Luke 6:1-19

 Luke 6:1-19

In this passage a subtle shift occurs. The opposition of the Jewish, religious elite becomes more public. Their efforts to “get” Jesus are more pronounced, determined, and open. Why did they notice that Jesus' disciples were eating on the Sabbath? Like tattletale children they were watching for something about which they could complain. 

Was the man in the synagogue brought there as bait for an attack? Clearly, they paid close attention to him looking for a reason to attack Jesus. For Jesus, Sabbath was a good time to restore or to give life. For the religious elite, it was a good time to conspire to destroy a person. In verse 11, Luke tells us they were filled with rage. The word literally means “madness”.  It is a compound word. The first part is negative and the second is the word for reasoning facilities. They were so angry; they had lost their mind. They gave up their capacity to think.

Sadly, this malady is still with us.  Our emotions drive us to a course of action that is nothing less than idiocy. Marriages, churches, families, and friendships infected with emotional excess results in people wrecking themselves and their relationships because they lose their minds. In this case, faced with the threat to their control of the synagogue the religious people lose their minds and will ruin themselves and anyone else to protect their power and control. The problem with the fit of rage or madness is that once we have indulged in it, it becomes invasive, spreading in our lives.  It is easy to express again and again and it stays with us longer each time. The mad fury expressed here in the synagogue will finally express itself in the murder of Jesus on the cross.

“Lord, grant that my acts of kindness are so many and so obvious that they drive Your enemies to madness.  AMEN”