Luke 13:14 And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.
All of us tell a couple of different stories every day. We tell the people around us a story and then we tell ourselves a story. Sometimes they are the same story, and sometimes they are two different stories. For example, all of us are called to account for the reason we do certain things.
Here is a guy who wants to buy a new hunting rifle, and his wife asks him why. He says, “Well, because I can get cheap meat.” What happens is that he spends money for a shotgun, hunting clothing, a permit, and all kinds of things. By the time he is done, it is twenty dollars a pound for the meat he is taking. So, there is the story he tells his wife, and then the story he tells himself. He tells himself, “I just want to hunt!” All of us are like that to some extent and perhaps we don’t even know in ourselves what the real reason is behind why we are doing what we are doing.
In Luke 13 and 14 you find a number of stories of people who rejected Jesus, Truth personified, and either they didn’t know why or they gave a different reason than the real reason. It was a pretense, a pretext. Jesus was in the synagogue on the Sabbath, and He healed a woman. Luke 13:14 says, “And the ruler of synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.”
Basically he says, “If you are going to be healed, do it Monday through Friday during office hours. Don’t do it on Saturday.” That is laughable on the face of it, but what was the leader of the synagogue’s stated objection? It was, “You shouldn’t be healing on the Sabbath day.” That was his take on the law. What was the real reason? Do you think this leader of the synagogue would have been happy if Jesus had healed on Monday or Wednesday in his synagogue? I rather doubt that he would have. He just wanted Jesus out of the synagogue, but the reason he gave was because Jesus shouldn’t have been healing on the Sabbath day.
Jesus called him a hypocrite, two-faced, an actor. Jesus says, “Doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?” He is saying, “If you take care of one of your animals on Saturday, why would you not allow someone to be healed on Saturday?” As Jesus said in the previous chapter, God cares about ravens. If God cares about ravens, He cares much more about you.
When it was all said and done, Jesus’ “adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.” So, those who had made an excuse in order to get rid of Jesus were ashamed. Those who saw the truth rejoiced! It is easy for any of us to give ourselves a reason for doing what we are doing that is not completely truthful. Often, we simply do whatever it is that we want to do. Then, we give a reason to justify our actions. Jesus calls such things hypocrisy.
Later in the second chapter, Jesus talks about those who make excuses. Pretense is beforehand what excuse is on the tail end. In both cases, instead of following the truth and stating it, we find an excuse and we give that instead. An intention is why I do something. Pretense is just a pretended intent. Pretense and intention equal pretension; a pretended reason for doing what I am doing. Excuse is the exact same thing on the opposite end.
Today, may God help us to be clear and honest with ourselves and with other people because when I follow the truth, I speak the truth. Those who love the truth have little need for either pretense or excuse.