Lord of the Sabbath

Luke 6:6-11
The Pharisees here observe Jesus heal a man with a withered hand and immediately protest and grow furious because he has healed on the Sabbath (vs. 11), a day meant to be kept holy unto the Lord, as commanded in Exodus 20:8.  They claim he has worked by healing this man, therefore disobeying this commandment.  But Jesus probes them further about the actual workings behind this commandment, revealing that, although they were "observing it", they really had actually missed it altogether (vs. 9).  Although they appeared to be keeping the Sabbath holy, in actuality they had violated long ago with their pride and selfishness.  The problem is that they had embraced these religiously cultural outward laws and regulations as though they brought life, while actually they were only meant to point them to real life (John 5:39-40).  Only in Jesus is real life, not in any kind of regulation we can possibly think of and observe.  No amount of following religious or cultural laws and regulations will ever draw us closer to Jesus and bestow on us real life.  Paul wrote the believers that the kingdom of God has nothing to do with outward observances of laws, as they only have an appearance of wisdom and holiness (Colossians 2:20-23).  It is in following Jesus that one actually begins to live and actually obey the commandments of God, not by observing written codes and rules (Romans 7:6).  The religious of that day had made an art of this way of life (Matthew 15:6), and it only proved to be their demise, as their rules blinded them to the true light that is Jesus.  Even though outwardly they had continued in obedience and observance of the law, inwardly they had stopped following God's commands long ago (Matthew 23:25-28).  Our outward holiness must be a reflection of an inward heart change, not simple behavior modification.  Jesus is showing them that it is by following him that they are being obedient (vs. 5), because he is the one who is Lord of all, even Lord over the the law.  When they began to turn God's commands into sources of pride and self-advancement they began to twist God's holy commands into sources of harm and destruction (vs. 9).  They had heaped up piles of religious rules and regulations that were put upon people to try and live up to when they themselves could not even bear them (Acts 15:10), and Paul reminds us that these kinds of things have nothing to do with the Kingdom of God (Romans 14:17).  Jesus requires loyalty and obedience to what he says and does, not to laws and traditions.  We must look inside our hearts and ask what it is that we are following and embracing.  Have we missed life because of laws?  Are we following religious culture or Jesus?  Because religious rules appear holy and wise, but actually lead to death, a burden that no one can carry, nor are meant to.  Cursed are these (Galations 3:10).  But Jesus' burden is light and easy and blessed are those who carry it (Matthew 11:29-30).  Learn from Jesus not laws.