Friday, July 11, 2008

Confrontational Activity

John 9:14 KJV
And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.

As offensive as it was to the Pharisees that Jesus would heal on the Sabbath, it is remarkable how often He did just that. And it could not have been accidental for nothing is an accident with God.

In John 7:23 Jesus said
If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day? (KJV)

He was in fact, healing people on the Sabbath day on purpose. And I see at least two reasons why He would have done so...

First, to confront the Pharisees with their misuse of the Word of God
Over and over again Jesus brought this issue to the forefront. And over and over the Pharisee would have been confronted with whether their laws were the Word of God or just their own rules.

Secondly, to force them to consider the doctrine of the supremacy of Jesus Christ.Jesus is the "Lord of the Sabbath" He is not subject to the Sabbath, He created the Sabbath. He is God. He is Master. He is the Almighty. And the Pharisees needed to know that. Not that they ever got the lesson (at least for the most part; John 9:16 does say there was a division among them concerning Christ, whether He is a sinner or not.)

Truth does not necessarily have to be received for it to still be important to give it. Jesus did not shirk from delivering the truth even though the majority of men would not receive it. Some did.

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