Jesus was unlike any other teacher. He not only knew His audience, He knew their thoughts. On this occasion as He taught in the synagogue, some in the audience had such twisted thinking that Jesus decided to expose it before they even expressed it. They were trying to catch Jesus on a technicality, watching to see if He would break the law against working on the Sabbath by healing a man with a shriveled hand. But Jesus knew their thoughts and cut through their hypocrisy. “Which is lawful on the Sabbath,” He asked, “to do good or evil?” Then He healed the man. With this flawless logic and demonstration of true goodness, one would think they’d get straightened out. But the passage says they were furious and began to plot against Him. They were focused only on what they wanted.


How alarmingly close to that we can be! When we focus on our own desires, we too take our eyes off of Jesus and waste opportunities to do good and to honor God. We can remind ourselves that we are here for His glory, not our own.