THE CREATOR’S GIFT NEGLECTED*

Wherever our Lord Jesus went during the three years of His public life, He was very accomodating. He acceded to many invitations to visit homes and dine with the people of His day. He was not choosey concerning the types of people that He agreed to socialize with. And no matter who He rubbed elbows with or whose house He was in, Jesus never neglected to share God’s ways by His words and by His deeds.

Let’s read Luke 14:1.
One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, He was being carefully watched.

Jesus took every opportunity to be with people in the short time of his public life here on earth. He even dared to accept an invitation to the house of a Pharisee eventhough He knew that the Pharisees were keeping a close watch on Him, looking for a way to put Him to death. Surely Jesus was aware that the host would probably invite his fellow Pharisees and their close associates: the experts of the law. However, this did not deter Him from going to the Pharisee’s house. Take note that this was a Sabbath day.

Let’s read the next verses Luke 14:2-6.
There in front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?" But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, He healed him and sent him away. Then He asked them, "If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?" And they had nothing to say.

When He was still a young boy, Jesus had already declared that He needed to go about His Father’s business (Luke 2:49). True to His word, Jesus never failed to indulge in His Father’s work no matter where He went. Part of the work He was sent to do was to heal the sick. Our Lord attended to this task with all the mercy and love of the Father for His lost children. Today’s verses mention the presence of a man who was suffering from DROPSY (a severe swelling of the body due to a disease in the vital organs). Most naturally, our Lord wanted to heal the afflicted man. But before He healed the afflicted man, Jesus pointedly asked the Pharisees and the experts of the law a controversial question: "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" . He knew that they were watching Him for any possible mistake that they could accuse Him of. Jesus also knew that the healing miracles He had done on Sabbath days were contradictory to the regulations imposed by these religious leaders.

Thier concept of the Sabbath was an exaggerated version of the pronouncements of God. Their distorted interpretation did not reflect the intent and spirit of God’s law concerning the Sabbath. Their rules about the Sabbath had evolved radically to the point being inhuman. They prohibited any physical activity on the Sabbath. Even a simple journey with a distance of more than one mile was prohibited. Stiff penalties were imposed on anyone who violated the Pharasaic rules, sometimes even imposing the death penalty (They even contended that Jesus should die for violating the regulations by healing on the Sabbath —— Mark 3:1-6). Jesus did not agree with their regulations.

But what exactly was God’s concept about the Sabbath? What did God forbid on the Sabbath and what did He allow?

In the story of Creation, the Bible says that God finished all His work by the sixth day. On the seventh day He ceased all His work, blessed that seventh day, and set it apart as holy. Setting it apart, God intended this rest day to be kept HOLY unto God (Gen. 1-3). Exodus 16:29 says, "Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath". This implies that God had created the seventh day for a specific purpose. He could easily have limited the number of days to six instead of seven. That would have meant that He expected us to slavishly work for SIX DAYS and immediately proceed to the next six days of work, without the benefit of a seventh day rest. But God gave man the gift of the Sabbath so that man could rest.

God gave so much importance to the seventh day rest that He included it as one of the TEN COMMANDMENTS (Exodus 20:8). By the words used in that commandment, it is clear that what He prohibited was secular work, or any labor that is for the purpose of a livelihood. That is why the prohibition extends to the servants and the animals. But not included in this prohibition is the necessity of having to procure one’s food when the need arises. An example of this was the Sabbath day when Jesus and His disciples were passing through a grainfield. Because they were hungry, they picked some grain (Mark 2:23-28). This exemption also applies when it comes to our basic needs. God does not prohibit any of his creatures from eating when they are hungry.

Now how about us? Are we willing to abide by God’s prescribed ways of observing the Sabbath? How should it apply to our lives today? Or can we rightly declare that the Sabbath is not applicable anymore in our modern times?

Exodus 31:13 says that the purpose of observing the Sabbath is: "... so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy." It implies that the Sabbath must be spent doing the things that will bring us closer to God. In other words, we not only cease all our livelihood endevours on the seventh day; we should spend that day pursuing the WAYS and the WILL of God. We were given the gift of a Sabbath day in order to rest upon the Lord completely. On this day that is set apart as holy unto God, we are to refrain from indulging in the ways of the world. Worldly pursuits are to be set aside. Worldly entertainment is to be avoided. By the holiness of the Sabbath, the Lord would cause us to know Him better, as he sets us apart for His purpose and pleasure. Our obedience will result in truly knowing the Lord.

Mercy and love are the ways of God. And Jesus, in continuously pursuing His Father’s ways, wanted so much to share God’s mercy and love with the sick person mentioned in today’s verses. So He asked the Pharisees: "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?" The Pharisees and the experts of the law remained silent. Deep in their hearts they knew that God’s love and mercy had a rightful place on any day, most specially on the Sabbath day which was set apart for God. Yet they did not want to say anything that would compromise their power and position. They kept quiet for they could not allow God’s ways to supercede their man-made regulations. They had set their minds on how to observe Sabbath days: their way, not God’s way. They misinterpreted and neglected God’s gift of the Sabbath.

Jesus spent Sabbath days not by laying around doing nothing. He kept going about His Father’s business, faithfully imparting God’s mercy and love, even healing on those Sabbath days.