What Makes the Sabbath So Wonderful?

 In our passage this week, Jesus is very angry.  Our passage is Luke 13:10-17:

¹⁰ Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. ¹¹ And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. ¹² When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” ¹³ When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. ¹⁴ But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the Sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured and not on the Sabbath day.” ¹⁵ But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it to water? ¹⁶ And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?” ¹⁷ When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame, and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things being done by him.

          It is not the first time Jesus ‘gets into it’ over the Sabbath.  The odd thing is that no one who argues with him is arguing against what he does, usually healing, but rather WHEN Jesus is doing it.  There are six other days in the week.  That is true, but is that the point?  Jesus gets REALLY mad at the synagogue leaders.  Calls them hypocrites.

          But notice something about the synagogue leader?  He doesn’t talk to Jesus.  He talks to the people in the pews.  He tries to get them on his side as he spreads rumors about Jesus.  “Doing this on the Sabbath…who does he think that he is…”  Not a friendly conversation by any means.  And talking behind Jesus’ back!  Jesus does not respond well to that.

          See what Jesus says.  He tells them all that it is okay if the leader of the synagogue will untie his donkey or ox from its manger and give it water BUT Jesus is not supposed to cure a woman who has been suffering for eighteen years.  What does that say about them and their God of the Sabbath?  How do you argue with someone who asks you if you believe a crippled woman is less important than giving water to your animals?  On God’s Day?

          Because that is what the Sabbath is.  God rested on that Day after six days of creation.  God made that day holy.  God put the rules for keeping it Holy into the Ten Commandments.  This is a big deal.

          Here is something else to think about.  How often do we really think about the Sabbath?  Jesus seems to have His sharpest conflicts with the leaders in Jerusalem over issues surrounding the Sabbath.  I can see why.  The leaders have added so many rules, it’s like this day is more important than God.  And when something becomes more important than God, we call that an idol.

          In the gospel of Mark, Jesus says that the Sabbath was created for us, and we were not created for the Sabbath.  Means we need this day, the day does not need us.  We need a day that God made Holy.  Life has got enough pressures in it. 

          But in the whole Scripture lesson today, what is best for the Sabbath?  The healing is pretty cool, but then the woman straightened up and praised the Lord.  And isn’t that the best thing we can do when we come to worship?

 

Peace,

Pastor Peter