14 But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” Luke 13:14 (NAS)

Read Luke 13:10-17

This is where legalism takes you. What better illustration of the heart of God than to heal an afflicted woman in a gathering of people seeking to understand him! The synagogue official saw it only as a major infraction of the law. How dare there be such a blatant refusal to honor one of the Ten Commandments!

Could it be that working a miracle to manifest his own glory is God’s way of honoring the Sabbath?

Is that not the point outside the need to have and show compassion? I’m not advocating “healing” services today, since the apostolic gifts as present in the early days of the church appear to have ceased, but a focus on the surpassing greatness of God. He has indeed healed us from our primary affliction—our sins—for all of eternity. Glory be to God!

I bet the sign out front of the synagogue advertised a message on “compassion.”