deputy is sitting in the middle of one!
In today’s passage, the Pharisees were actually breaking God’s law by adding too to that law. Yes, God says we are to rest of the Sabbath day and keep it holy, but they accused Jesus and His disciples of breaking the Law just by rubbing a few heads of grain in their hands for a bite to eat.
One big issue in this addition was that in doing so they actually were undoing another portion of God’s Law. God in His Law took into consideration the poor and needy. My Life Application Study Bible correctly states that “…farmers were to leave the edges of their fields unplowed so travelers and the poor could eat from this bounty.” Deuteronomy 23:25 goes on to say, “And when you enter your neighbor’s field of grain, you may pluck the heads of grain with your hand…” You weren’t to run in with equipment to rob the farmer of his yield but taking a few kernels didn’t hurt anything!
When we start interpreting the law, getting it to say what we want it to say, we get ourselves into trouble!
Again, the Bible – God’s Word – clearly says in Deuteronomy 4:2(NLT), “Do not add to or subtract from these commands I am giving you. Just obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you.”
Dear Jesus, help us to abide by the laws before us. The law of the land and more importantly Your Law. May we adhere to it as You have proclaimed it with no additions or subtractions. Amen.
Jan 30th, 2020, Thurs, 4:49 pm
