Our Scripture meditation is based on Luke 14:1-6, from next week’s Gospel Lesson.
[1] One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. [2] And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. [3] And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” [4] But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. [5] And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” [6] And they could not reply to these things.
I can see how people could get the idea that Jesus and the Pharisees were opposed to each other. Certainly, there were Pharisees who were opposed to Jesus. But Jesus came for the salvation of the world, so any opposition was to Pharisees’ teachings.
This is illustrated in our Scripture passage.
A little background information is helpful. The Pharisees had developed in elaborate set of laws to help Jewish people keep the Sabbath. These laws went well beyond what is found in the Ten Commandments.
In our passage, Jesus is the guest of a ruling Pharisee. Jesus challenges the Pharisees understanding of the Third Commandment by healing on the Sabbath. According to the Pharisees, this violated the commandment because it was “working” on the Sabbath. Jesus points out their hypocrisy, noting they too would go to extraordinary lengths in extraordinary circumstances on the Sabbath.
The bottom line is this: The Pharisees made the Sabbath about God’s people legalistically meeting manmade demands. However, God gave the Sabbath for the benefit of God’s people, a divine gift of rest. The Sabbath is first and foremost about God providing for His people, then God’s people responding by taking care of themselves.
Until next week, the Lord Bless and Guide.
Kevin Wilson 360 