(NASB) Luke 14:1-6 “IT HAPPENED that when He (Jesus) went into the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching Him closely.
2 And there in front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy (Dr. Luke was a physician; dropsy: accumulated fluid indicating illness affecting other parts of the body).
3 And Jesus answered and spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?’
4 But they kept silent.  And He took hold of him and healed him, and sent him away.
5 And He said to them, ‘Which one of you will have a son or an ox fall into a well, and will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?’
6 And they could make no reply to this.”

Silently watching Jesus closely were the guests and the host at this meal on the Sabbath.
Silence to Jesus’ question: ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?’
Silence because Jesus gave a logical example which was personal to them.
Silence because they had been thwarted by Jesus’ logic and compassion.

Perhaps this gathering had been with the intent to entrap Jesus, but they became the entrapped.  Jesus turned a specific entrapment against Him into cornering those who were “watching Him closely.”

Jesus knew the letter of the Law with the spirit of the Law as the motive for implementing God’s Law.

Jesus did not deny or refute God’s Law, for God’s Law is important – He has established it.  But Jesus had the spirit of the Law in mind.

You and I need Jesus’ compassion, His mercy, His grace in our lives ~ we are to extend that same compassion, mercy, grace to others ~ we are to give to others what God has so lavishly given to us, the followers of Jesus.

Do you keep the letter of the Law?  Do you include the spirit behind the Law?

The Letter of the Law and the spirit of the Law…

What will you extend to others in 2014?