St. Mark 2: 23 – 3: 6

December 5, 2022

23 And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn.

24 And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful?

25 And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him?

26 How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him?

27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:

28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.

And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.

2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.

3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.

4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.

5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.

6 And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.

Jesus never gave up. The Pharisees were after Him from day one of His ministry. They tried to discredit Him whenever He was with a group of people – and He was always with a group of people; they were drawn to Him and His words and His miraculous healings. Finally … as chapter 3 verse six states – they took counsel to see how to destroy Him.

Perseverance. Another attribute that Jesus modeled for us. Whatever your particular ministry might be – sharing the Gospel or doing charity work or any of a million things folks do to further the kingdom, don’t let folks tell you you’re wasting your time, you’re not having any effect, or that people laugh at you. You just keep on doing what you’re doing and “they will know you by your fruit”.

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