Monday Thought -- June 27, 2011

Good Morning Friends,

“Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, ‘There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.’ The Lord answered him, ‘You hypocrites! Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?’ When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.” (Luke 13:14-17)

Which do you think is more characteristic of God – loving action or strict legalism? If you said “strict legalism” then you would fit in well with the Pharisees and scribes of Jesus’ day and be far removed from the heart of God.

It’s not that God is unconcerned about His Law. God does want us to embrace His standard of right and wrong. But love trumps legalism. In fact, in the Old Testament, through the prophet Hosea, God said, “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” (Hosea 6:6)

The Pharisees and scribes understood that principle when it came to the care of their animals. They would not deprive their ox or donkey of the water that it needed on the Sabbath simply because for them to get water would require that they untie the rope that bound them. They cared about their ox and their donkey. But when it came to the needs of people – the strict Sabbath prohibitions took precedence.

In this story, Jesus healed a woman who had been crippled for eighteen years and the synagogue ruler chastised Jesus for His act of love. Jesus was expressing the heart of God for the woman – the ruler was far from God’s heart.

Sabbath prohibitions don’t bind many people anymore, but I wonder if there are other ways that we allow some aspect of strict legalism to get in the way of demonstrating love to those around us. Years ago one of the elders at the church I served was on his way to church one Sunday morning and didn’t get there. Instead, he saw a family with a broken down car of the road and he stopped and helped them deal with the problem. Strict legalism might have said he was wrong for missing church. Love said that he made the right choice.

His, by Grace,

Steve