Matthew 12:9-14 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
In Jesus’ time there were many synagogues in Israel and many priests, some say at least 7000 priests. In this account, Matthew records that Jesus and his disciples went into the synagogue where those who accused them of breaking the Sabbath worship0ed. He went into their synagogue. He and his disciples went into a place of worship where the accusing priests and teachers of the law felt at home. In their safe haven, he exposed the Pharisees as hypocrites, dishonest in their accusations against Jesus’ disciples about breaking the Sabbath by eating grain in the grain fields. Now in this instance with the man with a shriveled hand, Jesus presents a hypothetical case to them of a sheep being in distress on the Sabbath. Because the Pharisees owned sheep, they would be familiar with such a situation or with similar events that Jesus is describing. Probably this kind of situation had happened many times in their surrounding agriculture environment. If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Since the Pharisees owned sheep, Jesus knew their perspective on such a difficult situation. Are sheep more valuable than humans? Are people to consider sheep that are in a dire situation more important than humans who need to eat to survive? Is their love for sheep in need greater than their love for humans in need? Of course, the obvious answer for them, no matter what they thought about the Sabbath, is that sheep are not more important than humans. Jesus probably had sparks of fire in his eyes as He looked from one man to the next. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. (Mark 3:5) We see Jesus had compassion for a man who was in the midst of the group. As with so many situations in Jesus’ life, his focus was on the disadvantaged, the disabled, the weak, the troubled, the poor, and the like. He fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19) He brought the man to the front of the room so that all could see that this man was living with physical distress in his life. He wanted all to evaluate in their hearts if this man was more important to them than the sheep they cared so much about rescuing. By Jesus placing the man in front of them, they were confronted by the hardness of their hearts, willing to place the law of the Sabbath above a man’s suffering. They were more concerned about men eating grain on the Sabbath than doing good. They were willing to see a man continue with a disabled hand than be healed on the Sabbath. Jesus told the man with the crippled hand to stretch his hand out in front of the group. The hand was completely restored.
God is merciful and full of grace and loving kindness. This group of Pharisees and teachers of the law cared more for sheep than they did for men. Their hearts were hardened against doing what is right on the Sabbath. Their religious attitudes taught them criticism and accusations, not grace and mercy. They seemed to champion division and separation rather than love and caring for others. Jesus recognized their hard hearts and knew they were false teachers. He said, Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? (Luke 6:39) Paul states what a true follower of God should exemplify. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (Colossians 3:12-14) The Pharisees and teachers of the law should have been displaying the nature of God, but instead they were displaying the nature of competitive man, trying to show themselves as more holy and correct than the disciples and Jesus. They placed the letter of the law above the mercy and grace of God. Rather than emphasize the goodness of God, they chose to separate themselves from those who they thought were not following their own religious laws and what they thought of as the law of God. The religious customs that they were familiar with went way beyond the written law of Moses. But they chose to pile these laws on the people because they thought it made them appear more holy that the average Jewish person. When Jesus exposed the hardness of these religious leaders’ hearts when he healed the crippled hand, He infuriated them. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. (Mark 3:6) They wanted him dead because Jesus was exposing their rotten spirits, the deadness in their hearts and customs. He was showing the world that they were not men of God, but men of the flesh, seeking honor in a carnal, unrepentant society. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” (Matthew 23:27-28) Jesus in THEIR SYNAGOGUE highlighted their hypocrisy and wickedness. They looked good on the outside but their hearts were full of carnality and death. The Bible says, People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)
Religion produces death if faith is not built upon God and his Spirit. As we say so often in these breakfasts, the Spirit’s attributes reveal the Father’s nature: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23) In Christ we see God’s likeness on Earth. We see Jesus extending grace and mercy even on the Sabbath. He heals on the Sabbath, He restores on the Sabbath, He comforts on the Sabbath. He is the Sabbath, the day of rest; He is the Lord of the Sabbath, the Creator of all that comprises the Sabbath. Christians should be leading people to the comfort of the Sabbath, leading them to rest in the Lord of the Sabbath. Paul tells us directly that we as Christians should be expressing the cohesiveness and love that Jesus, our Rest, brings to the world. Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (Philippians 2:1-4) The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were fretful of losing their place in the Jewish society. They held a place of great honor in the culture of that day. Consequently, their attitude against Jesus and his followers was full of selfish ambition and vain conceit. They tried to belittle Jesus and his followers. They categorized the followers of Jesus as lawbreakers, not good people as they were claiming. But Jesus knew these leaders were hypocrites in their hearts. They were lawbreakers themselves because they were violating the greatest tenant of the Father God: to love God wholeheartedly and to love others as you love yourself. They were not full of compassion for the people and their needs: they used people to bolster their own positions in the culture. As Christians we should put on the garment of love and caring for all people. We should not be separating ourselves from others who love the name of the Lord. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. We must remember that Jesus Christ brought together the Jew and the Gentile. These two groups of people despised each other. Jesus broke down the wall of separation between them as He has done with the law-bound or lawless, the barbarian or civilized, the slave or free. Christ is all that matters. He lives in us, regardless of our opinions or position in the world. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were caught in their own web of deceit. They built their lives on evaluating what is good or best for them. But by doing so, they lost the tenderness in their hearts—they became hardened to the mercy and goodness of the Lord. Dear friends do not follow that self-centered trail, leading to the hardness of your hearts. Opinions and lifestyles will disappear in time, giving way to other opinions and lifestyles, but God’s mercy and grace will never disappear. Christ is the solid Rock, from everlasting to everlasting. Be people who stand before a world of hardhearted people and say: stretch out your hand my broken world, I bring you Jesus with healing in his wings. The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings. (Malachi 4:2)
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