Amazing grace shall always be my song of praise
For it was grace that brought my Liberty
I’ll never know just why he came to love me so

… He looked beyond my faults and saw all my needs
I shall forever lift my eyes to Calvary
To view the cross where Jesus died for me
And how marvelous the grace that caught my falling soul
He looked beyond my faults and saw all my needs

… I shall forever lift my eyes to Calvary
To view the cross where Jesus died for me
And how marvelous the grace that caught my falling soul
He looked beyond my faults and saw all my needs

(“He Looked Beyond My Fault” written by Dottie Rambo)

As I read our passage for today, this old gospel song of my youth immediately came to mind.  I can hear the heartfelt harmonies of the quartets who would stand and sing this as a testimony to Jesus.  I am blessed by these memories these melodies bring to mind.  I am blessed still by hearing of those who had their needs met in full by Jesus and lived their lives telling the story of Jesus over and over again.  To God be  the glory!

Jesus, the One who is God was sent by God.  I know it is hard for our human minds to understand fully but it’s true.  Jesus came from heaven to walk the earth as the Son of Man born from the womb of a virgin.  Jesus embodied all the physical human nerves that God created in all of us that relay the signals to the brain, which interprets them as sight (vision), sound (hearing), smell (olfaction), taste (gustation), and touch (tactile perception). 

Jesus is also Son of God who has limitless power to see beyond what others see.  He sees the hearts of humans.  Jesus also embodies the compassionate love of the Father.  He knows exactly what people need when they need it and does not hesitate to deliver people from pain and struggle so that the glory of His Father God can be seen.  Jesus’ power, wisdom and discernment comes from being in constant communion and conversation with God who directs what He says and what He does.

“I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it.”  John 12:49 NLT

“Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished. For just as the Father gives life to those he raises from the dead, so the Son gives life to anyone he wants. In addition, the Father judges no one. Instead, he has given the Son absolute authority to judge, so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son is certainly not honoring the Father who sent him”. John 5:19-23, NLT

Jesus is not fooled by schemers and deceivers.  Jesus is Truth who cannot be fooled.

Luke 14, The Message

14 ^1-3 One time when Jesus went for a Sabbath meal with one of the top leaders of the Pharisees, all the guests had their eyes on him, watching his every move. Right before him there was a man hugely swollen in his joints. So Jesus asked the religion scholars and Pharisees present, “Is it permitted to heal on the Sabbath? Yes or no?”

^4-6 They were silent. So he took the man, healed him, and sent him on his way. Then he said, “Is there anyone here who, if a child or animal fell down a well, wouldn’t rush to pull him out immediately, not asking whether or not it was the Sabbath?” They were stumped. There was nothing they could say to that.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

I would not be hard to believe that the religious leaders “planted” the afflicted man at the Table over a Sabbath meal.  “No work on the Sabbath” says The Law.  Added to The Law by the religious who failed often to practice what they preached were specific details that created more burdens for people trying to adhere to The Law.  Some examples: “Do not drag your chair across the dirt floor of your home on the Sabbath.”  If you do you are “furrowing” ground as you would in farming. Farming is work. No work is done on the Sabbath.  Therefore, people will be fined for that would be in direct violation of God’s Law.  The more additions men in charge and power made to The Law meant to help and protect, the more the intent of God became unknown.  More rules took the focus from the relationship God wanted to have with His people.

Jesus comes to redefine the intent of God’s original Law as He fulfilled every part of God’s Law.

Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath is questioned and watched.  The Sabbath was meant to give rest on the “seventh day” as God did after creating the world and its inhabitants.  The Sabbath was a day to fully focus on God, being in communion with God, getting direction and guidance from God as we express our love for God in worship of Him alone.  The Sabbath was not meant to focus on all the ways man decided to enforce the Law as they saw and judged.  Only Jesus, who never sinned, has the right to judge, and He does not. 

Jesus came to save, heal and forgive.  Jesus is the only Way to reconnect to God.  Jesus is Truth and tells all who will listen who God is and what He wants for us.  Jesus gives all who believe Life eternal.  

Because God sees the hearts of men and women, Jesus also sees the motivations of the hearts of these religious leaders trying to be sly and cunning, “watching every move Jesus makes” so that they can begin documenting offenses to build a case against Him. 

Jesus also sees the obvious—the needs of the crippled man and the “bait” laid by playactors’ scheme. With wisdom, He asks, “Is it permitted to heal on the Sabbath? Yes, or no?”  This loaded question exposed the false piety of the Pharisees and the scribes. They claimed to be defending God’s Sabbath laws, when in reality they were denying God by the way they abused people with their addendums to the Law and now accused the Savior. There is a big difference between protecting God’s truth and promoting man’s traditions.  Oh, the stories I could tell of God’s church today who rely more on man’s traditions than their heart of faith in Jesus. And I can be one of them.  Forgive us, Lord.

God sent His Son, they called Him Jesus,
He came to love, heal, and forgive;
He lived and died to buy my pardon,
An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.

Because He lives I can face tomorrow,
Because He lives all fear is gone;
Because I know He holds the future.
And life is worth the living just because He lives.

Traditions of sentiment created by man are sweet but do not hold a candle to what Jesus did to reconcile us to God in a holy, intimate, loving relationship that is forever!

“For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.”  2 Corinthians 5:1

“So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” 2 Corinthians 5:16-17

“And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” 2 Corinthians 5:18-21, NLT

Believe Jesus and be saved forever.  Jesus saves.  We do not.  Jesus did for us what we cannot do for ourselves.  There is nothing in us that God through Jesus will not forgive.  To God be the glory!  Thank you, Jesus!

Lord,

Thank you for reconciling us to God.  Thank you for taking the punishment I deserve for my own sins.  Thank you for saving my soul and making me whole. Thank you for daily cleansing my heart by removing all that offends you in me.  Thank you for renewing my mind with Kingdom ways to think. Thank you for restoring the joy of your salvation at work within me with compassion, love beyond our imaginations, full of mercy and grace.  What a gift!  I am grateful.  Thank you for being with us always in our pursuit of your wisdom and guidance in all the details of our lives.

In Jesus Name, Amen