Luke 6:9

6:9 Then ¹  Jesus said to them, “I ask you, ²  is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil, to save a life or to destroy it?”

Luke 9:24

9:24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, ³  but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

[6:9]  ¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[6:9]  ² sn With the use of the plural pronoun (“you”), Jesus addressed not just the leaders but the crowd with his question to challenge what the leadership was doing. There is irony as well. As Jesus sought to restore on the Sabbath (but improperly according to the leaders’ complaints) the leaders were seeking to destroy, which surely is wrong. The implied critique recalls the OT: Isa 1:1-17; 58:6-14.

[9:24]  ³ sn The point of the saying whoever wants to save his life will lose it is that if one comes to Jesus then rejection by many will certainly follow. If self-protection is a key motivation, then one will not respond to Jesus and will not be saved. One who is willing to risk rejection will respond and find true life.