Sabbath Teachings And Healings

The incident of the Messiah running the merchants and money changers out of the Temple (see also Who Has A Spirit Of Confrontation?) is one of the few recorded events in which the Son of God expressed righteous anger. After removing the abusers, the Messiah healed people there - much to the displeasure of the religious authorities, who had permitted people to abuse the Temple, but who then became resentful of the Messiah miraculously healing people there.

"^21:12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, ^21:13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

^21:14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.

^21:15 And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the son of David; they were sore displeased" (Matthew 21:12-15 KJV)

A similar incident occurred in a Synagogue when the Messiah's healing of the sick produced not only resentment in the minds of the jealous religious authorities, but thereafter their lust to kill Him - to which He "looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts."

"^3:1 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. ^3:2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. ^3:3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.

^3:4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.

^3:5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. ^3:6 And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him." (Mark 3:1-6 KJV)

The Messiah healed people every day of the week, including the Sabbath - because it was the right thing to do. But instead of rejoicing that suffering people were healed of their ailments, the religionists used the healings "that they might accuse Him" of doing wrong. Another example:

"^1:21 And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught. ^1:22 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. ^1:23 And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, ^1:24 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.

^1:25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. ^1:26 And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him." (Mark 1:21-26 KJV)

"My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves"

Regardless of the reaction of the hypocrites, those who were healed were appreciative. Among them was Peter's mother in law:

"^1:29 And forthwith, when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. ^1:30 But Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever, and anon they tell him of her. ^1:31 And he came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them." (Mark 1:29-31 KJV)

A crippled man "was made whole" by Christ on the Sabbath (a Day that all of humanity was made whole - see The Day Of Christ's Resurrection):

"^5:2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. ^5:3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. ^5:4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. ^5:5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. ^5:6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

^5:7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.

^5:8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

^5:9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath." (John 5:2-9 KJV)

Christ wasn't merely an observer of God's only true Sabbath (see How To Be A True Christian - Lesson 4), He was also a teacher on the Sabbath. Within His Sabbath teachings were Sabbath healings.

"^13:10 And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. ^13:11 And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. ^13:12 And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. ^13:13 And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

^13:14 And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.

^13:15 The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? ^13:16 And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?

^13:17 And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him." (Luke 13:10-17 KJV)

The primary reason that the religionists had Christ killed was because they couldn't withstand the Truth that He spoke - that always overwhelmed their lack of genuine knowledge (e.g. see Resurrections, Angels and Spirits).

"^14:1 And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him. ^14:2 And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. ^14:3 And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? ^14:4 And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go;

^14:5 And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day? ^14:6 And they could not answer him again to these things." (Luke 14:1-6 KJV)

The greatest irony was when He was criticized by spiritually blind people (see the Fact Finder question below) for healing physically blind people, on the Sabbath.

"^9:1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. ^9:2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

^9:3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. ^9:4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. ^9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

^9:6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, ^9:7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, which is by interpretation, Sent. He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

^9:8 The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? ^9:9 Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he.

^9:10 Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?

^9:11 He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.

^9:12 Then said they unto him, Where is he?

He said, I know not.

^9:13 They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. ^9:14 And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes." (John 9:1-14 KJV)

Fact Finder: The religious authorities often falsely accused the Messiah of not following the Law of Moses, when in reality they were the people not following the Law of Moses ("^15:3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? ... ^15:7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, ^15:8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. ^15:9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" Matthew 15:3,7-9 KJV)). Who actually gave Moses the Law?
See The Rock Of The Church

This Day In History, January 7

1327: King Edward II of England was forced to abdicate.

1450: The University of Glasgow, Scotland, was founded.

1451: Amadeus VIII ("the Peaceful") died at age 68. Count and duke of Savoy, first member of the House of Savoy to assume the title of duke, under the name Felix V he was antipope for 10 years (see The Struggle For The Papacy).

1536: Catherine of Aragon, first wife of King Henry VIII, died.

1558: Calais, the last English territory held in France, was retaken by the French.

1598: Boris Godunov seized the Russian throne on the death of Feodore I.

1601: Robert, earl of Essex, led a treasonous revolt against Queen Elizabeth I. He was tried, found guilty and beheaded in the Tower of London (it reportedly took executioner Thomas Derrick 3 blows with the axe to sever the traitor's head).

1610: Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei discovered the 4 largest moons of Jupiter with the newly-invented telescope. His outspoken belief that the earth went around the sun, rather than the sun around the earth, later got him into serious trouble with the Roman Catholic authorities of his day. Over 380 years later, Pope John Paul II stated that Galileo had been right after all.

1714: The typewriter was patented (but a working model was not actually built until years later).

1785: John Jeffries and Jean Pierre Blanchard made the first crossing of the English Channel in a hot air balloon.

1807: In retaliation for Napoleon's blockade of Britain, the British navy blockaded continental Europe.

1904: The shipping distress call CQD - "seek you, danger" - was introduced. It was replaced by SOS two years later.

1927: A transatlantic telephone service between London and New York was introduced.

1953: President Harry Truman announced that the U.S. had developed the hydrogen bomb, 8 years after the first atomic bomb (Truman is the only man, so far, to have ordered the use of nuclear weapons of mass destruction in war - his incineration of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945).

1979: Vietnamese forces, aided by Cambodian insurgents, captured Phnom Penh after a two-week invasion and overthrew the Khmer Rouge regime of Pol Pot.