Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  Day 212

July 31;       Luke 14:1;       58/260(III);       ‘Watching Jesus Closely’

Luke 14:1 Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely.

The Lord Jesus was invited to the home of the ruler of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat.  As you read this verse it almost sounds good, that the ruler of the Pharisees was watching Jesus closely.  Was the ruler watching Jesus to learn from Jesus?  No.  Because of jealousy, the religious leaders were constantly watching Jesus, looking for things to criticize him for.  At times they would intentionally set up circumstances looking for Jesus to say or do something that contradicted their religious teachings.  The ultimate goal of the religious leaders was to kill the Jesus.  These men, whose positions in the community made them proud and arrogant, could have learned so much by watching Jesus, to learn from His example.  Their hatred, because of the ever increasing popularity of Jesus, only made them watch Him even more, looking for any thing He did, that they considered wrong, so that they could persecute Him.  There was a man at the ruler of the Pharisees home who needed healing and Jesus healed him.  As was often the case, instead of being grateful the man was healed the religious leaders condemned Jesus for healing of the Sabbath.  This, sadly happens today as well.  A few, jealous of the position of a Pastor or Evangelist, look for areas to criticize them, wrongly feeling their criticism makes them better.  Jesus was perfect, no minister is.  Prayer for, not judgment of the minister is needed.  Wrong attitudes hurt the Pharisees. Learn from this.