Jesus was invited to a meal with others in a Pharisee's house on a Sabbath Day. The Pharisees were self-appointed guardians of the Law and its observance. Those present at the meal were certainly planning to trap Jesus, for Luke tells us that they observed him closely. Somehow, in front of Jesus there was a suffering man. Sensing the trap, Jesus challenged the Pharisees with an ordinary legal question: "Is it against the Law to cure a man on the Sabbath, or not?" The Pharisees remained silent, either unable or unwilling to answer. Faced with their silence, Jesus cured the man and sent him away. Then he turned his attention to the Pharisees again and asked them a more personalized question to make his previous legal question more realistic. The Pharisees had wanted to catch Jesus in the act of breaking the Sabbath so that they might accuse him of breaking God's law. While they cared more about keeping the Law, Jesus was moved by compassion for the sick man. He was not worried about how others would judge him.

How often people fail to go to the help of others because of fear of what people might say or how they might judge them!