Kingdom Sabbath Part 1

Luke 13:10-17 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, 11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. 14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.” 15 The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” 17 When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.
 
JESUS judges, “You hypocrites!” to the Jews condemning his healing work on the Sabbath. “You care for an ox but ignore this crippled woman?” The Pharisees and synagogue rulers had locked the Jews into a severe system restricting many activities on the Sabbath. Jesus’ healing was considered a doctor’s work. So it should be done another day!
   Yes, the Lord commands us in Exodus 20:8-11 to stop our labors and obey the Sabbath he established on creation’s seventh day: Genesis 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Note God blessed the day. And God’s commands are a blessing to guard and enrich our lives. That means the LORD gave the Sabbath rest to mankind as a benediction – a blessing – to his creation, and it is to be a day to remember the week’s blessings. He did not, however, give the Sabbath to restrict God’s life-giving work for his children in desperate need.
   That’s why Jesus did not keep his healing “at rest” on the Sabbath. Just as he had spoken the universe into existence, he spoke the woman’s body to re-creation. The Sabbath is an essential substance of God’s Kingdom on earth. Healing is an expression of shalom, which is an absence of conflict. Disease is a conflict against God’s creation. Jesus spoke shalom into the woman’s conflicted body, so she could be “good” in God’s sight just as his creation is good. Consider how she could truly enjoy shalom in her body for the first time in decades! The Sabbath was made for man as a time to remember and enjoy God’s shalom. Man was not made for the Sabbath to be subject to peace-breaking rules.
   When God spoke and healed in the synagogue that day, the Jews should have fallen down in worship and praise to exclaim, “The LORD God is still creating!” What marvelous celebrations could have occurred in response to the woman’s new body. In Christ she became a new creation!
   I hope you enjoy the Sabbath each week. I pray it is a restful, restorative day for your heart, mind and soul as your body rests from your weekly routines and labors. Perhaps one way to find shalom is to do good for someone who needs to know peace in God’s creation.
   This is Kingdom living. See Part 2 for Jesus’ Kingdom Sabbath illustration.