I see this gospel lesson as an ecample of following the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law... :p
Today's Gospel (Lk 13:10-17): Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath and a crippled woman was there. An evil spirit had kept her bent for eighteen years so that she could not straighten up at all. On seeing her, Jesus called her and said, «Woman, you are freed from your infirmity». Then He laid his hands upon her and immediately she was made straight and praised God.

But the ruler of the synagogue was indignant because Jesus had performed this healing on the Sabbath day and he said to the people, «There are six days in which to work; come on those days to be healed and not on the Sabbath». But the Lord replied, «You hypocrites! Everyone of you unties his ox or his donkey on the Sabbath and leads it out of the barn to give it water. And here you have a daughter of Abraham whom Satan had bound for eighteen years. Should she not be freed from her bonds on the Sabbath?». When Jesus said this, all his opponents felt ashamed. But the people rejoiced at the many wonders that happened through him.
What teaching do you get from this gospel lesson?
:)Peace and kindness,:)
Fred

arcura - I agree that this is a matter of following the spirit of the law and not the "letter of the law."

There are many instances in the Old Testament where a tension between two laws takes place. Jesus even told the story of how David went into the temple and ate the showbread which was unlawful to do but he was not rebuked for it nor was God displeased with David. Why? Because there is a priority of laws in the Kingdom of God. Should David have observed the law, that eating the showbread was unlawful? He could have but he and his soldiers had nothing to eat. They could have died from starvation and in that case, it would most certainly appear absurd that when faced with the opportunity to eat the bread and live, David might have said "sorry, guys, I know there's bread right there but God said we can't have it." To almost anyone, that is completely irrational. At that moment, I think God's law that eating the showbread is unlawful is set aside for the sake of the more important thing, which is the preservation of human life.

Exactly the same point is being made with respect to the demon-afflicted woman. If the ruler of the synagogue really believed that working on the Sabbath was unlawful, he would let his donkey go without water for the duration of the Sabbath, not taking heed to the animal's need. But something inside of the man knows that it is absurd to understand the Sabbath that way, as commanding him to forsake the needs of man and creature. Jesus calls him a hyprocrite because he really doesn't believe in his own interpretation of the Sabbath. Moreover, if he really understood the nature of God and his character, when Jesus healed that woman, his response should have been one of joy and gladness and praise to God. But because his heart was evil, he totally missed the import of the miracle he saw.

The Pharisees understood neither the Law nor the good news of God's love for mankind.

They were "legalists" who boasted of themselves rather than of God. They kept all the laws, including tithing, to an extreme that made people hold them in high esteem, which is usually the goal of legalists even today.

Jesus showed them what He taught; that "loving your neighbor" was a fulfilling of the Law. The Pharisees really already knew this because they had no qualms about showing love even to their animals in need. But Jesus was stealing their glory and they didn't like that... even if it was God doing it.

jakester
Thanks for that.
I agree.
Fred

This is a very important teaching, for it was a basis for changing Judasm vs Orthodox Judaism preached by Jesus and was used as one of the main basis' for the founding Christianity later on.

What it told the Jews was that following many religious laws(613 or so? ) for the sake of obeying the rules is not needed when one is faced with real people with real needs on a moment to moment basis. Expressing love bringing salvation verses following rules. :)