Doing Good is the Right Thing

Luke 6:6-11

6 On another sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. 7 The scribes and the Pharisees watched him to see whether he would cure on the sabbath, so that they might find an accusation against him. 8 Even though he knew what they were thinking, he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” He got up and stood there. 9 Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?” 10 After looking around at all of them, he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was restored. 11 But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

The Sabbath was a day of rest, no work was to be done. Not working one day out of seven is a good thing. The Pharisees insisted on the rule being obeyed, even to the extent that healing on the Sabbath was wrong. That is what led to Jesus’ question in vs. 9, “Is it wrong to save life on the Sabbath?”  

One Sunday morning, when I was a student at Knox College, I went to the dining room for breakfast. I was not first one in line to at the doors, and there was a man lying by the doors. He was homeless and had found his way to that part of the building where he had slept the night. When the dining room doors opened – I invited him in to have breakfast. The security guard would not let me do that, because he had not paid. I said the man could have my breakfast. Again security insisted he could not come in because he was not a student. I said I would take breakfast out to him on the disposable plates that were provided for students who wanted to take their meal to go. Security told me I could not share my meal with the homeless because if I did, the man would come back again to get food and might tell other people they could get food there. I wondered aloud why that would be a bad thing. In the end I was allowed to give the man a PB and J sandwich and security escorted him out of the building. In fairness to security’s concerns, this is not the way to feed the hungry on a regular basis.

All this leads to the question, have you ever been in a situation where what seems to be a good rule gets in the way of doing good for human beings? That is the challenge Jesus faced.

PRAYER:

Lord God, rules guide our lives and make society more civilized, but we also know that rules can get in the way of showing care and compassion. Give us discernment to know when the rules need to be ignored so that good can happen. Give us discernment to know those times when following the rules is the good thing. In Jesus’ name. Amen.