Jump Start # 1838

Luke 13:14 “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.”

Our verse today are the words of a man who was upset. He was mad at Jesus. He was certain that Jesus had done something wrong, and worse than that, Jesus had done this in His synagogue. He was the official of that synagogue. It was his house. And Jesus had done something wrong, he thought, in his house.

The story surrounds the Lord’s healing of the bent over woman. For 18 years she had been bent over. This is longer than Jesus had been preaching. She is in the synagogue on this day. There is nothing in the story that makes us believe that she knew Jesus was going to be there. She speaks no words to Jesus. She doesn’t ask to be healed. It was common for women to sit in the back of the synagogue and not to be heard. Jesus not only see this bent over woman, but He calls her to come to Him. All eyes are on her. Jesus tells her that she is healed. He touches her. Immediately she stands straight and tall. One can only imagine the gasps of excitement and the “wows” that were uttered from the audience.

It is at this point that the official, fuming, and angry, tells the crowd, not Jesus, that there are other days to be healed on. Don’t do this on the Sabbath. Jesus points out a simply inconsistency in this man’s logic. You see, he and others, would untie their donkey and lead it to water, even if it was the Sabbath. The donkey needed water. That wasn’t considered work. One was simply showing compassion. What Jesus did was the same. He “unbound” this woman that Satan had bound for all these long years. If it is ok to untie a donkey, then it is ok to untie this woman. They were the same. Besides, unlike the donkey, this woman was a daughter of Abraham.

Great lesson. It is stacked with layers and layers of things to see and learn. But right away, one of the first things we notice, is that this synagogue official was angry over nothing. Jesus did no wrong. Later, the N.T. tells us that Jesus was without sin. He never did wrong. Never. Ever.

So, what we have is someone who believes another has sinned when he hasn’t. That’s tough. That stretches and strains relationships. If we think someone is wrong, we feel compelled to tell them. If they continue in what is wrong, then it affects our togetherness. But all of this is based upon the fact that they have actually done wrong. What if I think they did wrong, but they haven’t? There, we stand right in the shadows of this synagogue official. We feel that folks ought to apologize, when they haven’t done anything to apologize for. We feel that they ought to repent and change their ways, when there is nothing for them to change.

All of this leads to a thought about who determines when something is wrong? My thinking that something is wrong, makes me follow the steps of the synagogue official. Jesus wasn’t wrong, yet the official thought He was.

Sin is a violation of God’s will. Sin is determined by God not man. The church “doesn’t have rules,” as some wrongly assume. The church is to follow Christ. My dislike of something doesn’t not mean that it is wrong or sinful. Because I don’t want to do something doesn’t mean that you can’t. The standard is not you and me, but God. The rules are set by God and not us.

“That’s sinful,” has been a stop sign that many have waved through the years to get people to change what they didn’t like in others. I have wondered, is it sinful to call something sinful that isn’t sinful? Does that make any sense? In Romans, we find judging taking place over the eating of meats. Some could and others could not. How easy it would be to point fingers and say it is sinful if you eat idol meat. But a study of Romans does not lead to that conclusion. God did not declare that eating meats to be sinful. All of this is really hard on our thinking. If we think it’s wrong, then it must be wrong. No. Something is wrong, if God declares it to be wrong.

Luke 13 reveals that two people in that synagogue were crippled. One was the bent over woman. Jesus healed her. The other was the synagogue. He was crippled in his heart. Jesus could not heal him. His pride. His anger. His position. His thinking—all kept him from seeing who Jesus really was. He thought Jesus was wrong, when He wasn’t. He thought he was right, when he wasn’t. His view of self and his view of Jesus was distorted.

Even today, we can think that God ought to do this or that. And when God doesn’t, it is easy to think that God was wrong. God is never wrong. It is also easy to see ourselves as doing pretty well. We are not too bad off. But our view of self may be colored. We may not see the crippling pride that refuses to admit wrong. We may not see that we are the one at fault.

This synagogue official should have led the congregation in a joyous prayer for the great things God had done that day. Instead, he was angry, upset and humiliated. I wonder if that is us more times than not. Instead of rejoicing to see a young man serving the Lord’s supper, we get upset because he wasn’t wearing a tie. Instead of being happy to see a new visitor who came to worship the Lord, we get upset because he had a pony tail or was wearing flip flops. We get upset because we didn’t sing the “right number of songs.” We get upset because the song leader lead a new song. We get upset because before the offering was taken, no prayer was offered. We declare that they are not doing things right. Indignant—just like the synagogue official. It’s not right. It should not be allowed. How easily our feathers get ruffled. How easily worship can quickly turn to an anger fest. And when all else fails, we pull out the Ace of Aces, “What they are doing is Sinful.” Once that is said, who would dare continue in that direction. Who wants to be charged with sin. All wheels stop, because the Sinful card was used.

Be careful here. Is it sinful? Or, is it just a matter of something that you do not like? Those two are not always the same. You may not like fast, new songs being sung. That’s your preference. You may want a prayer before the offering. That’s fine. But not everyone sees things the way you do. And that doesn’t mean that those who see things differently are sinning. It is wrong, if it is a violation of God’s will. We can get mad at each other, just like the synagogue official, when really we ought to be rejoicing. We can ruin a worship for ourselves and others because we pout, toss a fit, and blow a fuse because things are not the way we see them. It is more important to see things God’s way than our way.

Study Scriptures carefully. Look deeply. Give thought to what the Bible says. Then be honest enough to admit, if the Scriptures lead to this conclusion, I don’t like things this way, but it’s not sinful. It is there that you must be a team player. Be subject to one another is what the Ephesians were told. Never violate Scripture nor conscience, but never stand in the way just because I don’t like it.

Mad at Jesus—can you imagine? Naaman was another who was mad because he was expecting something else to happen. Let God speak for Himself. Listen through the word. Let God be God.

The Lord said, I AM– and that means we’re not!

Roger