Read Luke 6:6-11
Is It Lawful To Do Good On The Sabbath?
Jesus went into the synagogue on the Sabbath and was teaching. A man with a shriveled hand was there. The Pharisees and teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus so they watched him closely to see if he would heal the man on the Sabbath. According to the legalistic law of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, to heal on the Sabbath was considered working on the Sabbath so therefore was unlawful. But Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked this question, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” But they remained silent. So Jesus healed the man’s shriveled hand completely. The Pharisees and teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss what to do to Jesus.
Some May disagree with me on what we did, but years ago, on a Sunday night, we got over 30 teenagers together and went to an elderly lady’s house to do some major cleanup around her house. We weeded her garden and flower bed, raked leaves, used her weed wacker, and filled some dirt in some holes around her yard. When we were done, the place looked very nice and she was so happy and appreciative. It was a memory she held on to right up to her death. A man at church confronted me for doing work on the Sabbath. My mind went to this passage where Jesus did good for a person on the Sabbath. Jesus restored a man’s hand and we were able to restore a lady’s place of residence. We may have even restored her heart for the Lord, I don’t know, but we showed her a love that brought her tears of joy.
I do feel there’s a fine line to be aware of: 1. Legalism can cause one to miss Ministry opportunities.
2. Helping people on the Sabbath can become a crutch we lean on as an excuse to miss church.
We need to be very careful of both extremes.
