Show Mercy and Grace - Luke 13-14

Luke 14:1-6 (ESV)

One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” And they could not reply to these things.

The things we do should be based upon truth. Truth always reflects common sense. When you do things that don’t pass the common sense test, you are probably lacking truth. In the above passage we see Jesus presenting common sense to both the Jewish leaders and the people gathered at the Temple, that was based upon His truth.  Notice how this same truth played out earlier in the proceeding chapter.  

Luke 13:14-15 (ESV)

But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, 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 the manger and lead it away to water it?

You always know when leadership is bad when they fail to even make the common sense bar of competency, much less pass the bar of truth test.    These religious leaders didn’t reach either.   Jesus wants us to obey the laws and principle of His truth.    He also wants us to not get so caught up into our interpretation of those laws that miss the real meaning behind them:

Micah 6:8 (ESV)

He has told you, O man, what is good;

and what does the LORD require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God?

People in power often become legalistic to maintain their power.  They must follow their made up law, instead of showing mercy and grace.   Show mercy and grace.