“Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, ‘Woman, you are freed from your disability.’ And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, ‘There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.’ Then the Lord answered him, ‘You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it?” Luke 13:10-15
Devotional Thought For The Day
Jesus did many things that were unconventional, discomforting to the people around Him, contrary to their expectations and assumptions, and offensive to their social and religious expectations. Principally He was concerned about the good and welfare of others, serving their needs. He also was willing to bear the criticisms of others for doing this. He healed on the Sabbath, He conversed privately with a “Samaritan woman” at the well, He ate with “sinners,” prostitutes and tax-collectors, He provided an abundance of high quality wine at a wedding, He drove temple officials from their tables, and He allowed His disciples to glean and eat on a Sabbath. All of these things would have been considered wrong, immoral, and offensive, or at the very least “inappropriate,” by many of the people who witnessed this behavior – and perhaps by some of us. Though these behaviors were offensive to some Jesus did them anyway, more concerned about people and their “needs” than about the opinions or sensibilities of those who criticized Him.
Indeed, He was frequently quite clear and forceful about those who criticized Him, what was behind it – hypocrisy. Rather than confessing their own real sins and taking the log out of their own eye, they chose instead to focus on others, with keenly honed superficiality, and to nit-pick at the “speck” they found in someone else’s eye. They were not concerned about serving the good and welfare of others but rather about “appearing righteous” on the outside, observing all the rules and all the proprieties. The more “religious” and “respected” a person is, the more this hypocrisy tends to infect their heart and their thinking, and the result, according to Jesus, is spiritually morbid: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” [Matt. 23:27,28] His pronouncement of “woe” is warning enough to us, and elsewhere He directly warns His disciples of this grievous temptation: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” [Luke 12:1]
In that we have also been warned about even the appearance of impropriety, some of us have “majored” in this endeavor to insure that we are “outwardly” beautiful and righteous – so that we would never be caught in a circumstance that might evoke the kind of accusations that Jesus faced. So, we would never be caught “receiving sinners and eating with them.” [Luke 15:2] In so doing, however, we have become a lot less like Jesus, and have forfeited many opportunities to serve others as He did, fearful of “getting our hands dirty” or just being stung by such accusations. This can easily get turned into launching criticisms and condemnations of our own at others – in part to justify our own lack of love and courage, or perhaps to shine up our own external “image” of spiritual superiority. And it is also true that there are times when “casting our pearls before swine,” that some Christians have been turned upon and attacked – sometimes by the very people they were helping and taking risks for. All of this is very sad, but especially if it ends up keeping us from expressing the love of Jesus in the many acts of kindness that are properly received and deeply appreciated by those in need.
If we have been on the side of prissy superficial “righteousness” and hypocritical accusation of others, we might want to consider the judgment of Jesus – and repent. If we have been fearful of the criticisms of hypocrites and drawn back from helping others, perhaps we might want to look at Jesus and consider a more emboldened love. If we have been stung and bitten by those we have attempted to help and minister to, we also might want to consider what Jesus suffered in order to bring us forgiveness, peace with God, and eternal life – and the reality that love and acts of mercy always bring vulnerability and the potential for pain. We may have to take time to scale things back and recover, but the needs of others continue to beckon our love and ministry in Christ’s stead, and there will always be risk in this – principally from the hypocrisy that Jesus suffered and warned against. But we are not motivated in life by mere external and hypocritical self-righteousness, or by insuring our own comfort and safety, but rather by our experience of the gracious, forgiving, merciful, and compassionate love of our Lord Jesus – and ultimately this is what compels our lives, including this vulnerability to the criticism and condemnation of others.
Prayer For The Day
Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for showing us that real loving engagements in life, including relationships of love and compassion, are much more important than appearances of propriety and external “righteousness.” Forgive us for our failures to love as You have loved us, our hypocritical judgments of others, and also our fear of such criticisms from others. Forgive us for the mud that sometimes sticks to us from our compassion for others. Grant that we may grow in our love and caring for others, by providing us with the internal righteousness of heart that only You can supply through Your gracious forgiveness and mercy. May our hearts and our behavior follow Your perfect pattern of love. Amen.