Does he have to do this now?

 This week's verses are Luke 13:10-17:

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, and a woman was there who had been disabled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten herself up completely. When Jesus saw her, he called her to him and said, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” Then he placed his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. But the president of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, “There are six days on which work should be done! So come and be healed on those days, and not on the Sabbath day.” Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from its stall, and lead it to water? Then shouldn’t this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be released from this imprisonment on the Sabbath day?” When he said this all his adversaries were humiliated, but the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things he was doing.

  In these verses, we see the forces of legalism and big-picture thinking clash yet again. On the side of legalism, we see the synagogue president making a fuss over disorder. Someone has disrupted the order of the Saturday service, where he is in charge. On the side of big-picture thinking, we see Jesus causing the disruption. He is establishing the order of his creation, which belongs to him. Jesus wins.

 As much as we look down our noses at the synagogue president in these verses, like we are taught to do, we have a lot in common with him. If this was a story we were reading in the newspaper, without names, I think a lot of us would identify more with the synagogue president than with Jesus. We see the work of God disrupting our peaceful routine and we find ourselves asking "Do you have to do this now??"

Jesus explains why, yes, he has to do this now. The woman is suffering. He wants to give her peace. Why should she wait an extra day just to keep the synagogue president's life from being too interesting? Would a doctor wait a day to set a broken bone? Would a farmer wait a day to give his animals water? 

Jesus points out how they have unlearned the hard answers that are in their hearts in order to follow the easy and hypocritical path of legalism. Legalism doesn't see the woman's suffering as a real thing that needs to be addressed for the world to be right. Legalism only sees a system of rules and a scoreboard.

Help somebody who can't help themselves: one point.

Do it on the Sabbath: minus two points.

Virtue-signal about other people breaking rules in ways you have never had the opportunity to do: ten points.

 Jesus points out the hypocrisy of the people. They made a great show of going to a gathering for people who want to submit to God's system of order. But at the same time, they argued with God and condemned him when he put things in order. They want to be seen as righteous, and they want to feel righteous, but they don't actually want to be righteous, because that requires difficult choices.

So what does that mean for us when, on some peaceful afternoon, God intrudes on our routine and we complain about the disruption rather than praising what he's doing? We're hypocrites. We can't say we want God's will on Earth as it is in Heaven, and then complain and condemn when he acts as he sees fit.

To be like Jesus, we have to see beyond the rules we've learned and into the heart of our suffering neighbor. God's perfect order is not telling someone to come back during business hours. It's breaking traffic rules to perform a rescue.

If you feel part of you resisting something that could give glory to God, ask yourself where it is coming from. Could it be legalism? Bring it up in prayer, and return to it until you and God are on the same page.