AT A TIME AND PLACE OF GOD’S CHOOSING
Matt 12:15-21/Mk 3:1-8
INTRODUCTION
A. Most wars are fought for one of three reasons—or a combination of this reasons: territory, ideology, theology.
B. The word “territory” doesn’t always mean land. The Pharisees had carved out a territory, which they intended to defend at all costs (John 11:45-53).
1. This took place during the final days of Jesus’ ministry, and they would succeed, because it was a time and place of God’s choosing.
2. There had been other times when they had plotted, but his time had not yet come, and their efforts failed. We will explore one such time.
I. THE CONFLICT (MK 3:1-5)
A. To fully understand this scene, we must do a flashback (Mk 2:23-28).
1. God had said, “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.”
2. They had built a hedge around the commandment, precisely defining “work,” which they accused Jesus and the disciples of doing (There are 6,200 pages of traditions “protecting” the Law of Moses).
B. Matthew’s account exposes not only their error, but their ungodly spirit (Matt 12:1-8).
II. THE CONSPIRACY (Mk 3:6)
A. Jesus did not respond with a make-my-day defiance (Matt 12:15).
B. Jesus would die, but at a time and in a manner of God’s choosing, not lose it in a skirmish with the Pharisees (John 19:1-11).
III. THE CONSUMMATION (MATT 12:18-21)
A. Jesus was willing to die at a time and place of God’s choosing and to accomplish God’s purpose (Heb 9:11-14).
B. Few are called to die; all are called to serve (Heb 9:14; John 21:15-23).
CONCLUSION
A. We should have the mind of Paul (Phil 1:21)
B. Which it will be is God’s choice. This is demonstrated by a symbol from the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society in 1814: An oxen stands behind a plow and behind the oxen is an altar. The caption reads, “Ready for Either.”
