Is God Good?

Read Matthew 12:1-21

      Certainly the Pharisees would have agreed that God is good, but their applications of the Law of Moses sometimes left a different impression.  Yes, the Law forbade working on the Sabbath, but did that mean that God would judge you for plucking a head of grain and popping it into your mouth?  Yes, said the Pharisees – that’s harvesting, and harvesting is work!    It invites an image of God just waiting to pounce on any unfortunate who wandered into one of his law-traps. 

      Would God approve of Jesus healing a man’s crippled hand with a spoken word on the Sabbath?  No way, thought the Pharisees, healing is a doctor’s work, and work is work.  They were scandalized that Jesus healed on the Sabbath.  It’s as if they thought God would be angered if anything good happened to anyone on his special day. 

      God’s commandments are not meant to diminish us, oppress us, or deny good things to us.  When we act like they are, we are mistaken about God’s goodness, even when we obey grudgingly.