One Sabbath day Jesus went to eat dinner in the home of a leader of the Pharisees, and the people were watching him closely. There was a man there whose arms and legs were swollen. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in religious law, “Is it permitted in the law to heal people on the Sabbath day, or not?” When they refused to answer, Jesus touched the sick man and healed him and sent him away. Then he turned to them and said, “Which of you doesn’t work on the Sabbath? If your son or your cow falls into a pit, don’t you rush to get him out?” Again they could not answer. Luke 14:1-6.
It has been interesting, sometimes frightening, to watch the Supreme Court make judgments that affect the lives of everyone in the United States. Decisions can be based strictly on the legal limits of the law and others can be made based on what the law was intended to accomplish, protect, or limit. A law enacted in the 1800s in the US was used, for example, to inform a recent legal decision.
At the time of Jesus, religious authorities were known for their strict adherence to the law of Moses which prohibited them from doing any work on the Sabbath day, the day of rest. Jesus was thereby condemned when he would heal people on the sabbath rather than leave them in their dilemma. Jesus knew that the law was not written to give law greater importance than the people it was meant to serve. In fact, Jesus once said that “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27.
Any honest Jew would recognize that there were times when law had to be suspended in order to rescue an ox in a ditch. Or rescue your own child. Even David ate bread meant for the priests in the Tabernacle because his men needed food. Jesus believed that humans came first in the love of God. There was no double standard as the Jewish leaders often seemed to believe.
What these religious leaders did not know yet was that Jesus was walking to his death in Jerusalem. Walking to his death because he believed in the beauty and value of human beings, being willing to die for them as an expression of that belief. At that moment law keeping shrank in importance before the soaring grace of the Cross and the love of Christ.
Spiritual maturity involves, in part, the ability to prioritize the love of God over the rule of law. Jesus clearly does that.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you gave your life for us. You modeled the grace and generosity which you want us to imitate in our own lives, as well. Please help us to see, in this debate between Jesus and the religious leaders what is most important and that love comes first. Amen.