9Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. 10And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—that they might accuse Him. 11Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? 12Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 13Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.
We now come to a second Sabbath conflict (12:9-14). This incident issued such hostility that Jesus’ opponents plotted to kill Him afterward.
12:9
Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue.
After leaving the conflict over the picking of grain on the Sabbath, Jesus went into a synagogue on the Sabbath day and faced another issue about the Sabbath.
12:10
And behold, there was a man who had a withered [paralyzed] hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—that they might accuse Him.
There was a man with a withered or paralyzed hand sitting in the synagogue. The Pharisees tried to lay a legal trap for Jesus by making this man’s healing an issue. They calculated this question to place Jesus at odds with prevailing opinion. Jewish national law prohibited performing medical acts on the Sabbath except for critical situations.
12:11
Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?
Jesus countered with an analogy or parable of His own about the Sabbath. He asked the Pharisees if they would pull a sheep out of a pit on the Sabbath.
12:12
Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?
Animal rights activists will not like Jesus’ statement here. Jesus placed more value on people than sheep; people have “much more value” than sheep. If this is true, then it is proper to heal on the Sabbath. This is an argument from the lesser to the greater.
Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
The law here is national Jewish Law. There was no law that stopped a man doing good on the Sabbath Day. In Jesus’ view, it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath.
12:13
Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.
It must have been a shock to the Pharisees when Jesus healed the man with the withered hand on the spot.
PRINCIPLE:
Law without love violates God’s economy.
APPLICATION:
The value of the person transcends legalism. There are Christians today who put rules of religion above Christianity and thus above people. They lose sight of the principle of love and the principle of grace for Christian living.
