Sins of Inaction

Luke 6:6-11

Yet another Sabbath and Jesus is running afoul of the neighborhood watch society. I remember in one neighborhood in China where an elderly woman with the red armband of authority used to keep an eye on her particular area making sure all of us who came and went did not violate any local rule, including walking on the grass or stepping on a crack. I had a neighbor like that in Missouri. Drove me batty at times with the detailed concerns he harped on.

On this particular Sabbath and in this synagogue, the issue is whether Jesus will perform any healings or miracles. The Pharisees and teachers of the law are there to keep an eye on this wandering rabbi. They don’t like him, but they can’t pin him down. So they are just watching for a wrong move on his part. And he has a reputation for breaking Sabbath rules, including healing people.

The Pharisaic Sabbath law stipulated that only in the case of mortal illness was medical help permitted. Present in the meeting is a man with a withered hand, hardly in mortal danger, but a man in need, nonetheless.

Jesus transforms the argument from one of “Is it lawful to heal?” to one in which there is no choice but to act. Either Jesus is going to do good by healing the man or he is going to do evil by neglecting to heal the man.

Sins of negligence are some of the most sinister sins to be found. Reinhold Niebuhr, the author of the serenity prayer, has said that it is much easier to sin corporately than individually. Particularly with sins of negligence, this is true. We will much more likely avoid doing right if in a group than if freed of that peer pressure. Groups, even good ones, tend toward inertia in moral dilemmas.

Jesus is confronting his accusers here, saying there is no way NOT to act on the Sabbath in regards to this man with the withered hand. By not healing the man when he has the ability and authority to do so is to act evilly. So the question is not whether Jesus should do something on the Sabbath, the question is whether he should do good or he should do evil.

Jesus chooses the good. I wonder if the man was brought to the synagogue on purpose just to test Jesus. In any case, Jesus seizes the opportunity knowing what the Pharisees and teachers of the law are thinking. It doesn’t take rocket science to know that. It is written large on their faces and in their body language.

So Jesus tells the man to get up and stand in front of everyone. Let’s do this right out in the open where there are no questions. Jesus is not above doing good in secret, including healing people. But this is a case of challenging authority and Jesus is going to do it where everyone will know.

“Which is lawful to do on the Sabbath,” he asks them, “to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”

We’ve already established that the man is not in danger of dying. But a disability like that was a fate worse than death in regards to getting humane treatment or finding a job.

Jesus looks at everyone present and then proceeds to heal the man’s hand. Every eye is glued to the scene, but Jesus also has an eye on everyone when he performs this healing. He is there for everyone present. He is there to win them over.

He certainly solidifies the thinking of his observers. Whatever the healed man or the disciples or the other people present think, the Pharisees and teachers of the law set themselves to doing Jesus in from that day on. They are out for blood.

But Jesus has done more than establish his authority. He has demonstrated that choices in life are between doing good and evil, for doing nothing in the face of evil is evil.