Monday 4 March
Read Luke 5:17–6:16
Think
In this section we read two stories of miraculous
healing. Jesus heals a paralytic who was
lowered through the roof while he was busy teaching. The other healing is the healing of a man
with a withered hand.
Both instances of healing bring out the worst in the
Pharisees – they are concerned with Jesus’ obedience to the law: “How can you
forgive sins?” “How can you heal on the
Sabbath?”
Jesus reminds us that “The Sabbath was made for man, not man
for the Sabbath.”
A reminder that God’s law is there to set us free, to bring
healing, not to bind and destroy us.
And so Jesus’ reaches out to sinners to bring them healing –
and that further scandalizes the Pharisees.
Pray
Sometimes we allow the law to bind us more than to set us
free. Our obsession with rules causes us
to bind ourselves up in self judgment and self justification. We then impose
our own sense of guilt on others.
Pray for wisdom in understanding and applying God’s law.
