Permitted

Scripture: Luke 14:1-6

1 One Sabbath day Jesus went to eat dinner in the home of a leader of the Pharisees, and the people were watching him closely. 2 There was a man there whose arms and legs were swollen. 3 Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in religious law, “Is it permitted in the law to heal people on the Sabbath day, or not?” 4 When they refused to answer, Jesus touched the sick man and healed him and sent him away. 5 Then he turned to them and said, “Which of you doesn’t work on the Sabbath? If your son or your cow falls into a pit, don’t you rush to get him out?” 6 Again they could not answer. (Luke 14:1-6 NLT)

Moses gave Israel a commandment about the Sabbath (rest) day: “Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy.” (Exodus 20:8). By Jesus’ day, that commandment had developed into thirty-nine categories of work that were not permitted on the Sabbath. The specific applications of those categories numbered in the hundreds. Jesus violated those specific mandates by healing people, by telling a man he had healed to pick up the mat he had been lying on and go home to his family, by allowing his disciples to snack on heads of grain from a field they walked past on the Sabbath—the list goes on!

Jesus challenged people to think about whether the law against working on the Sabbath was a principle to be applied using common sense or a technical issue to be blindly obeyed, even if it meant not helping someone in need. They refused to answer because they didn’t want to think about it. The advantage of a religious system is that it’s clear. “Do this” and “Don’t do that” and you don’t have to think about it. Just do it! (Or just don’t do it!). You don’t have to think about it!

The challenge of following Jesus is that you do have to think about things. You have to wrestle with the tension between the “letter of the law” and the “spirit of the law.” Jesus is still asking questions that we can’t avoid thinking about and we can’t not answer. Being a follower of Jesus means being put in situations where we have to think and pray and find the way to live from the heart and not just from the rule book.

Following Jesus is better than mere religion, but it’s not easier!

Prayer:

Father, Please help me be like Jesus who watched what you do and listened to what you say and then spoke and acted accordingly. Help me break free from the paralysis of mere religion and live dangerously in the freedom of a Spirit-led life. I purpose today to watch and listen and think about the questions you challenge me to wrestle with. May my answers to your questions and my responses to your promptings be pleasing to your heart. Amen.