Speak

The whole synagogue is silent. Everyone's holding their breath. The Pharisees, who just seconds ago were salivating over their impending victory are now choking on the dryness of their own mouths, and Jesus has this weird little smile on His face. 

Into the heavy silence, He speaks. "Hold out your hand." 

In an instant, the crippled man holds out his deformed hand, and as he stretches it forward, it becomes whole. You can hear the whole synagogue gasp.

He's done it. He's healed the man. 

But then, in a moment of sudden remembrance, all eyes turn the Pharisees, the men who set this whole thing up. What will they do next?

What can they do?

See, at first, we must answer the question: what just happened? Jesus didn't do anything. He never touched the man. He never did anything that looks like work. He simply...spoke a word. 

Is speaking on the Sabbath a violation of the holy order? Is speaking work? 

There's a conundrum here for the Pharisees. There's nothing in their law that prohibits speaking on the Sabbath. If there were, these men who love their power would be in trouble. But there is nothing. Speaking is not work. On the other hand, something happened to the man on the basis of that word. Does the result make that word work?

And who is it that can speak a word that becomes a work? 

In the beginning was the Word.... In the beginning, everything was formless and void, and then, God spoke.... 

To say that the word became work is to confess that this man, this Jesus, is one who can speak such a word. And the only one who has spoken such a word to this point in all the history of the world...is God. 

They thought they had Jesus, but Jesus had them. They either had to deny what everyone has plainly seen, that a miraculous healing has taken place among them, or they had to admit that this Jesus is one like God, who can speak a word that becomes a work. 

Which will it be, gentlemen?