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Sound & Season is a daily audio devotional designed to connect the routine moments of life to the rhythms of the Church seasons.
This is Sound and Season. It's Monday, 5th day of Lent. Our passage today comes from the gospel of Mark chapter 2 verses 18 through 28. Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and people came and said to Jesus, why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? And Jesus said to them, can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?
Jeffrey Heine:As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The day will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth to an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins for if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is destroyed, so are the skins but new wine is for fresh wineskins.
Jeffrey Heine:One Sabbath he was going through the grain fields, and as they made their way the disciples began to pluck heads of grain, And the Pharisees were saying to him, Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on a sabbath? And he said to them, have you never read what David did when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him, how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the presence, which is not lawful for anyone but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him. And he said to them, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, so the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Jeffrey Heine:Once again, the authority of Jesus is being revealed. Through this revelation, the tension between Jesus and the Pharisees continues to build. The problem of the Pharisees is one many of us face today. Jesus did not and still will not fit neatly into any one person's expectations or requirements. Part of encountering Jesus is surrendering our demands and qualifications.
Jeffrey Heine:In our passage today, we do well to let the complaints of the Pharisees resonate with our own frustrations, and our own impediments which we face when yielding our lives to the Lord. Jesus is showing the Pharisees and his disciples his divine authority as the Lord of the Sabbath. He is doing a new work of grace and those who have been transformed by faith are like new wineskins, new garments, restored, refreshed, renewed to receive the new work of the Holy Spirit in dwelling and empowering the children of God. Lord, hear our prayer, and let our cry come to you. Let us pray.
Jeffrey Heine:Lord God, almighty and everlasting, you have brought us a new day, a new chance to hear and believe the truth of your gospel. Strengthen us with your power, renew us in our hearts, and help us to celebrate and declare the good news of Jesus wherever we may find ourselves today. Oh lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.
Jeffrey Heine:Amen.