Religious Indignation
Jesus healed a lot of people. His very presence had the power to heal and there were constantly people needing healing. The greatest limitation to the healing that Jesus provided was the faith of the one in need. As Jesus frequently healed more people, more people believed in His healing power. More people having faith meant more frequent healings. This is why, in his gospel, John said,” Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”
When reading through the gospels it seems that Jesus most often healed people on the Sabbath. Jesus certainly healed every day. But the healings on the sabbath broke the religious precepts of the Jewish law, and the Pharisees and Sadducees often had something to say about it. The religious leaders of Jesus’ time worked hard to be around when Jesus healed people on the sabbath. Or maybe it was Jesus who made sure they were around. Either way, when Jesus healed, the Son of God was breaking the law of keeping the sabbath holy, essentially not doing work on that day. Whenever it happened the priests would argue the matter with Jesus, and the disciples documented these interactions.
Never put doctrine over God’s blessings.
In the thirteenth chapter of Luke’s gospel, we see one of these occasions. This is the time Jesus healed a crippled woman on the sabbath. To be clear up front, Jesus honored the Law of God. He came to earth and sacrificed Himself on the cross to fulfill it! But when it came to the way the religious leaders of His time interpreted and applied it, He was not a fan. The Messiah summed up His opinion of the Pharisees’ views by saying, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.” I think Jesus has a similar opinion of the “laws” our modern church leadership has established, but that’s a subject for another time.
Back on the sabbath healing in question, Jesus is teaching in the synagogue and a woman was present who suffered from a crippling disease for 18 years. According to the scripture, the disability was an affliction of a spirit. Jesus sees the woman and calls her to Him. This would be kind of like those healing meetings the tele-evangelists have, except there were no cameras present. Jesus didn’t use the power of God to promote Himself. Anyway, the woman came forward and Jesus told her that she was “set free from your infirmity.” The Lord touched her and she was immediately healed. She praised God!
Queue the Pharisees. The gospel tells us that the synagogue leaders were “indignant” that Jesus would heal somebody on the sabbath. In their indignation, these leaders said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.” Jesus’ response to these priests was pointed and delivered with great authority. The Son of God looked at the synagogue leaders and said, “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?” Yes!
The answers to Jesus’ questions are obvious, except to those who are blinded by their religion. Devotion to religion will cause a person to prioritize doctrine over the welfare of people. This is ungodly. It also makes people believe that God prioritizes His law over people as well! God’s #1 priority is you! He loves you so much that He made the sabbath day for you. A day when you can rest and reflect on how good God is and what it will be like to live eternally with Him in His kingdom. God did not make you so that He would have someone to hold the sabbath. He made the sabbath so that He could hold you, and you would have a hold of Him.
If you find yourself looking with indignation at how or when God chooses to answer a person’s need, you are an enemy of God. Repent. Turn away from your religion. Of course, we modern Christians would never be indignant when people receive their healing. Right? Did I mention the tele-evangelists?