Whose wisdom

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

WHOSE WISDOM

Matt 12:9-14

9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10 and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" 11 He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."  13 Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.

NIV

Jesus had already told how the priests desecrated the temple on the Sabbath, and giving them examples of David and his companions when they ate the showbread. Now he is in a synagogue, which is not the temple, but still a place of worship and it was the Sabbath. He had already told the Pharisees the Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath. He meant himself, but it is doubtful they understood that. It is interesting that when he was in the synagogue it was the Pharisees that brought up the subject about healing on the Sabbath. What is more interesting is they knew he had the power to heal, otherwise they would not have asked him that question. It is also interesting they were aware of his character, his mercy and compassion for those in need of a healing, because by bringing his attention to this question and knowing he saw the man with a withered hand, they knew he was going to act with compassion and heal this man anyway. So they pose the question about the law. Again this demonstrates there attention to sacrifice rather than mercy. They did not care about the man with the withered hand, but only trying to trap Jesus by the law, that he as a Jew should observe. Again the wisdom of God is so far superior to the wisdom of man, if fact their wisdom is but foolishness to him. That would also speak of our wisdom as well. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our supposed wisdom we get puffed up, thinking more of ourselves then we ought to. We try to prove our supposed wisdom sighting chapter and verse as if everyone else knows what that says, but knowing they don’t. We expound on topics as if we are the renowned authority. This was the attitude of those Pharisees. But Jesus comes back with another example, this time not using men, but animals. His question reveals something about the Pharisees which we may not ever have considered before. We have always thought the Pharisees as just a bunch of puffed up, well dressed religious zealots that sat around all day and pontificated. But here Jesus using the example of if one of their sheep falls into a pit would imply they were also sheep owners, and maybe even shepherds themselves. Their title as a Pharisee was merely a way of expression their view of the scriptures, their denomination as it were. Just a thought we have never considered before. Nevertheless he puts them in their place by showing them they too would do good on the Sabbath when it came to their sheep. This man with the withered hand is going to be one of Jesus’s sheep, especially after he heals him. So he heals him. The Pharisees, although having been proven wrong in their asking the question, did not consider his answer, but were so set in their own doctrine and dogma they refused to consider the truth he gave them. They were so convinced of their own righteousness they plotted to kill him. At least they went out of the synagogue before they plotted how to kill him, it would have been even more grievous for them to do that plotting while in a place of worship. The lesson we see here is about how we too can be so set in our particular beliefs we refuse to accept a truth when we are confronted with it. It is not that we do not have a handle on much of the truth of God, but others also have been revealed truths and sometimes they are truths we have not considered and need to listen intently and consider how that impacts our life. There are truths that we have not seen yet and we need to be open to viewing them in light of the scriptures. Now it is also true others may be misguided, not understanding the truth of a particular scripture and the teaching, correcting, rebuking or training in righteousness it has for us. This is why God has given the gift of discernment, to be able to discern if anyone is speaking from human wisdom or from the wisdom given them from God. The Pharisees seem to only operate under the wisdom of man, and Jesus was in fact the wisdom of God. We too should seek the wisdom of God, rather than the wisdom of man, which would include our own. When we hear wisdom from God, whether that be through the word itself, or from an inspired speaker, we need to ponder as to how that impacts us and is there something in our thinking, our attitude and our behavior that needs adjusting. Let us not rely on any of our wisdom for it is but foolishness to God, but let us continue to seek his wisdom, as he has told us if we want his wisdom we need only ask for it.

James 1:5-8

5 If any of you lacks wisdom , he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

NIV

But again without being double-minded. In this case it would imply that we are trying to combine our wisdom with God’s wisdom. Thinking we can guide our own life with our wisdom and still be guided by his. It just doesn’t work that way. That is why the Pharisees could not grasp his wisdom. They were stuck in theirs. We cannot afford that kind of thinking. Let us always be willing to hear the wisdom from God.