The Setup

Luke 6:6-11

 

 

It’s a setup. The religious leaders are setting Jesus up for a fall. They bring in someone who needs to be healed, and right on the Sabbath as Jesus is teaching. They hate Christ. They are jealous. And they don’t believe He’s the Son of God, the Messiah, even with so much proof. You’re not like us…you’re not the way we want you to be. We’re gonna end you! You’d think they would want a sick man healed. But instead, they just want to use him so they can find occasion to kill a good man.

 

Yes, it was a setup. But in actuality, Jesus was setting them up. He knew their thoughts and their scheme. And He’s gonna use it to correct them. This is the perfect man to stage the event that Jesus wants to use to assault the Sabbath and therefore to strike the false religion of Judaism at its heart.  Yet the man is the main object of Jesus' attention and compassion. He can teach a lesson and at the same time heal a man and maybe save his soul. 

 

v. 6          Only Luke says it was his right hand that was withered.  Maybe that was because Luke was a doctor and he was a little more observant of those kinds of things.  So let’s look at this from two vantage points: From Jesus’ and from the man’s.

 

v. 7          Interesting verb, paratēreō. Tēreō means to watch carefully.  Para means alongside of, it's a preposition, alongside of, beside.  So they were as close to Jesus as they could get.  I mean, they were looking intently with intensive scrutiny and it has a sort of a sinister tone. 

 

And what is so amazing to me is it just goes right by their obstinate hearts that He could heal.  They are so deep into the darkness of their false religious system.  They knew He could heal.  They also knew that He forgave sin.  These things didn't seem to register to them. 

Now you say, "What's the deal?  So what if He heals on the Sabbath?"  Well, you have to understand the background.  The rabbis had determined that it was a violation of Sabbath to make anybody better, even to alleviate their suffering. No physician could help a patient, no relatives or friends could help a person who was ill on Sabbath because that was work and you couldn't do it.  You can actually find this in Sabbath regulations that are part of Jewish writings in the past.

 

The sick person would have to wait till the next day. You couldn't help them, that would be a violation of Sabbath unless they were going to die before the next day comes. You could also deliver a baby that was being born.  This is a nice concession.  They actually felt like by making those exceptions they were being compassionate. 

 

v. 8          Boy, what an advantage, huh?  You've got your enemies there and you know exactly what they're thinking.  He always knew what was in the mind of people because He's God and He has omniscience. 

 

He stops the teaching because He reads their minds, and He said to the man with the withered hand, "Arise, come forward, you with the bad hand come forward."  Now this wasn’t a life-threatening issue.  So this was a man you shouldn't help, this guy wasn't on the brink of death.  He could have waited till Sunday, the next day. 

 

He looks right to the Pharisees and scribes who always love to have the chief seats, so they were the front-row gang, most likely. He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to destroy it?"  Now remember, everybody is listening. This is a guy standing there with this atrophied hand and it's a pretty dramatic moment.  "Is it lawful, you guys are the experts," there's a little sarcasm there, "you certainly know the answer to this question, this will be easy for you, is it lawful to do good and to provide deliverance to someone in need or to do evil and destroy?"

 

You know, Jesus is a master at this.  He asks the question that you can't answer. If they say, "Well, it's lawful to do good and it's certainly lawful to help someone," then they would affirm that Jesus could heal the man and He wouldn't violate the Sabbath and they've got no accusation because they've just given Him official authorization.  They can't do that, that doesn't serve their purpose.  On the other hand, if they say, "Well no, it's lawful to do evil and destroy somebody," they have just revealed their merciless, wicked hearts and they can't do that either.  They can't do anything.  Either they had to affirm Jesus, or condemn themselves.  So they just sit there.

 

Now there's a right answer to that but they can't give it.  You say, "What's the right answer?" They knew the right answer. Go back to Isaiah 1. They had read Isaiah, you can be sure the Pharisees and the scribes had read Isaiah, even if they didn't get through the whole book, if they just read the first chapter they would know the answer to the question.  Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 11, they knew what God desired. 

Isaiah 1:11

To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.

 

Here God is indicting Israel back in Isaiah's time for their superficial, shallow, false religion, the same kind of thing that Jesus is addressing.  In other words, your whole religious system and all these things that you do is unacceptable to Me, I've had enough of it, I don't want any more of it. 

 

12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?

13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.

14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.

15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

 

What is He saying here?  Help people, show compassion, show mercy, do good. That's the answer to the question Jesus asked.  Is it right on the Sabbath to do good?  Yes, it's right on the Sabbath to do good. They had so strangled the Sabbath that there was very little space for that and they certainly couldn't admit that this was right. 

 

Remember, the crowd doesn't know what they're thinking.  They don't know that they've got these murderous intentions, these desires that Jesus would violate the Sabbath so they can accuse Him and get rid of Him.  The crowd doesn't know that.  So they hear a very simple, straightforward question: Should you do good or not?  And they're all saying, "Do good, of course, we would do good. We deliver, that's what God would want, of course." 

 

Now you're down to the real issue.  "Which of us pleases God?  Is it I?  Or is it you?  I want to help a man, you want to destroy Me."  I mean, He nailed them.  They have nowhere to go. 

 

Well, they have nothing to say and it's clear in verse 11 that they were in shock. 

 

v. 10        "And looking round about upon them all..."  That's interesting.  There's a delay here.  There's some space here and Jesus is waiting for an answer.  "Are you the good guys who seek to murder Me?  Are you the ones who please God, who seek to kill Me?  Or am I the one who pleases God by seeking to relieve this man's misery?"  And He just looked at them.

 

I can imagine they never forgot the eyes of Jesus.  I don't think He ever dropped His eyes, I think He had the capability to stare into their eyes in a fixed gaze that penetrated to their souls and indelibly etched them with the vision.  Jesus does another astonishing miracle.  God had just again endorsed His Son through creative power.  And you would expect the next verse to read, "And the Pharisees and scribes believed."

 

Well verse 11 says, "They were filled with (what? wonder?) madness,” rage.  They lost their minds. They were at their wit's end.  That's what it means.  They flipped out.  "And they communed one with another what they might do to Jesus."  We have to kill Him.

 

Summing it up, you see Jesus the representative of the truth of God, Pharisees and scribes representative of false religion.  The contrast is startling.  It's the contrast between divine truth and human tradition.  It's the contrast between profound knowledge and madness.  It's the contrast between goodness and wickedness, between compassion and indifference, between open honesty and hidden deception, between divine power and impotence, between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan.  So at this point early in the gospel of Luke, the storm clouds begin to gather on the horizon that eventually are going to rain down on Jesus on the cross of Calvary.  They will not submit to the Lord of the Sabbath.  They will rather execute Him. They will hold tightly to error and reject saving truth.

 

Really sad for those Pharisees and scribes, isn't it?  But I have just a bit of good news for you.  Listen to Acts 15:5. "But certain ones of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up."  Ah, grace even penetrated the Pharisees. That's good, isn't it?  In fact, one of those Pharisees became the great apostle Paul.  This is grace, to those who once were part of plotting to kill Christ and in the case of Paul, to kill Christians, came the grace of salvation and forgiveness.

 

Notice the 3 'forths' in our text?

The man has a paralyzed hand. Sin so paralyzes us that we are not able to do much for Christ, until His pierced hands touch our withered hands...

 

I.  STAND FORTH  Vs. 8 – We have to be honest about where we stand as individuals.  We must be honest about ourselves.  We must take our stand, and be honest about it at work, at home, on vacation, at church!

 

A good witness will “take the stand.” 

 

This man had to make a decision among many who were criticizers of Christ. They were looking on to see whether he would stand up or not. Perhaps this man had been in their number for some time.  Regardless, the pressure was on him, and taking the stand wasn’t easy!

 

When You Make A Commitment To Follow The Lord, Many Will Be Watching You…and if you don’t commit, many ARE watching you!

 

Jesus wanted the man to stand forth. He wanted the man to identify with Him.  And if you’ve made a decision for Christ, He will know you’re serious when you come up here and take your stand!

 

I have decided to follow Jesus,

I have decided to follow Jesus,

I have decided to follow Jesus,

No turning back, No turning back.

 

Tho none go with me, still I will follow…

The world behind me, the cross before me…

 

Is that your commitment?  Will you stand forth in the name of Christ?

 

The crippled man doesn’t yet know what Jesus is going to do with him. There has been no announcement made as to Jesus’ plan to heal him.  And when you take your stand, you don’t know in advance what will happen, but by faith we can know it will be something good!

 

II.  STRETCH FORTH - Vs. 10 - Following Him In Obedience.

 

Once you take your stand, expect God to start to stretch you a little, sometimes a lot!

Romans 8:29

    For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son…

 

It’s not easy to make yourself vulnerable!  And this man no doubt was self conscious and probably tried to hide his hand from view, not “stretch it forth”!  It may have been painful to let someone touch it.

        This is what Christ did on the cross…He opened Himself up to be crucified…He made Himself vulnerable and risked the pain for the inevitable gain!

 

We must take our stand, and then open ourselves up and let God do spiritual surgery on us, making adjustments like a heavenly chiropractor!

Ill.—cracking Kimberly’s back…exhale, relax, then WHAM!

 

When you stretch forth your hand, you are stepping out in obedient faith.

 

Put your small child on top of your car, and then say, “Jump, daddy will catch you.”

Your child believes you will catch him. He knows that you will not intentionally let him fall to the ground and injure himself. That’s faith.

 

The stretching forth for that child is to jump.  And the child of God who takes his stand will sometimes be required to take a leap of faith!

 

III. SEND FORTH – Mark 3:14 - Following Him In Service, Sharing what we have with others! We don’t know if this man followed Jesus, but we know Christ called His disciples and sent them forth right after this event they had seen.

 

This Third Stage Does Not Come Until Stages 1 & 2 Are Complete.

 

“that they should be with him…”

        We cannot be sent forth until we’ve spent some time with Christ! 

Back in Luke 5:1-7

        On shore, standing on solid ground, then push out a little, be stretched, then launch out into the deep!  Eventually God calls us to step out of the boat and be a water walker!!

 

Ezek. 47 tells us to first step into the water, just ankle deep…then wade out a little bit deeper, knee depth…then to the waist, and finally, w/ chin held high just above the surface, and your tippie toes straining to touch bottom, you’re swept away in the current of God’s grace, sent forth to serve others in a foreign land, sending forth and sharing w/ others!

        First you were standing, then you were stretched, and now sent! It’s a setup. Jesus is setting us up as His followers!