The Saber Finds Its Mark!

Lightsaber Wallpapers

For our epic movie buffs, shifting our analogy from Lord of the Rings to Star Wars, it did not take long after Jesus unsheathed the light saber of his lordship over the Sabbath for him to strike a blow at the pretenders to power. He could count on the Pharisees to create the opportunity. Another Sabbath, another synagogue, and, well well, what have we here, a man with a withered hand. 

Jesus did not wait for them to throw down the challenge. He brandished the saber of his authority with a canny question.

Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?

It was “canny” in two ways. First, he did not give them a third (do-nothing) option. (A foreshadowing of James 2:16.)  
Second, because of the word “lawful.” The Pharisees themselves used the word concerning the grain field incident. Having introduced the issue of his authority over the Sabbath, Jesus returned the word "lawful" to its core significance. It is a form of (exousia); and, corresponds to our word "authorized." It reminds us of a command's known source whose intention can be searched out. It stands in contrast to our tendency to look at “lawfulness” as having to do with faceless orders on dusty books at the courthouse.

I think the Pharisees understood what Jesus just did. The question was rhetorical. It was a tacit dismissal of the Pharisees from their seats of power; and it may have plunged the light of his sword into what remained of a conscience in these men who would suddenly remember a very important fact about the Law.

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