Wow, hard to believe how much time can slide by when life gets a bit busy.  Sorry, I’ll get back to posting more regularly.

Luke 13:10-16 

Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.  And there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up.  But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.”  And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.”

The Lord then answered him and said, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it?  So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?”

It seems to me that we have another verse where 100%, yes… 100% of professing Christians would say, “Of course, like… duh… of course Jesus did the right thing, and of course that is where my priorities are also.”

But yet beneath the surface, I believe that 100% of us, yes… 100% fall on the side of the ruler of the synagogue all too often in our daily lives.  Jesus chose compassion over the rules and traditions of men… in fact, He chose compassion over the rule of law in His religion.  How often do we let ourselves write people off, fail to respond to needs in real compassion, because the person in need of compassion looks, acts, or lives in a way that breaks our societal and religious rules and norms? 

I know I’ve done that, and I’m certain I still do despite my best efforts to suppress that aspect of my human nature.  Love and compassion ruled Jesus’ every action.  We can only do that through grace and through His spirit leading us.  But we need to become aware of our need to act as He did, and our need for His help to do the same.