Sometimes rules need breaking!
Some rules are not helpful and keep people bound up.
Some rules are a burden, which mean if you follow them all,
you have no time or energy for the things that really matter.
They are a distraction.
On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.
When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.”
Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”
The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?
Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”
When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.
Luke 13 v 10 – 17
How sad - instead of seeing the joy of the women being released by a miracle, the leader at the synagogue could only see that their man-made rules had been broken.
The law of Moses doesn’t forbid healing on the Sabbath, but the synagogue leader had classified healing as work.
When God rested on the seventh day of creation, he instigated a day of rest for humankind. God didn’t need to rest, but we do. Somehow something that was intended for good had become an unhelpful rule.
Jesus said the sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
Job's Worth
Have you ever been frustrated by the phrase It’s more than my job’s worth ? It’s usually uttered by a pedant who doesn’t want to help you, and who sees the detail more than the bigger picture. This reminds me of this situation.
The synagogue leader had totally missed the point.
The poor woman had been so crippled that she was bent over, bound by Satan.
Jesus set her free. He literally straightened her out.
It seems that this important man would have preferred her to stay bound up and not healed, because in his little world it would break a rule.
Some people are too religious.
Some people have more laws than Moses.
They must think that they are holier than God and know better than him.
No wonder Jesus was angry.