If we are to follow in the steps of Jesus regarding the Sabbath, we must know what those steps were. His custom on that day is clear from this Luke passage:
Luke 4:16. "So He came to Nazareth where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.
As to His attitude, later in his book, Brother Luke reports this telling tale:
Luke 13:10-17. "Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity 18 years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity! And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and He said to the crowd, There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath Day! The Lord answered him and said, Hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead it away to water? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound- think of it - for 18 years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?"
a. Talk of oxen and donkeys and such brings us back to Deuteronomy, where the original call to rest is extended even to the beasts of the field! But even these dumb animals trip up on the Sabbath and need some attention, and most sane people give it to them. And when they are so extricated from their difficulty, they can truly enjoy a needed rest! So it is with the hurting people of earth who come across our pathway on the seventh day. Surely they are of more value and in need of greater rest than any animal. We are to be instant in giving it to them, that they might enjoy not only the day, but eternal rest with Christ. What could be plainer, except to a hardened heart?
b. This hardness of heart did not take place overnight. The Pharisees were originally a people who wanted merely to be separated unto God from the unholy culture which developed in Israel during the years between the Testaments. Greek ways were becoming more and more appealing to Jews who wanted to go with the flow of history. The Gymnasium, for example, was thrust upon them, along with the required nakedness that accompanied the exercising within. Some devout believers said of this and other innovations, Enough! We are God's people, we are holy unto Him alone! They separated. The word Pharisee comes from a word that means just that: separation. It was not a bad start. A return to holier days and righteous ways was pleasing to the heart of God. But soon pride crept in to the holiness movement, as it does in every generation when people move too far in this external direction. Pride, and forms, and certain ways of doing everything, and rules upon rules, and the very presence of a holy God is forgotten, along with the mercy of that God on those who have yet to experience these realities.
Jesus' response? "Think not that I am come to destroy the law... I came not to destroy, but to fulfill." He comes to light a torch within the man that shows him his evil and God's grace. He comes to fulfill within us all that God requires of us. He comes to write the very law of God on our hearts since we are unable to keep the law written on stones and parchment. He is not a law-breaker, as the lawless antichrist will show us about Satan's character. No, he is the one who establishes the law, within us. More of this later.
Here is yet another Sabbath healing in Luke:
Luke 14:1-6. "Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely. And behold there was a certain man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him and let him go. Then he answered them, saying, Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day? And they could not answer Him..."
Here was a great answer to a hard question. "Is this legal?" they want to know. "Let's see," says Jesus, and then... healed! There's your answer! Next question? I am still struck in all these accounts at what an incredible thing has happened from the time of the prophets until now. In those days the sin was profaning the Sabbath, the utter disregard for God's Word in the Commandments, doing my own thing on God's Holy Day. Then come the "separated ones" and the pendulum swings the other way. Not only is secular pleasure forbidden by them. Not only do they forbid worrying over income and the cares of life. No, for them, everything is forbidden! A tangle of laws and rules confuses the command and blurs the image of a God who cares about earthlings who really do need to stop once a week, or burn out. In the Pharisaical view, God is willing to allow the sick to die and the possessed to be tormented, if deliverance on the seventh day is the only option.
There is nothing wrong with the Sabbath! Never does Jesus lose sight of Genesis and Exodus when he is wringing out the Pharisees and hanging them up to dry! The day is still holy, whether man hallows it or not. At least, as far as the Gospel writers are concerned.
http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. Just about every day I'm writing a blog featuring some news, a book, or a story of North Korea. There's a live news feed on the site, lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together!
And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond on my site.
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