Doing Good

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

DOING GOOD

Matt 12:9-12

9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10 and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" 11 He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." 

NIV

There is more to this narrative which includes Jesus healing this man with a shriveled hand. However, let us just camp out here for a moment and consider the answer that Jesus gave those looking for a reason to accuse him. They had already accused him and his disciples of picking some grain to eat while walking through the field on the Sabbath. We wonder if they had also counted their steps while trying to accuse Jesus of breaking the Sabbath. Nevertheless, now they have a greater interest in accusing him of doing something good on the Sabbath. It is interesting their attempt is centered on healing. They knew Jesus healed people all the time. They knew he had the power to heal and they just wanted to catch him doing it right there in the synagogue on the Sabbath. Healing a person in the synagogue would certainly offend God and go against everything he said about keeping the Sabbath holy. But wait, Jesus is God and He can do whatever he wants to do. However, it is not the exact time for Jesus to reveal the fullness of his identity, so he poses a question to them. As we have learned many of the people had a few animals they kept, and sheep were very common for their wool as donkeys were for carrying loads. Jesus asked them if their sheep fell into a pit, would they not lift it out, even on the Sabbath. Of course, if they answered, they would have said yes, that sheep is important to us and to our income. Surely, Jesus understood that exactly and that is why he posed the question. Then he makes the point the man is far more important than a sheep, so then it is also lawful to help that man on the sabbath, and healing is doing good, just as lifting a sheep out of a pit would be doing good. It is a good thing we have not put any of those restrictions on ourselves regarding doing good on a Sunday, especially in church. However, what good do we do throughout our days, and especially while we are in church? Many of us have something to do with being involved in the worship service, such as the worship team, or choir, musicians, reading scripture and of course, the pastor always does good by sharing the word of God with the people. Other churches may be a little different in style but mostly the same. But what about the rest of us, can we do anything good on the Sabbath? Maybe we could heal someone through the power of the Spirit. Well, if not that, then maybe we could have a word of encouragement for someone. Maybe we could simply be an ear to hear a need or a concern about something in their life. Maybe we could simply just greet them with a smile and let them know we appreciate them. Maybe we could simply tell them we love them. There may be many ways in which we could be doing good on the Sabbath because we are not under the law, but under the grace of God and therefore it is more than acceptable to show grace to others, even on the Sabbath in Church. We just have to look for ways of doing good, and that is not to be confused with “Good deeds”, but simply doing something good to someone.

 

 

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