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Healing on The Sabbath - Luke 13
Healing on The Sabbath - Luke 13
Jesus HEALED the woman – publicly - miraculously – on the Sabbath – in the Synagogue.
In seeing this, the synagogue official was INDIGNANT towards Jesus and the woman! I am sure that he considered it ‘righteous indignation’! He saw it with his own eyes: Jesus WORKED on the Sabbath day! He is acting so ‘protect the honor of God’. So, he responds publicly to Jesus by telling the crowd: "There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day” (Luke 13:14).
Yet, in this, he admits that Jesus worked miracles. Prejudice, hatred, and anger make for very bad thinking! What would a miracle on Monday prove differently than a Miracle on the Sabbath?
It is foolishness to answer a matter without hearing: “He who gives an answer before he hears, It is folly and shame to him” (Proverbs 18:13). The anger of man works not the righteousness of God: “This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God” (James 1:19-20). Such prejudice and anger prevent us from making righteous judgments: “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment" (John 7:24).
The danger of such anger and prejudice is real and ever-present. Our current age is seeing this played out on a national scale. This is meant NOT as a political comment, but a comment on the moral character of so many in our country, including ‘us’.
Religion, unfortunately, is also an area of life where this misguided thinking often takes place. So it was in the first century. Some of the Jewish leaders “listened up to this word” –“Gentile” (Acts 22:21-22), and then their anger took over and they quit listening, thinking, and reasoning. Some were unable to answer Stephen, so they made a martyr out of him (Acts 7). Others were unable to answer Jesus, so they had him crucified. Then, they mocked him while he was dying on the cross. Then, unable to deny the obvious conclusion that miracles demanded, they rejected the resurrection and the gospel.
No wonder we are urged to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger! We need to make sure to listen, then to think, then to compare with the scriptures, and then to judge righteous judgments! See again the example of the Bereans in Acts 17:11.
How is YOUR hearing?
Hugh DeLong
