A Day Off?

09.23.14

Luke 6.9 9 And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” - Jesus (ESV)

In Luke 6, Jesus made His case that He was the Lord of the Sabbath. The Pharisees – His religious opponents – couldn’t understand that concept: they believed the Sabbath was a day off from everything. No work, no play, no exceptions.

Of course the Pharisees had exceptions. If an animal of theirs was in trouble, they made an exception. If the cattle needed watered and fed, they made an exception. But like so many who love rules as a way of life, they used the rules not necessarily for themselves, but as a club to rule others. Jesus came preaching a different way of looking at this “day of rest” that was so precious to them.

Jesus asked, “…is it lawful on the Sabbath to do food or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” In other words, what is the point of the Sabbath if some good doesn’t come from it or some blessing isn’t achieved by it? To them, the Sabbath was only a test of one’s commitment. To Jesus, it was God’s gift of a day off from the toil of life, but not from the graces of love, goodness, and mercy. The case in point: healing a man with the withered hand. Why was it so against the Day of Rest to give someone rest from a difficulty? For the rest of his life? The tyranny of rules.

Is it lawful to do good? That’s a great question! Do we even need a law to tell us to be good or to do good? Shouldn’t goodness be without law? Shouldn’t goodness be free to be free and free to anyone who needs it – no matter the day, the hour or the cause of its need? The correct answer: OF COURSE IT SHOULD!!!!! But when life is kept and measured by rules, love is often relegated to a very small place. So small at times, one doesn’t even know it’s there.

When I am bound by the rules (the written or the other kind) I am pretty hard to get along with. And when I am driving down the wrong side of the road in heavy traffic I put a lot of people in a bad place emotionally. The answer is to be motivated and driven by love. If I love my fellow man and treat him the way I’d like to be treated it makes for better days.

They had it all backwards; the Church then, was closed six days of the week and open on the Sabbath. Shouldn’t good things come from the gathering of God's people? We struggle with the same thing: our churches are closed more often than they are open – shouldn’t our Lord’s Days be more about healing and freedom than pretending to measure up to some unwritten but assumed code of conduct: behave, believe, belong? In our churches do the hurting know our love is there?

Father, help me to live a life of love every moment there is breath in my body. Life is consistently inconsistent but one thing stands firm: You love eternally and endlessly – You never take a break from it. May I live likewise. There isn’t ever a good time to not love. Help me, loving and gracious Father – amen.