THE GIFT OF THE SABBATH (LUKE 6:6-11)
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Here are some quotes on the Sabbath:
“The Sabbath is the center of the Ten Words as they are known in Deuteronomy.”
“Without the Sabbath, we ourselves become servants.”
“Without the Sabbath, contact with God is lost. With Sabbath, they can be a beautiful balance of labor and rest.”
“Without the Sabbath, burnout is almost inevitable.”
“Without the Sabbath, labor and land could too easily be exploited.”
“The world without the Sabbath is like a man without a smile.”
“The Sabbath is not simply a rest from labor, but it is a rest unto the Lord.”
Two groups of opposition appeared visibly in Jesus’ ministry: the scribes and the Pharisees. The scribes appear 58 times and the Pharisees 88 times in the Gospels. The Pharisees were the doers in the enforcement of the law and the scribes were the thinkers on interpretation of the law. To be fair to the Pharisees they were only involved in arresting Jesus (John 18:3), but the scribes’ part were arresting (Mark 14:43) Jesus, plus sentencing (Mark 14:53) and mocking Him (Mark 15:31). Jesus predicted that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes (never the Pharisees), and be killed (Matt 16:21, 20:18).
What makes people blind to their own spots? How do hypocrites behave? Why do people say one thing and do another?
Be Alive, Not Ashamed – Don’t be Restricted By Your Physical Self
6 On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. 7 The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath.
A man (David Blackhall) blind for twenty years ago walked around pitying himself. Then one day his eleven-year-old daughter said something that gave his life a boost forever. One Saturday, she came to him and asked him to build her a periscope so she could look over tall things like fences. He told her that all she had to do was go out and buy him a couple of small mirrors. She came running back within minutes, and in less than an hour, with the help of cardboard and scissors and sticky tape, a periscope came off the workbench.
The man’s daughter hurried to demonstrate her new toy to the boy from next door. “My daddy made that,” she told him casually. “Your daddy made that?” he objected. “But your daddy is blind.”
“Yes, my daddy is blind,” she repeated. “But he’s not blind with his hands.
(David Blackhall in Reader's Digest)
The Sabbath was a great day for studying, learning and growing, but it had ceased from being a holy day to being a harsh law, with its prohibition, prosecution and punishment. In this account only Luke the doctor was so precise to notice that the man’s right hand was withered, a fact that escaped Matthew (Matt 12:10) and Mark (Mark 3:1). Withered can mean shrunken, shrivel and shortened hand. What does it mean if your right hand is withered? According to Wikipedia only 10%of the world’s population is left-handed (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handedness). Suppose this man is right-handed, it would mean doubly inconvenient, impeded and inhibited. In days of old, those with physical "blemishes" such as a crippled or broken hand, were forbidden from giving offerings to God or be near the altar (Leviticus 21:17-20), but the synagogue was kinder to them. The man, to his credit, was content to focus on the word of God, his worth before God and his walk with God. The hand was noticeable but he was a man of faith who was not bothered in his heart and mind as long as he was allowed to be in God’s presence.
Looking (v 7, The Pharisees and the teachers of the law, on the other hand, were “looking” for a reason to accuse Jesus) means watch (para-tereo) and debuts in the Bible in this instance ( Mark 3:2, Luke 6:7), fittingly to describe the relationship of the religious teachers with Jesus. The shorter version “watch” occurs 71 times in the Bible but “watch alongside” is a verb in the gospels which refer to the chief Pharisees (Luke 14:1) and the chief priests and the scribes (Luke 20:19-20) spying on Jesus. Technically, the verb “looking” is watch (tereo) alongside (para). They watched him like a hawk, tracked him like a spy and monitored him like a criminal.
What’s wrong with the Pharisees’ focus on Jesus’ healing? Their eyes were not focused on God, the Sabbath day or the man with a withered hand, but on Jesus who, ironically, was present to minister, heal and save. I used to have a housemate in youth who has a shortened hand two-thirds a person’s normal length, but he was just as energetic and effective as any other person, volunteering as a youth minster in a small church.
Verse 6, in one verse, succinctly list three things that restricted the man: the Sabbath, the Pharisees and the scribes, and his right hand (v 6). With all the disadvantages and hindrances against him, he only needed one advantage and help: God in Christ, the Word became flesh! Jesus was never far away. He was at the temple not only weekly on Saturday, but day by day (Luke 19:47, 22:53), facing contempt, censure and condemnation. He never missed a day of ministry, an opportunity to teach or meet a person in need at the synagogue.
Be Audacious, Not Ambiguous – Don’t Be Reliant on Your Predictable Self
8 But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Get up and stand in front of everyone." So he got up and stood there. 9 Then Jesus said to them, "I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?" 10 He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did so, and his hand was completely restored.
Socrates had a trusted servant who, seeing others giving presents to his master, came to him one day and said, “Because I have nothing else to give you, Master, I here give you myself.” Socrates saw the earnestness of the servant and said, “Do so.” After bestowing upon him gifts, and advancing him to the head of his servants, he called him one day and said, “I now give you back to yourself better than when I received you.” ( Illustrations of Bible Truths # 283)
The Greek expression for Jesus - “he, but he-knew” - in Greek is not found anywhere else in the Bible except in verse 6. It means Christ was skilled, specialized and seasoned in human nature. He knew all there is to know about man’s dark, double-minded and deceitful side. Thoughts (v 8, dialogismos) is also translated as “reasoning” (Luke 9:46), imaginations (Rom 1:21), doubtful (Rom 14:1), disputing (Phil 2:14). The Greek “through” (dia-) + “study/word,” which means discussions - if internal, but debate - if external. The preposition “dia-” means through - through and through, in and out, end to end. Jesus saw through their dishonesty, dishonor and display. They were not there to call on the man, cheer him up or chat with him.
Like it or not, the man with a withered hand had to make up his mind fast – handicap or not, harassed or not, hesitated or not. Jesus uttered three loud commands for the man before the scribes and the Pharisees to draw his attention, to decide for himself and demand his allegiance. Jesus always required the demonstration of faith when the scribes and the Pharisees were present. In the case of the paralytic a chapter before, Jesus gave him as many as four command: Get up and walk (Luke 5:23), get up… and go home (Luke 5:24). Jesus gave the man a command only specified for the man in the Bible: “stretch out” your hand! (Matt 12:13, Mark 3:5). This is the work part on the Sabbath day for the man, drawing him into the controversy and contention. It was a hard thing to do for him, but it was an exercise, the expression and extension of his faith.
The Pharisees were very cruel to people who trusted in Jesus, such as the man born blind was cast out of the synagogue by the Pharisees (John 9:35). Confessing Jesus amounted to being put out of the synagogue (John 12:42). It’s never easy for the disabled in their suffering but they will have to more to face in the future for their faith, so Jesus might as well start their training right away on how to deal with the scribes and the Pharisees.
Be Awakened, Not Arrogant– But Be Restored to Your Permanent Self
May Your Strength Be Real11 But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.
December 17, 1903, is considered one of mankind’s important progress dates. On this date, Orville and Wilbur Wright succeeded in flying their homemade airplane for 59 seconds, covering a distance of 852 feet at a speed of approximately 6.8 miles per hour. When the Wright Brothers completed their first successful flight they immediately sent a telegram to their sister who lived in Dayton, Ohio, which read, First successful flight, 59 seconds. Will be home for Christmas.”
The excited sister ran into town to see the editor of the local paper. The editor read the telegram and told the sister, “Tomorrow, we all publish it.” The very next morning the banner headlines read, THE WRIGHT BROTHERS, WELL-KNOWN BICYCLE IMPORTERS, WILL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS.”
(Paul Finkenbinder)
The editor obviously didn’t get it. He was supposed to report the flight and not the festival!
By verse 9 Jesus was no longer addressing the man with a withered hand, but the Pharisees and the scribes. The verbs “to do good” (Luke 6:9) and “to do evil” occurs the first time in the Bible (Mark 3:4). The scribes and the Pharisees were cold, calculating and cruel to the man. What was more pathetic was that the scribes and the Pharisees could not answer Jesus’ simple but subtle question! Jesus was disgusted with their stubbornness, self-righteousness and snobbishness. They were never more insensitive, inflexible and ill-willed than on this occasion. The scribes and the Pharisees never spoke a word to the man nor Jesus! They could not but reveal their hypocritical, high-minded and heartless attitude to the man with a withered man. Their presence on that day was never there out of concern, care and compassion for the man.
The religious leaders were not only mad at Jesus, they were enraged. The result is they talked thoroughly (dia-laleo) what to do with Jesus. It was self-defeating to be furious (v 11) on the Sabbath. The holy Sabbath was profaned by their acrimonious, adversarial and antagonistic. They were obsessed with Jesus, overcame with anger and obvious in intention. Furious or “anoia” is “filled with madness” in KJV or folly (2 Tim 3:9). It is “filled with madness” in KJV, filled with rage in NASB and filled with fury in ESV. Anoia means “a” (no) + “nous,” which mind, understanding or intellect. In other words, they lost their mind, lost their head, lost their cool, lost their grip or lost their sanity. They were angry to the brim, to the top and to the max. Filled is extra, excessive, extreme, extraordinary and explosive. Healing on any day is a miracle, but the Pharisees and the scribes merely saw it as malfeasance, considering it as harm and heresy, and not healing and honor.
Conclusion: Perfection is the devil’s fascination and pride is his fall. CS Lewis said, “Through pride the devil became the devil.” Is your life marked by pride, hypocrisy and indifference? Are you willing to intercede and intervene for others? Do you see the speck in your brother’s eye and not the log in your own eyes? Are you waking in the light or in darkness? Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matt 5:16)
