[This is a continuation of a series from the message I gave at the Creekside Women’s Retreat. To read the whole series, click here. Please also read my disclaimer in part 1!]
Back to Luke 6: "On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Get up and stand in front of everyone." So he got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, "I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?" He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did so, and his hand was completely restored. But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.”
The religious regulations of the day said that you could save a dying person, but this man is clearly not dying. His shriveled hand had probably been so since birth, so Jesus is again challenging a notion, as He’s been known to do.
What does Jesus do? He restores the man’s hand. I imagine the crowd asks “Jesus, what are you doing!? It’s the sabbath!!” and Jesus replies “I am doing exactly what I ought to be doing on the sabbath. I am restoring.”
Sabbath is about restoration, and true restoration comes only from Christ.
An interesting thing happens when we put verse 5 up against verse 11:
“Then Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.”
When Jesus said “I am Lord of the Sabbath”, He was claiming outright to be God. God instituted the sabbath, Jesus claims to be Lord over it, therefore, Jesus is claiming to be God. This makes His critics crazy, and so they [jumping forward a bit!] kill Him...
Think about Jesus on the cross: writing in agony, bearing the weight of our sins, as 2 Corinthians 5:21 says:
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
In that moment when Jesus says “Why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34) - that is the moment when God has turned away from Jesus, just as your sin and mine separates us from God, Jesus is (unfairly) separated from God, because He has willingly taken our sin upon Himself.
He is rest-less.
Then, what does He say, as He dies? “It is finished.” (John 19:30)
The greatest work ever completed. The greatest accomplishment. Jesus must have found incredible satisfaction in His work, because after it was finished, He rested.
Even the most relentless, driven inner machinery cannot do this kind of work. It cannot save you from the penalty of your own sins. Only Christ saves us. It is not what we do that saves us - be it for others, ourselves or for God - it is what has already been done.
The only set of eyes you need approval from have already accepted you because God looks at you, in Christ and says “It is good... It is finished...” Because Christ’s righteousness has been gifted to us, the Creator of the universe looks at you and says “This is my child with whom I am well pleased”.
Still more to come tomorrow...
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