Intentions

But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.” The Lord then answered him and said, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” (Luke 13:14-16)

How often do we take our eyes off of Jesus and become filled with anxiety, pride and fear? Here I can only assume this leader was first and foremost disturbed that the people were looking to Jesus and not him. Secondly this incident likely frightened this leader. This miracle was outside of normal, expected conduct and so therefore uncontrolled. The Pharisees labeled Jesus' miracles as work which shouldn't be done on the Sabbath, but as Jesus points out there is work which is permissible on the Sabbath. Here feeding and caring for an animal was acceptable, but helping a person wasn't.  

Jesus was working seemingly outside of the rules of society and religion. His focus was on the Father through ministering and teaching others. The leaders were essentially saying, "stop  rocking the boat Jesus!!!". I believe Jesus scared the crap out of the religious leaders of His day. They tried to control Him and subsequently His disciples. When they realized this wasn't possible they began to persecute and kill Jesus and His disciples, which only caused Christianity to grow and prosper. 

So often religion is nothing more than a means to an end. That end is to rule over and control the hearts of man. However, where religion fails, a relationship with the living God doesn't. Christians need to be aware of  their own selfish motivations, agendas, fears and anxieties. God cannot exist in a box of human making. He won't be contained in human doctrines or interpretations of scripture. The point of Christianity isn't to learn how to control God or figure Him out, which is the point of religion. The point of Christianity is to look to a relationship with Jesus Christ. The steps we take, the process we go through and the things we do are all meaningless if this relationship isn't there. 1 Corinthians 13 states that if love isn't present in all we do then our actions are meaningless, even a miraculous event. It all comes down to the two greatest commandments.