Matthew 12: 1-8- Legalism

Read Matthew 12: 1-8-

Legalism is alive and well in the church world today. There are denominations who cling to certain do’s and don’ts designed to show others one’s commitment to God. In spite of things written in the scriptures, the religious leaders at the time of Christ, built legalism into their lives. Jesus pointed out the hypocrisy of the religious leaders in their complaints about him. That was not the point of the message though.

In verses 6 through 8 Jesus said, “I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

We all probably have certain things we like to do in our spiritual lives that help us recognize the deity of Jesus Christ.  We need to periodically examine what we do and give thought to our acts and determine if they are serving the purpose of bringing us closer to Christ or whether our actions are acts are things we think others will think makes us good Christians. In this short passage, Jesus was more intent on the needs of those with Him but used the opportunity to try to get the religious leaders to see the individual needs were greater than their institutional requirements.

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