Not on the Sabbath

Luke 13: 10 - 17

Come on those days and be healed, not on the Sabbath

As his exams near, my son does study on the Sabbath. And he knows that I would want him to. In fact, he jokingly mentioned he should follow a friend, also facing the SPM exams, who claims that she does not study on the Sabbath. But he knows that in his case anyway, there
is much to catch up on. And he surely needs some extra time to make up. I have had to lay aside my 'spiritual' idea of Sabbath being a time of rest and renewal for the time being!! For a 'higher' temporary purpose.
Rules and regulations start off with a good purpose. Commandments given by God are meant to free us to love and serve God and our neighbour better. When they serve this purpose, we begin to experience the liberation of being the children of God. In fact, we begin to 'find God in all things and all things in God'. Life becomes more integrated lived within the boundaries and structures that are meant as a loving gift from God.

But humans can and often do take God given gifts and use them for our own ends. The Pharisees did this with the many rules and regulations they placed as a yoke upon the shoulders of others.

Imagine telling a suffering person not to seek healing on the Sabbath - there are six other days for that 'work'. This was just too much for Jesus. He used a strong word to describe the Pharisees: 'hypocrites'! They were willing to water their beasts of burden on the Sabbath. And here unwilling for another human person to receive mercy. What hypocrisy!

I wonder if we might also fall into this category when we formulate too many rules and regulations in our churches. Of course they are meant for a purpose - to keep order, to make sure that things run smoothly. But whenever they begin to hinder our loving compassion for others - we need to question them, and even review them. As Jesus pointed out to the most 'religious' in his nation, we too can become too 'pious' to hear the cries of the needy.