Pastor Scott Andrews | April 21, 2024
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Luke 6:6-11
So, let’s review exactly what Jesus was doing that got Him into so much trouble. So far in our study of Luke, His first association with religious leaders – these, teachers at the Temple – came when He was 12 years old. He was sitting with them, both listening and asking questions. And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. Perhaps a bit precocious, but at this point, they were just amazed by this 12-year-old peasant boy who spoke with a Galilean brogue. So far so good.
Roll the clock forward about 18 years. He’s just been baptized by John; the Spirit of God descended upon Him. He was then driven by the Spirit into the wilderness where He successfully battled the devil. Then He returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread everywhere and He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. So far so good.
Now, Luke doesn’t tell us yet exactly what Jesus was teaching, but the other gospels say He came preaching good news, the gospel of the kingdom. The kingdom of God is here – repent and believe the gospel. This good news would culminate in His death and resurrection for sinners. Bad people can actually know the joy of a restored relationship with God and know the peace of sins forgiven. Why would anyone have a problem with that?
At some point, He made His way home, to Nazareth. News about Him had spread there, so they treated Him as a visiting rabbi – asked Him to read some Scripture, and perhaps comment on it. He read from Isaiah 61 – the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed.
Wow – who would have a problem with that? Well, the people of Nazareth did – by the end of that Sabbath day, they drove Him out of the city, where they intended to throw Him off a cliff. He left, and there’s no evidence He ever went back to Nazareth.
Well, He traveled to Capernaum and began to do what Isaiah 61 said, deliver people – relieve them of their brokenness. He started, at least in Luke’s Gospel, by delivering a demon-possessed man. Sure, it was on the Sabbath, but the demon started it. Knowing who Jesus was, he began publicly opposing Him – so Jesus drove the demon out. What’s the problem with that? Well, He did do it on the Sabbath – He seemed to do a lot of stuff on that day, maybe because they didn’t understand the intent of the Sabbath.
That very evening, He began healing people of various diseases and driving out demons. People were coming to Him from all over the city and finding healing and deliverance they’d not known for years – in some cases, ever. All who came to Him left restored, healed. Is that a problem?
He began a Galilee-wide preaching, healing, and deliverance tour in the synagogues of Galilee. Good news – the Kingdom of God is here – it’s available to all who repent, turn from their sin, and believe. And as proof the kingdom’s presence – He cast out demons. This seems to be a theme – the evil kingdom of Satan was under siege. Isn’t that good? By the middle of chapter 5, Jesus actually healed a man of the most dreaded of all diseases – leprosy. Sure, in mercy He reached out and touched the man – but instead of Jesus becoming unclean, the leper became clean. Who would have a problem with that?
But then we got to the next miracle. And Luke began five stories in a row where Jesus continues to teach with authority and heal…but we also see rising opposition. Now, to be sure, Jesus was proving He was the Christ, the Son of God. That’s why Luke tells these stories. Because you see, Jesus was proving by His teaching, and His authority over the demonic realm, sickness, sin, the Sabbath, and ultimately death – He’s proving He is the Son of God. And He does so in ways that raise the ire of people you would never expect – the religious. Why would religious people oppose healing and exorcisms and forgiveness – why would they oppose the Son of God? Because He messed with their system. Their deeply held beliefs.
It’s the same reason we have world religions today. Many don’t like the way God offers reconciliation – so we’ll come up with our own way. And in the process, we’ll oppose this Jesus as the exclusive way to God. We’ll oppose His Person, we’ll oppose His teaching, we’ll oppose His followers. Christianity is under siege – throughout the world, it’s costing followers their lives. In our country, it’s beginning to cost you – and I believe will continue to do so in ever increasing measure. After all, Jesus said, if they opposed Me, they’ll oppose you, also.
Back to Jesus – they did oppose Him. In chapter 5, these five stories begin. In the first one, Jesus, the Son of God, said, I have the authority to forgive sins. You see, He healed a paralytic and forgave the man his sins. The guy stood up right in front of them – walked out – clean, inside and out. Who would oppose that? The religious – they thought He was blaspheming.
Story number two – Jesus called a tax collector named Matthew to follow Him. Matthew couldn’t leave his tax collector’s booth soon enough – Luke tells us he left everything. Jesus then attended a party at Matthew’s house – with Matthew’s friends. Who are friends with a tax collector? Other tax collectors and sinners. It seems they were eating and drinking – celebrating the good news of the gospel – sins forgiven. Who would have a problem with that? The religious. You see, for them, sinners were not welcome. And Jesus reminded them of this truth – He came not to call the righteous, but sinners into His kingdom.
And suddenly, it occurs to us, wait a minute. Look at the people Jesus is calling into His kingdom. He’s not calling the religious, the self-righteous – those who think they don’t need a Savior – those who think they’re just fine without divine forgiveness. Those who think they’re okay and make it on their own. No, Jesus is calling the broken, those who bring nothing – those who realize Jesus is their only hope. I’ve said it many times – I’m concerned the church is filled with good people who simply added Jesus to their already wonderful lives. Is that you? Was Jesus’ horrible death necessary for you?
Well, so far, we’ve seen Him calling formerly demon-possessed people, the sick, the lepers, the paralytics, the marginalized, those the religious would never allow in their club. Jesus came to call sinners – which should be good news, since we’re all sinners. And so, we’re beginning to realize – the way to God is not through our self-efforts – our supposed acts of righteousness – our systems, our made-up world religions. The way to God is simply through the Son of God. That’s glorious – who would oppose that? The religious – don’t mess with my system.
The self-righteous, the religious aren’t so quick to give up their efforts – those systems they’ve created to make themselves acceptable to God. Story number three. Those opposing Him noted the disciples of John the Baptist and the disciples of the Pharisees – two religious groups – fast. So, they came to Jesus and asked why He and His disciples didn’t fast. Don’t you know, spiritual people fast. If you want to be acceptable to God, you’ve got to do what we do. And Jesus told them – the way to God will never be found in the old system – especially the one you’ve created. I’ve come to bring new wine, the truth of the New Covenant. Salvation is found by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone – not by jumping through some religious hoops.
But certainly, thought these Jews, there are some things we’re doing that are acceptable to God. Look, when God gave the Ten Commandments, none was more important than the Sabbath, right? It’s the longest of the Ten Commandments. God set the example Himself resting on the very first seventh day. And so they spent centuries writing about all the things spiritual people did not do on the Sabbath. Story number four. Jesus and His disciples were walking somewhere on the Sabbath – that’s Saturday – and the disciples began picking grain. They weren’t stealing – Deuteronomy 23 provided for that. But, the system said, you can’t pick grain on the Sabbath – that’s reaping, that’s working. Never mind you’re hungry – don’t work on the Sabbath.
And Jesus blew up their categories. He reminded them of another OT story where their forefather David went into the Tabernacle when he and his men were hungry and ate the consecrated bread. But, that bread was reserved for the priests. That’s right. And yet neither David nor the priest were condemned. What do you do with that? Listen, Jesus said, man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man. In your system, you’ve switched it around – and made the day of rest an incredible burden. You’ve missed the point of Sabbath altogether. I am the Lord of the Sabbath. Not only was that a clear self-declaration of deity – but Jesus was implying, He was the fulfillment of the Sabbath – His followers would find their rest in Him. You see, the Sabbath always pointed to Jesus and the ultimate rest He would bring.
But the religious were not interested in that. Don’t mess with my system. Don’t mess with my religion. Don’t tell me my efforts at self-righteousness are unacceptable to God. I’ll do it my way. Opposition story number five, and our text today – read it with me – Luke 6:6-11.
The religious don’t want you to mess with their system. So, don’t be surprised when the religious ultimately conspire to put Jesus to death. And don’t be surprised when the religious today conspire to oppose Christianity. Don’t be surprised when the religious, in the name of their religion, kill Christians, burn their churches, in some religious jihad. This is an incredibly intriguing story – the outline goes like this:
- The Sabbath Setting (6-7)
- The Confrontation (8-10) – maybe you were surprised at who instigated the conflict.
- The Conspiracy (11)
It’s pretty simple – but follow along as we make our way through the text, starting with the Sabbath Setting. Now, in these five stories, I’ve suggested the first two had to do with forgiving sinners, the third had to do with religious observance – fasting – and the last two had to do with the Sabbath – because after all, the Sabbath was the pinnacle of their religion. It was unique to Judaism. More had been written about the Sabbath than any of the Ten Commandments. Remember, 24 chapters in the Talmud regulated the Sabbath – namely, what you couldn’t do. I won’t review all we talked about last week, but we found the Sabbath, instead of being a day of rest, had become an onerous day of ritualistic observance. People were exhausted focusing on all you couldn’t do instead of resting in God.
So, Jesus takes them to task. He entered the synagogue – the synagogue likely means it was the synagogue in Capernaum. Now remember, there had already been some fireworks there. Unlike the scribes, He taught with authority. And it was in this synagogue the demon confronted Him. So, no doubt, the crowd that day was on the edge of their seats – what’s He going to do today. Luke adds there was a man there with a withered right hand. The word speaks of a dried up, shriveled or stiff hand – basically useless. We don’t know if his hand atrophied from paralysis, or was crushed in some accident, or if he was born that way.
But this man wasn’t the only one there that day. Ominously, the scribes and Pharisees were closely (furtively) watching Jesus. And why were they watching? To hear more of His authoritative teaching? To learn from Him? To see another incredible miracle? Hardly. They watched to see if He would heal the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath. Some even suggested they set Jesus up – they were the ones who brought the man to see if Jesus would heal.
But, why did they want to see if He would heal the man? Because they cared about the man? They had compassion for him? Because they wanted to see a miracle, further proving the identity of this Jesus? Hardly. They were looking for some way to accuse Him. They weren’t looking for a healing, they were looking for an accusation. There is some irony here. They were watching because they expected Jesus to perform a miracle – they were acknowledging Jesus was doing the miraculous – but they didn’t like it, because it messed with their system.
So don’t miss it: they came to the synagogue that day – probably a front row seat – not see a miracle, but to see if the miracle was done on the Sabbath – to see if Jesus broke their law. Which got me to thinking this week – how do I view what God might do today? What’s my attitude when I attend a church service, for example? I know how I do – I know what my attitude is. No one has a more critical ear than I. Is that godly? When you come into this room – do you come with an air of expectancy, desiring to worship or learn to love God more? Or do you come with a critical spirit – waiting for me or others to mess up?
Which brings us to the confrontation in verses 8-10. Now right away I want you to notice some things: first, did this man seek Jesus out? Did he cry out for relief – fall at Jesus’ feet and beg for mercy? Did he even ask to be healed? No. Jesus singled him out and ordered him to come forward. Meaning, it was Jesus who instigated the conflict – Jesus was confronting the self-righteous Pharisees who would never lift a finger to help a broken man. (accident – Shellmans) While they were seeking to accuse Him, He accused them in front of everybody.
Not only that, think about the man. He didn’t ask for this. Again, it’s possible the Pharisees brought him. But here he was, ordered to stand in front of everyone – to put his brokenness on display for all to see. It was probably the last thing he wanted to do – he’d tried to hide, to compensate for his brokenness for a long time – perhaps his entire life. What brokenness do you have that you desperately try to keep hidden? I often wonder when we occasionally have an altar call or invitation – are there people whose pride keep them from stepping out – because to do so puts your brokenness on display? God already knows and stands ready to restore. That is, after all, His specialty.
So the man came forward, perhaps haltingly, and Jesus said to them – not him – but to the scribes and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath?” Simple question – is it okay to do good on the Sabbath? Or have you erected so many rules around the Sabbath that you can’t even do good. Notice – Jesus is implying that healing the man would be good and not a violation of the Sabbath. And further, doing nothing – not healing the man – would be doing harm. He pegs them and their religious system – it’s no wonder they were silent. For Jesus, not to do good, to in fact withhold good, would be evil. To be the righteous Son of God, He must heal the man.
Now, remember all those chapters in the Talmud and the Mishnah, about Sabbath regulations? We talked about it last week. You could care for someone on the Sabbath if it was an emergency – if it was life or death. Further, if you were a midwife, you could work on the Sabbath – I suppose because babies don’t wait. Interestingly, circumcision was allowed since it was considered a sacred act that must be performed on the eighth day. But if you’re not delivering a baby, not doing a circumcision, not a medical emergency – don’t do it. A doctor couldn’t even set a broken bone on the Sabbath – that can wait till tomorrow.
That got me to thinking, too. When did they come up with the dos and don’ts? Were a bunch of self-righteous Pharisees sitting around a smoke-filled room, trying to decide what was legal, and what wasn’t on the Sabbath? What about medical care, guys? Healing? Someone pipes up – seems like work to me. Write that down – no healing on the Sabbath. Are you kidding? Do you see how this made-up system of rules obscured the intent of the Sabbath? Did you know that today, in hotels in Israel, they have Sabbath or shabbat elevators for use on Friday night and Saturdays. What are Sabbath elevators? You simply get in and wait. As the elevator ascends or descends, it stop at every floor. Because, you see, for you to push a button would be working – because you’d be telling the elevator where to go in its work. Who thinks up this stuff?
So, is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath? They knew what their traditions, what their system said. So, they kept silent. They weren’t interested in doing good. They weren’t interested in truth – they were only interested in their system. But Jesus went further, “Is it lawful to save a life or to destroy it on the Sabbath?” What, wait – that’s confusing. This man wasn’t in danger of losing his life. It was a withered hand that he’d possibly had forever. What did Jesus mean? Understand, He wasn’t talking about what He was about to do – He was talking about what they were about to do in verse 11. Is it lawful, on the Sabbath, to conspire to take a life, to kill? You’re upset about me healing a man’s hand, but you’ll make plans on this holy day, to kill Me.
They remained silent. “And after looking around at them” – Mark adds, with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart” – Jesus was angry at their sin and their made-up system – their sin and hardness of heart that produced a system that lacked mercy. Jesus was angry at their sinful, self-righteousness that kept them from doing good – showing mercy – on the Sabbath.
So, turning His attention back to the man, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” What? My hand is withered – I can’t stretch it out. Stretch out your brokenness – let everyone see it. Stretch out the deformity that has plagued you, kept from being whole, perhaps your entire life. This is what Jesus invites you to do – to give Him your brokenness and allow Him to restore you – forgive you – make you whole. But in order for that to happen, you’ve got to reach out, and give it to Him. The man had a choice – to hide is brokenness or allow it to be seen and healed. You have the same choice. Do I allow my brokenness to be seen, do I acknowledge it and allow God to forgive, to heal it. Or do I keep it hidden, and therefore keep it.
Notice, the man stretched it out – that’s an act of faith. One of my commentaries said this, “Faith is not a private wager but a public risk that Jesus is worthy of trust when no other hope can be trusted.” You see, I believe if he’d said no – won’t do that – I won’t offer you my brokenness – I don’t believe you can do anything about it – I believe his hand would have remained withered. As it was, with this small act of faith, his hand was fully restored right there in front of everyone. Don’t miss it – when the man stretched out his hand, it was already healed. He could flex it, he could move his fingers. The crowd in that synagogue had known this man, perhaps his entire life. They knew he was broken – deformed – withered. And so, they also knew he was now fully restored. Who would have a problem with that?
That brings us to our third point and our conclusion – the conspiracy of the Pharisees in verse 11. When Jesus healed the man of a non-life-threatening physical condition, they were irate, convinced He had broken the Law. As I said last week – He hadn’t – Jesus never sinned – He kept the Law perfectly. It is right to do good on the Sabbath. He didn’t do work and violate the Sabbath. He had, quite intentionally, violated their system. He was confronting them. So, Luke says they were filled with rage. The word rage speaks of mindless fury. They were out of their minds with rage. They discussed together on that Sabbath as to what they might do with Jesus.
Mark says they went out immediately. You can see them gathering up their flowing robes of righteousness and began conspiring with the Herodians. Who are the Herodians? They’re only mentioned three times in the NT – twice in Mark and once in Matthew – and not found outside the NT. They are always shown opposing Jesus. We’re not exactly sure who they were, but most agree they were likely a political group who supported the Herodian dynasty ruling Palestine. If true, then these two – Pharisees and Herodians make strange bedfellows. One vehemently opposed Roman rule, the other supported it. But, the old saying is true – the enemy of my enemy is my friend. So they came together to conspire to destroy Jesus. Which means, Jesus conducts the rest of His ministry in the shadow of the cross.
You see, Jesus was opposing the tradition of the elders – exposing the Pharisees and their spiritual self-righteous rule that missed the point of the Law and the Sabbath altogether. So, they conspire to destroy Jesus. Can you believe as early Luke 6, the self-righteous religious leaders were out to get Him. Because, those steeped in false systems of religion, those in darkness, will always oppose the light. So, it should come as no surprise when they oppose us.
Again, notice the irony. They were upset with Jesus for healing on the Sabbath – restoring a withered hand. But they had no problem conspiring on the Sabbath to kill. Talk about hypocrisy. So later, when Jesus calls them hypocrites, white-washed tombs, pretty on the outside with their flowing robes of self-righteousness, they were in fact full of dead men’s bones.
I have several thoughts as we close this morning. First, with whom do you identify? Are you like the Pharisees, so steeped in actions of self-righteousness that while you are quick to see the unrighteousness of others, you would never see it in yourself. Can I tell you today – Jesus came to call sinners – not the righteous into His kingdom. If you think yourself okay, He didn’t come to call you. But when you realize you have nothing to offer – no self-righteousness that would be acceptable to God – then and only then, are you in a place to enter His kingdom.
Which leads to the second thing – what brokenness do you have – maybe a brokenness that you desperately try to hide from people – that Jesus can restore? I do believe Jesus heals physically, and maybe He wants to heal you in that way. But more than that – what brokenness in the sinfulness of life do you have that Jesus would forgive and restore? He stands ready, if you’ll stretch yourself out and ask Him for healing.
Finally, as I recognize most of you are believers – followers of Jesus – I would say this. They opposed Jesus for His words of truth and acts of mercy and righteousness. They will do the same to us – so we should not be surprised. He promised they would. And knowing the fleshly desire we would have to fight back, to defend ourselves, Peter says this in I Peter 2:
21 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,
22 WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH;
23 and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;
24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
Can I suggest this is how we respond when threatened and reviled for our faith. We cling to the cross and suffering of our Savior.