When Jesus Gets Mad! - A Reflection on Luke 6:6-11



On another sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him to see whether he would cure on the sabbath, so that they might find an accusation against him. Even though he knew what they were thinking, he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” He got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?” After looking around at all of them, he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

 

Oh, I love Jesus when he gets in fire-brand mode. I know that the traditional image we have of Jesus is that of a misty-eyed, soft-spoken, and mild-mannered kinda guy. However, as we have been discovering, he was actually a very tough guy! He didn’t hesitate to chew people out the moment they said or did any nonsense, especially in the name of God. This story, short though it is, shows us three things that Jesus wasn’t very happy with, and we would do well to learn from them. So. 

 

One, Jesus didn’t care too much for know-it-alls. Jesus would often go to the synagogue and teach. He was an amazing teacher who presented a remarkable way of looking at things. The people loved to listen to him, even though they may not have understood everything he said. The Pharisees and scribes should have delighted in listening to Jesus open the Scriptures to them, but they didn’t listen to anything he said because they thought they knew it all. Do we have closed minds like theirs? Or are we prepared to listen to what somebody has to say, even it goes against what we have believed to be true?

 

Two, Jesus didn’t care too much for fault-finders. In today’s story we find the Pharisees and scribes  watching Jesus to see whether he would cure a man with a withered hand on the sabbath. The fact that they knew he could heal should have given them a clue about his identity, but they were so prejudiced against him, all they wanted to do was find something they could accuse him of. Have we ever done that? Gone to listen to somebody preach, but more eager to find something wrong with what the person said than to learn something new?

 

Three, Jesus didn’t care too much for heartless people. Look at how hard-hearted these guys were. There was a man in their midst who had a hand that was withered. The fact that Luke specifically mentions that it was his right hand suggests his handicap affected his livelihood. Didn’t these religious leaders feel sorry for the guy? And when he was healed, instead of being happy, Scripture says they were “filled with fury”. Imagine! Now, might we be like this? No? How about if we are in a position of authority and have made all these rules and somebody breaks them? Do we feel irrational rage? We sometimes do, don’t we?

 

In fact, I think we might be guilty of doing all these things at some point or another in our lives. Jesus is calling out to us like he called out to the man with the withered hand. He is saying: “Come and stand here.” He knows we are probably as embarrassed as the man was to be in the spot light. But let us not resist him. Instead, let us come forward recognizing and acknowledging that we have a withered soul. Let us believe, as the man did, that Jesus can heal us. And, then, as the man stretched out his hand in obedience to Jesus’ command, let us stretch out our souls to him.

 

And we will be restored. 

 

Watch a video of this reflection by Aneel Aranha here: https://youtu.be/Bp9YzFciQ64

 

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