The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in Luke 6:8,
"Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, 'Get up and stand in front of everyone.'"
In this account Jesus did something he wanted all to see clearly and plainly. He didn't do it behind closed doors or in the dark. He decided to heal this man with a shriveled hand and did it such that all could see.
In the context we are told the Pharisees and teachers of the law were looking for something they could accuse Jesus of. Apparently they felt their exalted position in the community was threatened and determined to eliminate the threat. There had already been differences between Jesus with the Pharisees and teachers of the law and they considered Jesus Christ to be an opponent. Imagine that! Those who claim to be spokespeople for God considered the Son of God their opponent! Such is the nature of conflict in the spiritual arena.
On this occasion the Pharisees and teachers of the law were watching Jesus "closely", verse 7. As if they might catch him at an off moment to gain the advantage. Any mistake, any conflict with what the Scriptures taught, any wrinkle of consistency by Jesus Christ would be all they needed and so they watched closely and carefully.
I love the way the Lord responded to this. He had the man he was going to heal stand right up in front of them all. "Get up and stand in front of everyone." Perfection never feels threatened and our Lord of perfection not only had no qualms of doing anything right in front of everyone, it is as if he intended to reflect the absurd position the sinfulness of these Pharisees and teachers of the law had placed themselves in by rubbing their noses in it.
Even worse for these Pharisees and teachers of the law is the challenge Jesus threw at them. If keeping the Sabbath was so important to them, even though the Lord of the Sabbath was in their midst, Jesus asked them the question, was it lawful to do good or evil on the Sabbath? "To save life or to destroy it?" Verse 9. The account tells us the Lord of the Sabbath healed the man on the holy day while those who were all hot-to-trot for the Sabbath ploted and schemed as to how they might kill him. Here in Luke we are told "they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus." Verse 11. In the parallel account in Mark we are told, "the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus." Mark 3:6.
What a fascinating read! What a fascinating Lord! How can you not be gripped by such an account of the things Jesus Christ did while living among us?!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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