Read Luke 13:10-17
Isn’t It Delightful?
On the Sabbath, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues. A woman was there who had been crippled by an evil spirit for 18 years. As a result she couldn’t stand upward. Jesus called her forward, put his hands on her, and healed her. Immediately she straightened upward and praised God!
Seeing her healed, one of the synagogue leaders said to the people, there are six days for work, so come and be healed on those days and not on the Sabbath. In saying this, he tried to be legalistic and make Jesus look bad. Jesus responds back to the synagogue leaders saying, you hypocrites! On the Sabbath you untie your ox and donkey from the stall and lead it the water and think that’s okay. Then shouldn’t this woman, who has been kept bound by Satan for 18 long years, be set free from that which had her bound? When Jesus said this, his opponents were humiliated and the people were delighted with what Jesus was doing.
I see four things in this account:
1. The synagogue leaders thought it was so important to obey the laws that they became legalistic about it and missed what was most important and that’s the compassion for the hurting. Compassion for the hurting does not violate what God intended when he said “Do not work on the Sabbath.”
2. The synagogue leaders were hypocrites when it came to following their own man-made laws and were judgmental toward others while they were blind to their own sin.
3. Jesus healed on the sabbath. Don’t let the day of the week keep us from loving and showing compassion to those in need.
4. The people were delighted with what Jesus was doing. Perhaps we should be more joyful or delighted in the work God is doing in people’s lives, better yet, be more intentional in setting aside our own agenda so we can touch another person’s life who is in need.
