“Do good on the Sabbath”

Read Luke 6:6-11

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It’s another Sabbath but the same theme (6:1-5). By this healing, Jesus demonstrated his lordship over the day and showed the kind of activity that is right to do on it. The Jewish teachers permitted healing the sick on a Sabbath only if life itself was threatened. But they would allow animals to be helped, overlooking that people have much greater value (Mt.12:11; Lk.13:15-16; 14:3-5). 

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Such an attitude made Jesus angry and deeply distressed (Mk.3:5). What God requires is love, not religious ceremonial, and so it is especially appropriate to do good on the Sabbath (9). Jesus didn’t dismiss the Sabbath as part of the old wineskin of Judaism which is no longer relevant for his followers, but he defined it in accordance with its original and intended meaning and purpose. 

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The decisive breach between Jesus and the Jewish leaders had been made. They couldn’t accept him challenging the rules and attitudes of their religion, or his claim to authority over sin and over the Sabbath. So they planned to kill him (6; Mk.3:6), “a curious action for men who were so keen on keeping the Sabbath lawfully” (Morris). Even this early in the story Jesus is already heading to the cross.