“I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath
rather than to do evil,
to save life rather than to destroy it?”
The scribes and Pharisees wanted to accuse Jesus for doing good on the sabbath, but failed to realize that they themselves were by that very fact doing evil. Jesus was about the business of saving others, appropriate for the true intention of the sabbath. But the scribes and Pharisees were trying to destroy life, that of Jesus specifically. Others who got involved were collateral damage that was of no concern to them. How could they plot and attempt to ensnare Jesus without realizing the problem with their intentions? Did they even realize Jesus might be talking about them specifically when he contrasted his saving action with their evil and destructive plans?
Looking around at them all, he then said to him,
“Stretch out your hand.”
The psalmist had written, "If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither!" (see Psalm 137:5). This man was therefore allowed to stand for all of Israel, forgetful of God and divided. His hand would be "restored", showing the intention of Jesus for the restoration of all of the tribes of Israel. He would be among the first to taste the time when Jesus would "restore the kingdom to Israel" (see Acts 1:6), "the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago" (see Acts 3:21). He was allowed to stand for all of us, and the times when we ourselves have been forgetful of God. At such times it is a mercy for God to let our hands whither, to forget their skill, to make us remember our need for him.
It was precisely as a healing remedy for sin that Paul commanded that the incestuous man be cast from their community, "for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord". Paul's goal was not the destruction, but the eventual salvation of the man. Paul didn't want this man to be able to harbor illusions that because he was in the right place with the right people that his behavior was fine. Unfettered success by our own power would tend to make us rely on ourselves more and on God less. Therefore it is mercy that when we forget him he lets us experience his discipline. But it is always with the goal of restoration.
How different was the attitude of Jesus and Paul from that of the Pharisees. The Pharisees attitude could not celebrate the restoration that was God's intention for his people. They sought rather to divide and to exclude in order that support their own elitism. For our part we hope to be more like Jesus and Paul than the scribes and Pharisees. But to actually be so means we must learn not to look at others so that we "might discover a reason to accuse" them. If we are ready to find fault and to judge that will be what we find and how we act. It is especially tempting to have such an attitude because of our concern that "a little yeast leavens all the dough", that even a small amount of sin can wreak disproportionate havoc. But our concern must be first and foremost to find and remove this yeast of malice and wickedness from ourselves. Then we will be able to join Paul and Jesus himself in sharing the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. We will then be concerned, together with them, to save life rather than destroy it, and to make our sabbaths to increasingly fulfill God's promise of the restoration of the tribes and the gathering of the nations.
But let all who take refuge in you
be glad and exult forever.
Protect them, that you may be the joy
of those who love your name.
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