Jesus went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand. Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus’ enemies watched him closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand in front of everyone.” Then he turned to his critics and asked, “Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?” But they wouldn’t answer him. He looked around at them angrily and was deeply saddened by their hard hearts. Then he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was restored! At once the Pharisees went away and met with the supporters of Herod to plot how to kill Jesus. (Mark 3:1-6)Watch someone long enough and they will do something you think is wrong.
In the presidential election, the candidates are scrutinized for every thing they have ever done that might be wrong. There was a rumor one put a dog on top of his car for a trip, another might not have been polite to someone in the past, a third took his dead baby home for a private funeral before burying it, another said something that some considered disrespectful to one of the “minorities,” another – it goes on and on.
Whether the things was actually wrong or not, or just something someone didn’t like is beside the point. When you want to find something wrong with someone, you can find it even if they are the sinless Son of God.
Jesus (in their eyes) sinned because he did “labor” (ie healing) on the Sabbath Day, the day that God set aside for rest. Now, that is picky in the extreme. But when you want something badly enough, you can find it.
Jesus knew this and did it anyway. There was a strong libertarian streak in the Lord that said I don’t care what you think, He didn’t have time to mess with people who would get mad anyway. He had a job in life to do. His job was bringing the grace of God and the healing power of that grace to the world, of bringing the lost back to God. He was here to save souls, not play games.
He was a faithful Jew and kept all the ordinances and commandments. But his interpretation of something and someone else’s interpretation of that same thing were not always the same. Just because they thought it was essential didn’t mean he did.
And simply because someone decided a while back that something was wrong didn’t mean it was, either. Not to Jesus.
He did what he was supposed to do even though people got mad. That is why people get mad at Christians when they act like Christians even in their everyday lives. Someone decided that there was a certain place for “religion” and the rest was for living. But God said our lives are bound up in our faith and are inseparable.
That makes people mad, but it is too bad. Just like Jesus, sometimes you have to go ahead and do something even though it will anger the establishment. Most of the time, they are going to get mad anyway. And they are just looking for things to get mad at.
No comments:
Post a Comment
To comment, post your comment and click the anonymous button. It would be nice if you signed it so I could know who you are.
You are welcome to say anything you want as long as it is nice. If I don't like it, or it is ugly, I will take it off, place it into the garbage disposal, grind it up, and allow it to be flushed into the Gulf of Mexico where it will be eaten by a fish and then excreted where it will lie on the bottom of the ocean until it is covered up by other comments.