A genuine Christian life must contain three elements: faith, morality and worship. In today's Gospel reading, we see two different attitudes to what worship means, the attitude of Jesus and the attitude of the synagogue leader. For the synagogue leader, worship clearly meant keeping the Sabbath rest by going to the synagogue and listening to the reading of scripture and the teaching of the person conducting the Sabbath service. So he had no problem with Jesus teaching on the Sabbath day in the synagogue. It is even likely that he had invited Jesus to read the Scriptures, lead the prayers and teach, a custom which we see elsewhere in the Gospels.

The problem arose when Jesus had pity on a poor woman and healed her. For the leader of the synagogue, that was work and so was breaking the Sabbath rest. For Jesus, there was no problem, and we may surmise from his response to the congregation in the synagogue that he saw his act of merciful love as a genuine form of worship of his Father in heaven.