Thought for the day – Sunday 17 May

Thought for the day - Sunday 17 May
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May 17, 2020
in Minister's Daily Message
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Dear All
Have you ever come across a ‘jobsworth’? They sometimes come in the form of a character with a big bunch of keys dangling from their belt and a kind of ‘know it all’ manner. Such authoritative figures seem to take delight in telling you what you can and can’t do, even trivial things. Sometimes they even get promoted and don their luminous vest, the equivalent insignia of a four-star general. You’ll know what I mean, I think.
Now let me be clear. You’re probably thinking to yourself, someone’s rattled his cage, actually, they haven’t. The synagogue leader in our passage today, though, seems to ‘fit the bill’ of such a ‘jobsworth’ and Jesus wasn’t too happy. Jesus didn’t like his attitude or his hypocritical reasoning and told him so.
Jesus’ words were very stern and It must have been a bit of a scene. There, in a place of worship and on the Sabbath itself an argument broke about the do’s and don’ts on this special day. It all centred on the healing of a poor woman who’d been suffering for years. Her suffering, it seems, never stopped her coming to the house of God and what a surprise she got that day.
Far from it being a day of genuine celebration for everyone present at what had happened, it seems only to have upset the ‘jobsworth’. This poor woman ‘bent double’ with some form of spinal deformity couldn’t contain herself and spontaneously praised God. Wasn’t that why she came to the Synagogue in the first place? Now free from her aches and pains she had even more reason to do so and she did. Some folk loved the ‘showdown’ and some didn’t.
Jesus said that the ‘Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath’ and this is clearly evident in our reading today. The healing of the woman seems to be to have been quite unimportant to the synagogue leader, as he was more interested in good order and religious observance.

Have you ever encountered a religious ‘jobsworth’?

Today I ask you to think/meditate on this?

God bless you!

Jim

JBoag@churchofscotland.org.uk

LUKE 13: 10-17

On a Sabbath, Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.”Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”

When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

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