Healing on the Sabbath

Details: Category: Jesus and the Sabbath

Jesus faces the wrath of the religio-political leaders when he starts healing people during the Sabbath.

The Healing of the Man with a Withered Hand

Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come forward.” Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.
Mark 3:1-6.

The Sabbath, in this incident, is used as sort of a bait by the opponents of Jesus, who eagerly watch him like a hawk to see if he continues his streak of breaking with their rigid ritualistic interpretation of the rest day, as he had earlier done so with the picking of the grain by his disciples (Mark 2:23-28). Now the Pharisees are curious to know if he would cure a disabled man on the Sabbath. To them, that’s work and hence prohibited. But Jesus in his signature style, asks them a pointed question that goes right to the very spirit of Yahweh’s Sabbath laws - “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?”

When they stay silent, as a straight answer to that question would expose their hypocrisy, Jesus shows something unusual in his response. Anger! He is furious at how these religious elite have corrupted the “treat your neighbor as yourself” spirit of the Sabbath laws to such an extent that they have twisted those very laws to forbid people from helping each other.

He grieves at their “hardness of heart”. Centuries back, the Egyptian Empire’s Pharaoh’s “heart was hardened” in ill-treating the people of God. The Roman Empire’s puppet rulers of Jesus’ times are committing the same mistake. It angers and grieves Jesus. He goes on to heal the man against all their objections, which triggers those leaders to start conspiring with the political elite i.e., “the Herodians” in order to destroy Jesus. Herod Antipas was Rome’s client king in Galilee. The true intent of Yahweh’s laws, as exhibited by Jesus in his actions and words, prove to be a formidable threat to those in the halls of imperial power to such an extent that their immediate reaction is to snuff it out by violent means.

The Healing of the Crippled Woman

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.
Luke 13:10–17

When Jesus heals this crippled woman, the leader of the synagogue actively rebukes the crowd. They should not be seeking cure for their ailments on the Sabbath. Jesus calls him a hypocrite, and reminds them the original intent of the Sabbath, which is to give relief to those who labor and suffer, even farm animals and donkeys.

Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest, so that your ox and your donkey may have relief, and your homeborn slave and the resident alien may be refreshed.
Exodus 23:12

If the leader had properly understood the purpose of this law and kept its spirit, he would not have condemned the very people of God who were seeking relief on the Sabbath from their suffering.

In a similar narrative in the gospel of John, Jesus heals a paralyzed man who lays by the Pool of Bethesda during the Sabbath, and tells him to take his mat and walk (John 5:1-9). The religious authorities ignore this good deed that has been done to the man, and instead rebuke the poor guy for carrying his mat on the Sabbath. When Jesus refuses to back down, they seek to kill him (John 5:10-18).

But Jesus continues to help people on the Sabbath, even curing a man born blind, by making mud with his saliva and applying it on his eyes (John 9:1-11). The Pharisees launch a major investigation treating it as if it were a crime (“He made mud on the Sabbath!”) as their understanding of Yahweh’s laws is so twisted (John 9:13-34). This leads Jesus to mock them as being spiritually blind.

Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.
John 9:39-41

Indeed, they are so blind to the glorious spirit of the Sabbath commandments, which has led them to wield those laws originally meant for liberation to rather oppress people, all the while laying claim to represent Yahweh. So, Jesus declares, they stand in sin against Yahweh.

The Healing of the Man with Dropsy

On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely. Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had dropsy. And Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to cure people on the sabbath, or not?” But they were silent. So Jesus took him and healed him, and sent him away. Then he said to them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a sabbath day?” And they could not reply to this.
Luke 14:1-6

In this incident, when the lawyers and Pharisees refuse to affirm that it is lawful to cure people on the Sabbath, Jesus goes on to heal the man with dropsy. He then asks them a rhetorical question whether they would not rescue an ox or a child that had fallen into danger on a Sabbath day. In fact, he is reminding them of one of Yahweh’s commandments.

You shall not see your neighbor’s donkey or ox fallen on the road and ignore it; you shall help to lift it up.
Deut 22:4

He is essentially showing them the spirit behind the laws of Yahweh and how all his commandments are geared towards helping one another and not the other way around. In another occasion, Jesus throws them a similar curveball question -

“Moses gave you circumcision (it is, of course, not from Moses, but from the patriarchs), and you circumcise a man on the sabbath. If a man receives circumcision on the sabbath in order that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I healed a man’s whole body on the sabbath?”
John 7:22-23

Circumcision is to be carried out when a child is eight days old (Genesis 17:9-14, Lev 12:3). This is an important sign of the covenant between Yahweh and his people. But what if the child becomes eight days old on a Sabbath day?

Will the circumcision command clash with the Sabbath law? Is there a conflict between two of the major signs of the relationship that people had with Yahweh? None at all. No one objected to a child getting circumcised on a Sabbath day, as it was a joyous occasion of being brought into the fellowship of the people of Yahweh. Jesus points that out to the religious leaders, showing them that the Sabbath law was given not to discourage social solidarity but rather promote it.