Week 15 (11.01.09)

This week we were talking about peer pressure and looked at some parts of the Bible where Jesus does not do what people think he should but does what he knows to be right, pleasing God not people.

The first passage we looked at was John 2:1-11, which talks about Jesus' first miracle when he turned water into the best wine at a wedding. At the beginning of the passage, Jesus' mother Mary came to him telling him they had run out of wine in the hope that he would make more miraculously. Jesus reminds her of who he is and that he does not need prompting if he needs to act, saying, "My time has not yet come" (verse 4). He later decides to perform the miracle in his own - and therefore God's - time. This is not because he gives in and does what a person told him to do, but because he had always intended to do the miracle and had not needed his mother to tell him to do it in the first place. We can learn from this that if someone (even if they are someone we love and respect: Jesus would have loved and respected his mother a great deal) tells us to do something, even if it looks like something good, but we know that God does not want us to do it - perhaps not then but in some time, or perhaps never - then we should listen to God and not people. We should live to serve him and not human beings. We can also be encouraged to be in tune with God's voice (which comes over time through seeking him in prayer, reading the Bible, being in fellowship with other Christians and worshipping him; just as any relationship on earth is formed, we get to know God by spending time with him) so that we know his plans for our lives.

The next passage we looked at (Mark 2:23-3:6) was about Jesus being Lord of the Sabbath and also spoke of when Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath day. Firstly, the Pharisees told Jesus he and his disciples should not have picked and eaten some corn because it was the Sabbath day and this went against the rules that they had made up to restrict people on that day, and he reminded them of when David and his companions at consecrated bread when it was lawful for only priests to do this. He says "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath," telling them that the Sabbath day was intended to help us because we need rest, not as a means of control but so that we can be refreshed and ready to work the coming week. The next part (Mark 3:1-6) reads:

"Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone." Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus."

Here Jesus clearly heals this man so that others would see that Sabbath day should not be used as an excuse to stop loving people and doing good when it is in your power, but that if someone needs your help and you can give it, you should. What Jesus did made the Pharisees angry because it went against the way of life that they had control over and because it showed them to be valuing the wrong things in their hearts. Jesus knew that doing what he did would make the Pharisees want to kill him, so he could have waited until they were out of the temple and out of sight to heal the man's hand, but he chose to do it in front of everyone and even asked the man to stand up, because he knew he was in the right and wanted to live to please his Father, not to be in fear of men. We should do the same: we should not worry about what other people may say or do but live according to God's will above all things. It can be really hard when we're in situations when we are surrounded by people that are all doing one thing and want us to join in (be that something extreme, or something more subtle like a general behaviour that would not please God) - even though we know we shouldn't, it's often tempting because we want to be accepted and loved by those around us. Or even in times when others are treating us badly and the first thing we often feel like doing is responding in the same way back to them, but we know that God wants us to love people and not live the way that they live and so we should not give in to these temptations. Instead, when we feel tempted to conform to (or be like) those around us, we should pray that God would give us strength to resist and to instead be a witness to those around us by the way that we live. We should pray for those that tempt us in whatever way and look forward to seeing how God wants to use us to help show them who he is.

Lois and Eleanor