When I exited the Marine Corps, we moved to Oklahoma and began building our homestead as we’d planned, which included chickens and other animals.  One of my wife’s favorite things to do is to feed the animals before the sun comes up.  One morning I happened to be outside while she was feeding in the barn, and I heard her talking to someone.  At first, I thought she must have been on the phone with her mom, but as I approached the barn, I realized she was talking to the chickens!  When she realized I was standing there watching, she immediately got embarrassed, and I just laughed and told her it was okay.  She said it was therapeutic talking to chickens because they don’t talk back!  I said, “Well they may not be speaking English, but they’re definitely saying something!”  Yup!  Chickens do not speak English, and they very likely never will.   

During Jesus’ ministry, He did a lot of teaching and preaching.  While there were many who listened and believed, there were many more who did not.  Among the latter group was a class of men called the Pharisees.  Of all people, the Pharisees SHOULD have been the ones who understood Jesus and believed wholeheartedly.  They spent their whole lives studying the Old Testament, which told many things about the coming Messiah.  But except for Nicodemus (John 3), the Pharisees did not comprehend what He was saying, nor did they care to.  They only found ways to persecute and ultimately crucify Him.  Yes, Jesus may as well have been talking to chickens, because they would never hear! 

Case in point.  In Matthew 12:1-8, the Pharisees caught Jesus’ disciples plucking heads of wheat from the grainfields, rubbing them between their hands, and eating them on the Sabbath.  They said “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”  So, Jesus says FIVE things to them that should have led to their repentance.  To destroy their accusation, He first gives two examples: 1. How David and his men (who were starving) ate the showbread inside the tabernacle, an act which was unlawful but saved their lives; 2. How the priests working in the temple profaned the Sabbath by working but were blameless.  Crickets.  Jesus then makes a statement which, if they’d had “ears to hear”, SHOULD have caused them to praise God: 3. “…in this place there is One greater than the temple.”  He was speaking, of course, of Himself as being greater than the temple, a.k.a. the MESSIAH!  I can almost hear their gasps, but no words…silence.  Then Jesus embarrassingly brings an indictment against them for their baseless accusations against His disciples: 4. “But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’, you would not have condemned the guiltless.”  You see, there was no law against picking heads of grain and eating them on the Sabbath, but the self-righteous Pharisees were so desperate to stop Jesus that they made up lies & laws on the spot.  If they’d had an ounce of humility, they would have realized the error of their ways and apologized.  For that matter, if they had truly followed God as closely as they claimed, they would have never falsely accused His disciples in the first place.  But alas, their man-made religion, their power, and their ill-gotten gain had become their god.  They didn’t speak Jesus’ language…blank stares.  Finally, Jesus less-cryptically tells them just Who He is: 5. “For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”  Now, Jesus isn’t justifying breaking the Sabbath (which they didn’t do).  It’s not like He’s saying, “I’m the LORD of the Sabbath, so Me and my disciples will do what we want!”  No, Jesus was the perfect fulfillment of the Old Testament Law – God’s actual Law – and not man’s misinterpretation of it.  Jesus was claiming to be the Lord – the Master – of the Sabbath, meaning He was the One Who, after creating all things, rested on the seventh day, and separated it as holy (Genesis 2:2-3).  Jesus claimed to be God!  But again, if they understood it they didn’t say a word…nothing.  The Pharisees didn’t speak His language because they didn’t see Jesus for Who He was…the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior of the world!

Do you understand what Jesus is saying?  Do you speak His language?  You have His Word, and you can memorize all the Scripture you want.  That can be beneficial, but then again, the Pharisees knew the Old Testament frontward & backward (John 5:39), and Satan even knows God’s Word (Genesis 3:1).  Are you communicating with Him in prayer?  Prayer and fasting are necessary, but the Pharisees also fasted and made long, elaborate prayers, the best-sounding prayers you’ve ever heard (Matthew 6:5,16; 23:14).  The real question to ask of a disciple, a follower, of Jesus is: are you obeying Jesus?  Are you loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Matthew 12:30)?  Are you loving others as you love yourself (Matthew 12:31)?  And as you follow Him, are you bringing others along with you?  Are you making disciples who make disciples?  Are you teaching them to obey every word that Jesus has commanded (Matthew 28:18-20)?  Jesus once said to His disciples in John 14:15 “If you love Me, keep MY commandments.”  Do you love Him?  If you do, then obedience is the ultimate test of love, and that is the language Jesus speaks.  If you’re not hearing Jesus, or don’t understand what He is saying, go and obey, then you will. And you will find that His yoke is easy, and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30), because He is with you.  This message is for me, as much as it is for you.  “Lord, I do love you.  Help me obey.”