Word for Wednesday
And they were filled with madness, and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus. Luke 6:11
Filled with madness… isn’t that rather an exaggeration? Actually, it’s not. Madness against the Lord Jesus was actually fairly common during His years of ministry. And it’s just as common today, although the madness is levelled at Jesus’ followers. Take the case of the Ashers Baking Company in Northern Ireland. The bakery was approached by a group called Queerspace to bake a cake featuring the Sesame Street Muppets Bert and Ernie, with the group’s slogan ‘Support Gay Marriage’. The owners of the Ashers bakeries are Christians, and declined the cake order because, as the company’s general manager Daniel McArthur said, ‘it was at odds with our beliefs and with what the Bible teaches’. The Equality Commission, a publicly funded organization in Northern Ireland, brought a civil action against the Ashers, alleging that the bakery breached statutory duty not to discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation in the provision of goods or services. Despite widespread public support for Ashers, as shown in polls taken at the time, the commission did pursue the case to court, in fact to the Supreme Court which ruled in favour of the Ashers. Here’s where the madness comes in. Northern Ireland’s First Minister Peter Robinson accused the Equality Commission of spending up to a quarter of a million pounds of taxpayers’ money to seek court damages of £500 from the bakery’s Christian owners. That’s madness. And it’s against the Lord Jesus.
Our text describes the reaction of the Pharisees to the healing of a man with a withered hand on the sabbath. Concerned more about their petty interpretation of the Law of Moses than with the welfare of a disabled man, these Pharisees boiled with wrath against the Healer. The Lord Jesus had shown them up for what they were, despicable and uncaring hypocrites. Today, there are many people who don’t like what the Lord Jesus and His Book have to say about them, either. And they take out their anger in every way that they can. There are groups in Canada, for instance, who could hardly wait for the Liberals to win the 2015 federal election, which lead to open season on all those who oppose abortion on demand, and all those who disagree with the endorsement and promotion of homosexual causes including same-sex marriage. The madness continues.
What the Lord Jesus did for the disabled man was the right thing to do. Just as it is the right thing to do for Christians today to lead godly lives and to proclaim the Gospel. But those around us whose sinful lifestyles and practices are exposed by our obedience to our Lord will not like it. Some of them will turn on us in anger and spite. They will openly attack the Bible, and they will openly attack the Christians. Some of the Lord’s people have already experienced the madness. And more of us will experience it soon.
Pray that we may with patience endure the madness of those who oppose our Lord. -Jim MacIntosh