“Kindness - Part 3”
Kindness offers help to others who are being taken advantage of.
Pharisees: Religious, but not kind
John 7
“No one ever spoke the way this man does.”
“Jesus did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him… 14 Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. 15 The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?” 30 At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Still, many in the crowd believed in him. They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man?” 32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him. 33 Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.” 35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?” 37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” … 40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “He is the Messiah.” Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? 42 Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” 43 Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him. 45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” 46 “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied. 47 “You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. 48 “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.” 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51 “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him…?” 52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”
Isaiah 9:1,2,6
“There will be no more gloom for those who were in distress… but in the future he will honor Galilee … 2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light… 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
The Jewish leaders actually used the people for their own purposes.
The Woman caught in the act of adultery
-John 8
3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group…“They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 “No one, sir,” she said. ‘Then neither do I condemn you,’ Jesus declared.”
“When Jesus heard… he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.
14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.”
-Matthew 14:13+
“When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.”
–Mark 6:34
The Priests conducted religious
SERVICES
But they did not
SERVE
them through acts in kindness.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared.
“Go now and leave your life of sin.”
At the heart of Kindness is picturing Jesus standing right next to people.
What did Jesus accomplish standing next to the woman?
1.Causing the Pharisees to leave her alone. (Which is what they did, oldest to youngest)
2. Empowering her to go and sin no more.
What did Jesus accomplish standing next to the Pharisees?
1.Stopped them and shut them up.
2.Demonstrated to them who was really in control.
Are you allowing Jesus to stand next to you in order that others may not take advantage of you?
Next week… Exercising Kindness by setting “Boundaries”
You may not be able to change the situation, but God may use you to change the person in that situation.
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