Luke 13: 

A Spirit of Infirmity

¹⁰ Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. ¹¹ And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. ¹² But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” ¹³ And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

¹⁴ But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.”

¹⁵ The Lord then answered him and said, ^]“Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? ¹⁶ So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” ¹⁷ And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.

The Sabbath day is full of ritualistic ‘don’t’s and ‘can’t’s and ‘not supposed to’s, and that is not to mock it, for the Father set it up as a day of rest for His chosen, and gave them the rules to abide in it, and truly rest. Even when He supplied them manna in the desert, they were not to go out on the Sabbath to collect it if they couldn’t gather it all. Of course, there were those who tried, and suffered the consequences.

What the religious leaders who trailed Christ like sharks on a blood trail failed to realize is that His ministry was eternal in purpose and scope, and while there were times He went away to renew Himself, the work of the ministry was ceaseless because man is ever in a pitiful state, whether it be spiritually, physically, or financially, or all of the above.

They could not rejoice in the miracles Jesus performed over those they wanted to control and manipulate. He hurt their pride, and properly reapplied all their learning to that which they should have been doing, to the point where they were so caught up that every time they tried to trap Him, He’d quiet them with a question or a timely word.

Matthew: 12 Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

12 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. ² And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”

³ But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: ⁴ how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? ⁵ Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? ⁶ Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. ⁷ But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. ⁸ For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

The common people rejoiced at what Jesus did, and glorified G-d, because this was something new in their midst. They were astonished at His authoritative teaching, His boldness, His wisdom, and His power. Their needs were immediate, but their sins were forgiven forever.

We’d like to believe that those who were healed when on to live a life that continued to glorify G-d, but we can’t possibly know that; that is for the harvesting angels to know. We should ask how often do we, after getting our needs met, turn back to pursuing our wants?

Let us not be like the legalists and miss the point: there is never a time to not do good to someone else. There is no resting from that. In fact, we are called to do it in ways that are contrary to what we’ve been taught as people.

Pray for your enemies? Bless those who curse you? Turn the other cheek when they strike you? Love the sinful, thankless, evil, and faithless, and minister to them?  Forgive them? Love them? Forsake all to follow Him?

Yes, all that and more. He tells us to partake of His body and blood to be like Him, and to do as He does, which is what we pray for but don’t do. The ones who turned away didn’t understand, because their hearts were hard, and the Spirit did not open their ears. The disciples were so used to hearing things they didn’t (yet) understand, that Peter answered for most of us why we ‘stick around.’

John 6:60-68

Many Disciples Turn Away

⁶⁰ Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?”

⁶¹ When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? ⁶² What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? ⁶³ It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. ⁶⁴ But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. ⁶⁵ And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”

⁶⁶ From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. ⁶⁷ Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?”

⁶⁸ But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

It is the spirit of G-d in us responding to the Spirit in Him.

The Apostle Paul tells us: (1 Corinthians 1:18)

Christ the Power and Wisdom of God

¹⁸ For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Are we resting on Him in faith, this Sabbath day? Are we, like the temple priests, ministering, too?

Therefore I pray:

Lord Jesus,

Within our man made structures, there are rules, orders, laws, and procedures that allow us to do our work in the most efficient way possible, free not only from interruptions, but from dangers within and without. 

Yet You call us to minister to a world of chaos and unbelief, lawlessness and strife,  and preach to them a message that seems so foolish and impossible that it has to be the Holy Spirit who opens their ears, for You say that no one is drawn to You unless it is granted to them by the Father. 

We are to plant seeds, and water if need be, but we are also to live as lights on a hillside, and to walk a narrow road. As Your works pointed those who saw them to glorify the Father working through You, let us also, as You said, do greater works, that the same may be accomplished as the harvest draws nearer, and Your prophecies come to pass. 

Help us not to grow weary in doing good, and to do all things well, growing in favor with the Father and man, that our enemies through our faith in You be silenced, and put to shame. 

And let us be ever mindful to rest not only from our labors, but on Your promises, and on the seal of our salvation to be reconciled, blameless before the Throne, and our works withstand the test of fire as we stand before You, longing for the words to enter into Your rest.

We ask in faith, believing.

May it be done to us as You have said.

Amen.