The Sabbath

Jesus heals on the Sabbath, Luke 13:10-17

Remember the time when you Jesus healed on the sabbath and did work on that day, and was persecuted for it?  On the seventh day, God rested.  The spirit of the command for a sabbath was that we would be able to rest and not work all the time.  We'd be able to spend time with our loved ones and with God himself.  The Pharisees perverted this concept and did what the law was not meant for - make them legalistic and think that any sort of work was not allowed on the Sabbath, including healing the sick.  The elephant in the room here is that though he was doing it on the Sabbath, he was HEALING THE SICK, something impossible and probably not often seen among the Pharisees or anyone in that room.

Of course, the reality was that the Pharisees were jealous of Jesus and just trying to find any excuse they could to persecute him and get him into trouble.  They used the culturally traditional interpretation of God's law to do this.  Notice Jesus' response, though: he didn't expose their jealousy even though I'm sure he knew about it.  He simply pointed out their hypocracy and theologically rebuked them, saying that they did the same things, and moved on!  The underlying assumption was that their comment was irrational and based on jealousy, but Jesus didn't expose it outright (though he does later).

People often misinterpret rest as being an excuse to not do the works of God.  We lazy out, rather than go and do what we see the Father doing.  The time of rest is the perfect time to do what's on our hearts, and to love people.