The Challenge -- Day 108

Today's Scripture: Luke 13:1-17

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."

Luke 13:14 NRSV

The leader was indignant. Webster's defines the word as "feeling or showing anger over something unjust or wrong: very angry." The leader thought it OK to water his donkey on the Sabbath, but not to heal a human being. Rules for keeping the Sabbath were miles long. You can do this on the Sabbath, but you can't do this. This is considered work... this is not. Rules pile up on rules and slowly the most absurd thing happens: a donkey becomes more valuable than a child of God.

Is there something you value more than a person? Some cause or passion which drives you to choose the rule over the person? How do you think Jesus might respond to the rule?

Show me, Lord, where I have minimized people

and let a rule or cause become more important.

Bless me with a heart like Yours---

one filled with compassion, mercy, and grace.