But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites…” ~Luke 13:14-15a
Why do I take what I write on here so seriously? Because I don’t ever want Jesus to say of me “you hypocrite.” The people in this part of Luke’s gospel were the leaders of the synagogue. The church hadn’t been established yet, but this would be the equivalent to today’s church leaders.
So what happened? Jesus healed someone. What did the leaders see? This happened on a Sabbath – the day of rest.
They missed the miracle because they were too focused on their own rules.
God gave His people the Law back when Moses walked the earth. The Law showed us our need for God. The Law itself wasn’t bad, but it showed us how much we need to rely on God in order to live right.
The Law was meant to give boundaries for life on earth. Obeying every last bit of the Law was still not enough for a person to enter heaven. Only Jesus is capable of that feat anyway, but God wants more. He wants holiness and love. “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings (Hosea 6:6).” God wants us to love Him.
The leaders of the day missed it. So do we. Salvation is by faith in Jesus alone, plus nothing else. It’s so easy to turn it into a works based thing. It’s really hard for us to accept that there is nothing we can do to earn God’s favor. He won’t love you more if you earn a college degree or a job promotion, nor will He love you less if you mess up today. That’s not how God’s grace and forgiveness works. Salvation cost God His Son, but for us on the receiving end of His forgiveness, it costs us nothing. Just faith in His redemptive work.
The leaders in Jesus day were convinced of a works-based salvation. They were sure that obeying the Law is what led them to heaven, so they added hundreds of extra rules in order to give them margin. They didn’t want to even come close to breaking the Law.
This particular event in Luke took place on a Sabbath. It should have been a day of rest and reflection. Instead, the leaders turned it into just another day but with a different set of rules. For example, they were only allowed to walk a certain number of steps before it constituted work, and therefore broke the Law.
These leaders had become so focused on their rules that they missed the miracle right in front of them. How often do we do that? We become so focused on the alcohol-soaked shirt on a newcomer that we miss the fact that she just prayed and talked to God for the first time. We see the long list of failed relationships, make a judgment call, and miss the fact that he’s asking for God’s help to make this one different. We have our rules too. God expects that we’re going to come to Him while still a mess. But He promises He won’t leave us like that.
The leader in this story in Luke didn’t even have the guts to turn to Jesus to confront Him. Instead, did you catch that he turned to the crowd and started bad-mouthing Jesus? He told the people to come back on a day when it wasn’t the Sabbath. Jesus was quick to correct him. “You hypocrites…”
God invites everyone into His kingdom. He’s the One who will change each person from the inside out. Let’s not let our rules be what prevents someone from turning to Him.