Divine Dining March 23, 2026 Devotional

LUKE 14:5-6 | ⁵ Then he said to them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a Sabbath day?” ⁶ And they could not reply to this.

EXODUS 21:33 | ³³  If someone leaves a pit open or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

In the Gospels we find seven times Jesus healed on the Sabbath day. In John, He healed the paralytic in 5:9 and the man born blind in 9:14. In Mark, He helped the demon possessed man at                       Capernaum in 1:21. In Luke, He cured Simon's mother-in-law in 4:38, a man with a withered hand in 6:6, and the woman bent over and crippled for 18 years in 13:13. In every case the legal scholars would have seen this as work that could have been avoided, delayed until the following day.

Jesus' logic however, unmasks the foolishness of this viewpoint. Some work is mere labor, and other work is holy, a sign and celebration of God's presence and power, His mercy and goodness. Such acts actually don't violate the Sabbath, they reveal the Kingdom. Even legal scholars recognize emergencies, for animals and humans alike when a Sabbath accident threatens life and an animal or child must be helped from a pit. Such rescues are good and right. How much better when ongoing and painful maladies are removed from God's children!

Do you ever do acts of kindness or generosity on the Sabbath?

Gracious God,

Show me how to relieve suffering and bring Your help and healing to others. I ask in Jesus’ name.

Amen.