Luke 6:9 (NKJV): I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?
Jesus. Luke 6:9. Hi, it’s Nathan, and this is Day 20 of 30 Days on the Mount of Blessing, pt 3–and other sayings of Jesus.
The Sabbath had become a point of great contention. Jesus’ Jewish contemporaries argued passionately for strict observation of the Seventh-day. So strict, that one could not pause to help a suffering human being if such an act one violate one of a bazillion legal stipulations. Stipulations, mind you, that not God—nor Moses—had ever given. And Jesus would have none of it. Oh, he loved the Sabbath—a gift he’d given to human beings long ago—but he had no use for the nonsense that had nearly buried this beautiful, sacred gift. For some, it seemed, the gift had become a curse. So Jesus restored the Sabbath. It’s true purpose: carve a space into our frantic lives: for doing good to others. A space where the flow of life is not only paused for our rest, but reversed—to allow a wide space for good to flow into the lives of others. Those hungry for attention, for kindness, for relief, for healing—the Sabbath is a space for us to pour into them. A space for those who have—to breathe life into those who do not. The Sabbath is a time to DO good. Real good.
