Chapter 14a

vs 1 – 6

So Jesus is eating with a Pharisee. And this Pharisee JUST CONVENIENTLY HAPPENS to have another guest who JUST HAPPENS to have really bad swollen joints, and, golly gee, it’s the Sabbath Day. And a whole bunch of the Pharisee’s mates are here, presumably to yell “Gotcha!” when Jesus heals the man.

Haven’t we dealt with this issue enough in this book? I mean, really! It’s now been on the agenda three times. And three times Jesus has given the same rejoinder – if your animal fell down a hole on the Sabbath, you’d get him out. And really, isn’t a human worth more than that?

Jesus maintained His temper and healed the man.

I have to say I’d find that difficult. Because I don’t know about you, but this situation reeks of a setup.

Are you telling me that this guy just happened to be there on the Sabbath, when they’re already having trouble with Jesus healing people on the Sabbath? Somehow I can’t see this being a mistake.

And that kind of cynical behaviour is reprehensible. Totally reprehensible. In today’s legal terms it would be descrbed as “entrapment” – they were setting things up so Jesus would be likely to act.

This upsets me. They’re taking a person, a human being, as a tool to catch Jesus (God in human form, no less!). How dare they? And note that Jesus shows this man the compassion that the Pharisees will not display!

What can drive a person (who in all other respects is a good, gentle and religious man) to be so cruel?

We don’t really know; but experience tells us that people who are losing their power tend to get difficult; and this is perhaps why, in coming chapters, the plots against Jesus will intensify. The Pharisees and teachers of the Law don’t like Jesus changing things, so . . .they go against Him.

A showdown is coming.