15 The Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?"
In our verses for today, Jesus gives the synagogue ruler a sort of an “in your face” reply to his statement that healing should only occur on the six days that were for work and not on the Sabbath. Our Savior shows them the hypocrisy of their way of thinking. They would unbound their animals to refresh them on the Sabbath yet not set free a bound person that had been in that condition for eighteen long years, I might add! I am not feeling a great deal of love for the brethren from this synagogue ruler! Isn’t it amazing how we often get so set in our ways – unwilling to change when presented with Truth only because it may be different from the way we have always done things or consider that they should be done! Jesus was not pleased with this. In fact, he begins by calling them hypocrites, feigned characters, and pretenders - appearing pious but actually quite pitiful. Scripture has much to say about hypocrites. Jesus tells us in Matthew:
27 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Matt 23:27-28 (NIV)
Appearing to people as righteous on the outside through their religious conformity, these teachers of the law and Pharisees were full of wickedness and Jesus had a word for them – “Woe!” Paul tells us that our motives behind our actions are as important as our actions themselves thus strengthening Jesus’ point on hypocrisy. If our motives are not pure our actions are in vain. We find in 1 Corinthians:
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 1 Cor 13:1-3 (NIV)
Exalted eloquence vanishes quickly while love produces eternal effects; prophecy, wisdom, knowledge and faith all of which Paul championed as great gifts were nothing compared with love; even self-sacrifice and self-immolation can be for naught if not backed by love. Love is that which never fails! Love is the greatest commandment:
36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
37 Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matt 22:36-40 (NIV)
All the commandments and all the laws hinge on these two points: love for God and love for man who is made in the image of God. John tells us that is how we know that we are children of God if we have love for the brethren:
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. 1 John 4:19-21 (NIV)
“All is vanity but to love God and serve Him.” Thomas a Kempis
“Love, in the Christian sense, does not mean an emotion. It is a state not of the feelings but of the will; that state of the will which we have naturally about ourselves, and must learn to have about other people.” C.S. Lewis
“He loved us not because we were lovable, but because He is love.” C.S. Lewis