The Blank Page

Luke 5:33-396:1-11 – Lord of the Sabbath

“The Blank Page”
Jesus teaches us that He is the Lord of the Sabbath, but He possibly teaches us even more than that.
I checked my journal because I remembered something interesting when I looked at Mark’s version of this story.
In Mark’s book there is a more complete record of Jesus’ words:

“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath”. Mark 2:27-28

Apparently; ben-adam [son of man] the Hebrew phrase that Jesus would have used, can simply mean man, a person with no messianic overtone at all. In fact, that is the way the phrase is used in other Rabbinic teachings.
It is likely therefore that Jesus is not simply referring to himself but to everyone; essentially helping us understand that “everyone controls the Sabbath” – it is in all of our hands to determine how its purpose is applied!
So we don’t decide its purpose but we can decide its implementation and the way in which we decide to implement it teaches us something about ourselves.
Do we use it to control others?
Do we use it to jockey with others for spiritual status?
Do we put religion before people or people before religion?
This leads to an even bigger question; Could this be the the case with all the decisions about rules that God gives us?
We have a freedom of choice rather than the old freedom from choice. In the Kingdom that Jesus ushers in; we are able to look more deeply into our motives because what we produce is less to do with the traditions we follow and more to do with the free choices we make.*
In Luke’s version of the story that I read today, I am given even more reason to believe this.
In Pharisaical teaching; healing could only be done on the Sabbath if it was a matter of life or death [the Jews highly valued life].
And so He gives the Pharisees a no-win scenario to choose from…

“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?” v 9

Essentially, Jesus contrast two of the three main categories of sin in Judaism;
Het or Awon.
Awon is the sin you commit when you love God but do something you should not do.
Het is the sin you commit when you love God but do not do the something that you should do.
The Sabbath is a blank page; what you do by the end of the day tells you something about who you are.
Praying for His compassion because then I will use my freedom to do something rather than to avoid something.