What's the Point? (Luke 6:6-11)
As Jesus taught in the Synagogue, He likely had another full house due to His miraculous healing ministry. Many who were sick would gladly listen to whatever He had to say if there was a good chance Jesus could heal them.
But not everyone had come to listen. The Pharisees had simply come in disbelief looking for a reason to discredit Jesus' ministry. They were still a little ticked from earlier in the week by the fact that Jesus "broke the Sabbath" by eating grain and exempted Himself from their rules by proclaiming Himself "Lord over the Sabbath".
Since the Pharisees were the experts on what God could and could not do they reasoned:
1) We know God doesn't work on Saturdays
2) If Jesus performs healing today [on Saturday] it must not be the work of God
3) Therefore cannot be Jesus of God
In classic form Jesus decides to not only heal a man's crippled hand right there during service, but He then makes it the object lesson to His sermon! His point: "your misunderstanding of God's character has resulted in your misapplication of God's Law."
In their failed attempt to follow the Old Testament Law, the Pharisees had established a nice, neat box in which God could work. But the tragedy was that in doing so they had reduced the Almighty God to nothing more than an idol who only had the power to do what their understanding of Him allowed.
Of course they assumed (like we all do) that their assumptions were based on Scripture, however their misinterpretation of God's Word had resulted in a mistaken view of who God was. While we primarily know God through the Scriptures, we also have to keep in mind that while God's word is flawless, our understanding of it is sometimes less than perfect.
Although the Scriptures are inspired, our interpretations and doctrines are not. There is always danger whenever we start to decide what God can and cannot do based on our imperfect understanding of the Bible.
What we can be sure of is that God loved people and gave us His Law ultimately not to reform our behavior but rather to point us to Christ (John 5:39). So rather than using the Bible to condemn those we disagree with in the name of God, it might be better overall to revisit our understanding of the underlying ntent of Scripture which is, "love God and love your neighbors" (Mark 12:30-31).
If I recall i believe that kinda is the whole point.
But not everyone had come to listen. The Pharisees had simply come in disbelief looking for a reason to discredit Jesus' ministry. They were still a little ticked from earlier in the week by the fact that Jesus "broke the Sabbath" by eating grain and exempted Himself from their rules by proclaiming Himself "Lord over the Sabbath".
Since the Pharisees were the experts on what God could and could not do they reasoned:
1) We know God doesn't work on Saturdays
2) If Jesus performs healing today [on Saturday] it must not be the work of God
3) Therefore cannot be Jesus of God
In classic form Jesus decides to not only heal a man's crippled hand right there during service, but He then makes it the object lesson to His sermon! His point: "your misunderstanding of God's character has resulted in your misapplication of God's Law."
In their failed attempt to follow the Old Testament Law, the Pharisees had established a nice, neat box in which God could work. But the tragedy was that in doing so they had reduced the Almighty God to nothing more than an idol who only had the power to do what their understanding of Him allowed.
Of course they assumed (like we all do) that their assumptions were based on Scripture, however their misinterpretation of God's Word had resulted in a mistaken view of who God was. While we primarily know God through the Scriptures, we also have to keep in mind that while God's word is flawless, our understanding of it is sometimes less than perfect.
Although the Scriptures are inspired, our interpretations and doctrines are not. There is always danger whenever we start to decide what God can and cannot do based on our imperfect understanding of the Bible.
What we can be sure of is that God loved people and gave us His Law ultimately not to reform our behavior but rather to point us to Christ (John 5:39). So rather than using the Bible to condemn those we disagree with in the name of God, it might be better overall to revisit our understanding of the underlying ntent of Scripture which is, "love God and love your neighbors" (Mark 12:30-31).
If I recall i believe that kinda is the whole point.
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