would not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?
The sabbath isn't a break from love. Rules about sabbath rest are good. They serve to free us for relationship with friends, family, and God. But we can twist these rules and use them to excuse our responsibilities toward one another. If our son falls into a cistern we shouldn't put off rescuing him until Sunday. But if he falls in on Sunday neither should we wait longer.
We tend to use rules as an excuse for our indifference. Instead we should be more like Paul.
For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ
for the sake of my own people,
my kindred according to the flesh.
No matter into which cistern they seem to have fallen, no matter when in salvation history it happens, Paul is ready to help them to freedom. His own heart for the Jewish people is like God's heart for them.
He has proclaimed his word to Jacob,
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
He has not done thus for any other nation;
his ordinances he has not made known to them. Alleluia.
Our own hearts for our brothers and sisters needs to be like God's heart for them. They are his sons and his daughters. They are those for whom Jesus dies. He does not want to wait to love them.
But they kept silent; so he took the man and,
after he had healed him, dismissed him.
Our own blessings are not things which we can ultimately give away for the sake of others. Becoming accursed for them doesn't work. Our relationship with Christ is the only real basis we have for helping others. Our sabbath rests are ultimately necessary to sustain that relationship. But if we look for excuses for indifference and inaction we miss the point. Let us instead look for excuses to love, like Jesus "Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever."
Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion.
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;
he has blessed your children within you.
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