It is good to do good always!

Luke 6:6-11

6 On another Sabbath Jesus went to the meeting place and taught. There was a man there with a crippled right hand. 7 The religion scholars and Pharisees had their eye on Jesus to see if he would heal the man, hoping to catch him in a Sabbath infraction. 8 He knew what they were up to and spoke to the man with the crippled hand: "Get up and stand here before us." He did. 9 Then Jesus addressed them, "Let me ask you something: What kind of action suits the Sabbath best? Doing good or doing evil? Helping people or leaving them helpless?" 10 He looked around, looked each one in the eye. He said to the man, "Hold out your hand." He held it out-- it was as good as new! 11 They were beside themselves with anger, and started plotting how they might get even with him.

Food for thought!

Opposition to Jesus is growing quite open. He has been teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath day and the scribes and Pharisees are there with the set purpose of watching Jesus so that, if he healed, they could charge him with breaking the Sabbath. Indeed, in this incident Jesus openly broke the law. To heal was to work and work was prohibited on the Sabbath day. And that's exactly what Jesus deliberately did.

Jesus laid down the great principle that, whatever the rules and regulations may say, it is always good to do a good, regardless of the circumstances. He asked the piercing questions, "What kind of action suits the Sabbath best? Doing good or doing evil? Helping people or leaving them helpless?" That must have struck home, for while he was seeking to help the life of the man, the Pharisees and scribes were doing all they could to destroy him. It was he who was seeking to save and they who were seeking to destroy.

In this story there are are a number of things to learn. There is the man with the withered hand. We can learn from him. His RIGHT hand was crippled! That means that he couldn't work. And if he couldn't work, his family couldn't survive; the bread winner was not able to work. He was jobless. This man makes us remember the many men and women unemployed and unemployable because of their physical condition, because of world recession. Yes, there are many people out there like this man, unable to feign for themselves and their families.

This explains why Jesus could not and did not let this man suffer one more day. The good we can do today, be done today! Don't put off for tomorrow the good you can do today.
There is in this story a glorious atmosphere of defiance. Jesus knew that he was being watched but without hesitation he healed the man. He bade the man stand out in the midst of them all. This thing was not going to be done in a corner. If you're doing good, never fear your critics. Critics are just that, critics!

Critics are like Pharisees who took the quite extraordinary course of hating Jesus who had just cured a sufferer. They are the outstanding example of people who love their rules and regulations more than they love God and neighbor. We see this happen in organizations, in families and in churches over and over again. Disputes are not about the great matters of faith but about matters of church government and church discipline and customs. There is an ever present danger of setting loyalty to a system and to a custom above loyalty to God.

Did you notice that the man, empowered by Jesus, tried the impossible? He stretched his withered had! He was a man who was prepared to attempt the impossible. He did not argue when Jesus told him to stretch out his useless hand; he tried and, in the strength Jesus gave him, he succeeded. Impossible is a word which should be banished from our vocabulary as Christians. As a famous scientist said, "The difference between the difficult and the impossible is only that the impossible takes a little longer to do."