“Maintain The Spirit Of The Law!”

“Maintain The Spirit Of The Law!”(Lk.13:10-17).
Last Friday I hired somebody to split wood for me. I told him the work was urgent. He told me that since the work is urgent, he’ll work even on Sunday. I didn’t refuse. Rather, I told him that he could work on Sunday from midday – time by which normal church services should be over. The law of the Sabbath is meant to liberate and free. But when the spirit of the law is misunderstood, it further enslaves rathan liberate.
The clergy earn their living by working also on Sundays and other holidays. While we berate people for not coming to service on Sundays, some clergy may not attend service if it would not put food on their tables.
Consider this: the Lord Jesus Christ was teaching on a Sabbath day in one of the synagogues. When you are teaching you are working. The synagogue ruler was there too. He was at his work place working. Yet he was indignant that the Lord Jesus had healed a woman who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years.
By the way, the Lord Jesus simply called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity,” and put his hands on her. “And immediately she straightened up and praised God”
It is not as if she was taken to a theatre for an orthopaedic surgery. We are told that the synagogue ruler was indignant because the Lord Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, so he said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”
This indeed is hypocrisy. By speaking to the people on the Sabbath day he was working for his pay. Yet he was telling them that they should only come on other days for their healing. Besides, he should have waited till the next day to express his indignation, rather than doing so on the Sabbath.
On the side, we see “transferred aggression” in the man’s reaction. He was indignant with Jesus’ action, but instead of addressing the Lord Jesus, he rather transferred his agression on to the people. On his part, the Lord showed his contempt for more than just the synagogue ruler. “The Lord answered him, ‘You hypocrites!’…” By using the plural he was answering all his oppenents. His words “humiliated all his opponents, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.”
Dear friend, follow the footsteps of the Master. Wherever you are, and whatever it is that you are doing, let them be wonderful things that bring glory to God. As long as it is for the good of humanity, and as long as it can lead people to the kingdom of God, keep doing it even on the Sabbath. Let the indignation of the oppenents not distract and derail you! The Lord Jesus Christ whom you serve is the Lord of the Sabbath!
Prayer: Thank you Lord Jesus Christ, Lord of the Sabbath for our liberation and freedom from the bondage of Satan. Amen! Have a blessed day! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.