Daily Devotional for Tuesday 30th April
Put up job?
The Pharisees were still in the mood for confrontation. I wouldn’t put it past them to have planted this man with a malformed hand in the congregation deliberately. You see, according to the Pharisees’ rules, you could only heal someone on the Sabbath if it was a matter of life or death. The malformed hand wasn’t a matter of life or death, so the trap was set – what would Jesus do?
Jesus knows what’s going on here and could have avoided an issue by healing him the next day, but instead chooses to confront it head-on. First, He calls the man himself to the front so that there’s no doubt He is addressing the Pharisees’ trap. Then He calls out the Pharisees’ hypocrisy by asking them if it was lawful to do good or evil on the Sabbath. There’s no doubt that doing good in this situation was to heal the man’s hand and that evil was not healing the man’s hand. This put the Pharisees in a difficult position. Would they align themselves with doing good, but go against the rules they set for Jews to follow or would they stick to their rules or align themselves with evil?
Flummoxed by this question, the Pharisees say nothing and so Jesus goes right ahead and heals the man’s hand. From our perspective, it’s hard to see how the Pharisees can miss the spiritual significance of Jesus’ authority demonstrated in the miracle of healing, but this was their blind spot. Jesus’ bold action humiliated the Pharisees and so they decided to join forces with Herodians, who were not naturally allies, and began to plot how they could get rid of Jesus.
Time to reflect…
It must have taken courage for Jesus to stand up in a public place and challenge the religious authorities in such an open way. Is there something for which we need courage to move forward in our lives?
Pause to pray…
Heavenly Father, thank you for the courage you had to make a stand for the truth. Thank your courage in enduring the Cross for our salvation. In our times of need and when you call us to make a stand for you, give us your courage. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
