Mark 3:2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. 3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. 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. 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.
This passage of scripture recounts for us the example Christ set for us by doing good on the Sabbath day, an issue that has sparked controversy from time immemorial. In this instance, the man who had the withered hand was in the synagogue to worship God, but Christ the mighty healer was present, and so the Lord did for the man, what He came to do for all people; to heal, restore, cleanse and save. Let's read:
Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
The sick are always to be cared for on the Sabbath day, and according to Christ, it is no violation of the fourth commandment to minister to those who are suffering under a heavy burden of discouragement or physical disease. However, as with all other theological questions that arise from incidents like these, the question is what constitutes "Good" in our day, for the devil always takes the instructions of God to extremes, so that those who are bent on violating God's laws may have so-called valid excuses to do so.
For instance, the garbage man does a "Good" work, so also does the fireman, the laundry cleaner, the grocer, the trooper and all those who work in what we now describe as being "Essential services" and thus the line of distinction between God-ordained "Good" and actual Sabbath breaking has become pretty blurred. Under the garb of "Doing good", many have used the Sabbath hours for the promotion of self-interest, and even to those Christians who hold Sunday as their day of rest, secular work. entertainment, and religious exercises are aligned side by side on their day of worship.
As a general rule of thumb we should not leave for the Sabbath hours, work that can be done during the six working days of the week, because the whole purpose of the Sabbath is to worship God, fellowship with like-minded believers, and to minister to those who otherwise cannot be ministered to during the week. These instructions were given in the scriptures, not merely for the Jews, but for all future generations, as long as time shall last. Let's read:
Isaiah 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
It behooves us therefore, to honor God on His holy day of rest, by spending as much quality time with Him as possible, while at the same time being cognizant of the physical or medical needs of others, being always ready to help and assist in any way so that the spiritual and physical burdens of our fellowmen, can be lightened.
We therefore end with a passage of scripture that calls us back to the original purpose of the Sabbath day, and it is our sincere prayer and desire that every Christian will honor God by the proper observance of the Sabbath day. Let's read:
Mark 2:27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: 28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
May we enter into God's rest by ceasing from our own works as God did from His. God bless!