"On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath." - Luke 13:10-14
"Then He answered them, saying, “Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?" - Luke 14:5
Jesus healed at least 7 times according to what was recorded in the Gospels, but it also says at the end of the chapter in John 21 ....
"This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. "Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." - John 21:24-25
So what was the issue and what does it have to do with the Church in the 21st century? This most likely goes without saying, but you know that when I refer to the Church I am referring to the Body of Christ, corporate. Every person that has been born again, irrespective if the denomination or "non-denomination" that they are affiliated with.
"By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work." - Genesis 2:2
Do you think God was tired and need to take a break? I think that He had done all that He intended to do so on the 7th day He did nothing. So the seventh day - we might ask what day - a day in heaven or a day on earth. Oh, so many questions!
"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." - 2 Peter 3:8
But let us imagine that it was making reference to Earth days. You know that the Sabbath is the seventh day of the week - Saturday and Sunday is the first day of the week, right? So Sunday is not the Sabbath - Sunday is the day that Jesus rose from the grave. That is why most Christians gather on Sunday and not Saturday. Complicated isn't it?
So as far as the Jews were concerned on the Sabbath - Saturday you could do no work - and work was defined down to the tiniest bit of minutia. So, what Jesus healed on the Sabbath that was considered work, for which He was criticized. He reminded the leaders that they made exceptions to the rule - like getting the Ox out of the pit. That was work, but not really. See the contradiction. It was ok to help the Ox in the pit but it was not OK to heal a person.
"And he [Jesus] said to them [the Pharisees], “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath." - Mark 2:23-28
Doesn't it make sense that if the greatest commandment is to love God and the next is to love others, that God would expect us to love others 7 days a week and not just 6. Jesus was trying to make that point. That is one motivation for saying that the Jewish spiritual leaders strained at gnats (the little things) and swallowed camels.
"[They] neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean." - Matthew 23:23-26
Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory.
By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone
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