Exception or Rule?

In Luke 14:5, Jesus asked this question to people who challenged Him regarding Judaism’s practice of the Sabbath: “Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?” Notice that Jesus doesn’t say, “I don’t care if you keep the Sabbath or not.” He said that there were an exception. But, it was the exception, not the rule.

I’m all for exceptions, but you’ve probably also heard this old adage: “The exception is not the rule.” That’s also true. I believe I can make exceptions for myself because of responsibilities or sickness. I did that this year with my hip replacement. Maybe in a certain way my hip replacement was like a cow falling into a hole.

All of us understand that our exceptions sometimes become the rule. We have four services a week here, that are not like choices at a buffet table. Our church, like many others through history, meets these three to four times a week. When I was a child growing up, and even still today, I plan on eating three meals a day: breakfast, lunch, and supper. It’s been an exception when I miss one of those twenty-one.

The early church met every day of the week. I’m not advocating that, but during severe times of persecution, maybe a sincere church really wants to meet that often. Now churches meet less, making the exception more of the rule. People do that too. That doesn’t stop them though from doing a whole lot of other things that have now become the rule. I include as a rule -- evangelism and prayer. I don’t want the exception to become the rule.