a portrait

of

jesus

A PORTRAIT OF JESUS -

Sabbath Freedom

“And he looked around on them all, and said to him, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ And he did so, and his hand was restored.” Luke 6:10

Jesus did much of His healing on the Sabbath defying the rules and regulations set forth by the Scribes and Pharisees. The Gospel is full of these stories. On one occasion he walked into the synagogue and was drawn to a man with a withered hand. The Pharisees watched and waited; they even hoped that He would break their Sabbath rules. Jesus gives them their wish and He challenges them by healing the man openly. His purpose was not to enrage the Pharisees, though He does; His purpose was to restore this man and make him whole again.

Luke tells of another occasion when a woman whose body was twisted and stooped entered the synagogue and Jesus reached out to her, straightening her body and making her whole. He did not heal on the Sabbath to make a point or to force a showdown with the Scribes and Pharisees. He healed on the Sabbath because He saw men and women, real people, in need of Sabbath restoration. After all, that is what the Sabbath was really all about, restoring man to God. A day of resting from one’s labors so that they could focus on the God who had given them life. How better to restore one to God than to heal them of their infirmities, to remove what Satan had placed upon their physical bodies to draw them away from God.

Jesus’ favorite day to heal was the Sabbath. Most of His recorded healings took place on that day. This infuriated the Pharisees who did not see broken people but only broken rules and rules were more important than people in their eyes. Luke 13:16 tells us how Jesus confronted this hypocrisy, “Should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for 18 long years, be set free on the Sabbath?” Notice the adjective Jesus used, “long.” Jesus understood her long wait to be healed, why should she wait another day to find the restoration that Sabbath promised? He wasn’t working, Jesus was freeing her from her 18-year bondage. His words to her were, “You are set free from your infirmity.” Setting one free is not work, but restoration and that is what Sabbath is all about. Jesus chose people over man-made laws, and restoration over regulations, because that is what His Father in heaven would do and He knew that was what Sabbath truly meant: restoring people to their God. D. Mathewson