The Critics

There will always be those who have something to say about what you do.

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment." When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day." But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?" When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing. - Luke 13:10-17

Jesus calls them hypocrites for doing what they say you shouldn't do.

They are the log-in-the-eye people Jesus talks about, the ones who cannot see their own sins.

In our world, they are critics. They criticize everything done by those they despise, even if they do the same.

Do we care what they say? Or do we ignore it and move on?

In my generation, we were taught as children to let these things roll off our backs like water on ducks. Words can never hurt me, we would say.

But when someone uses the law to get you and lock you up, that's different.

Then, they aren't critics but are oppressors.

We can ignore the critics, but we need to stand up to the oppressors. There are consequences, though, as Jesus discovered.

More to come...