Religious Rules
Jesus is not asking the Pharisees if the Old Testament law permits healing on the sabaath. He is asking them if their own "Man made" rules (the Pharisee's had around 500 extra rules that Jewish believer's had to follow, even limiting the amount of steps they were allowed to take on the sabaath). Jesus even challenges them by giving them examples of how they break their own rules for things that are important to them.
The point that Jesus is making is that people and their physical and spiritual health should always come before our legalistic rules and regulations. I am not saying we should blatantly disobey the truth of scripture and water down the gospel message to reach people. What I am saying is that we should never allow our legalism get in the way of developing a relationship with people in order to show them the love of Christ.
What legalism, religious rules, or even stereotypes do you have in place that keep you from compassionately reaching out to people with the gospel? What kind of rules do we have in place that are convenient for helping ourselves feel religious, but keep us from reaching out to people for Jesus?
It's time for us to look for opportunities to share the healing power of the gospel with ALL people, especially the poor and needy.
Created over 1 year ago
