Today’s Daily Lesson comes from John chapter 7 verses 19 through 24:
19 ‘Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you looking for an opportunity to kill me?’ 20The crowd answered, ‘You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?’ 21Jesus answered them, ‘I performed one work, and all of you are astonished. 22Moses gave you circumcision (it is, of course, not from Moses, but from the patriarchs), and you circumcise a man on the sabbath. 23If a man receives circumcision on the sabbath in order that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I healed a man’s whole body on the sabbath? 24Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgement.’
If the Pharisees had not been so consumed about the rules they may have stopped what they were doing, looked up, and seen that some pretty fantastic things were happening.
But I suspect they really didn’t want to see the things that were happening. They didn’t want to celebrate with the man whose withered hand was made whole, or the woman whose back had been straightened, or the paralytic who rose and walked. This was because they didn’t approve of the man who made all these things happen. He wasn’t their guy.
The rules were used against Jesus only because the Pharisees and other religious leaders didn’t like Jesus. So they made a federal case out of things which should actually have been celebrated.
A child is circumcised even on the Sabbath. An ox is rescued even on the Sabbath. These were determined to be fitting exceptions to the Sabbath prohibition on work. But when Jesus healed on the Sabbath everyone was astonished.
I think they acted astonished. What they really were was bloodthirsty.
The law was made for humankind and not humankind for the law. Oh but how often has the law been used in neither a kind nor humane way.
Watch that. Or as Jesus said, “judge with right judgment”.
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