Matthew 12:9-13

⁹ Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. ¹⁰ And 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. 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? ¹² Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 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.

Commentary

Vs.9-10 ⁹ Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. ¹⁰ And 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.

Having rebuked the Pharisees for their hardness of heart, as well as their utter ignorance about His Person and Authority, which is exceedingly greater than the Sabbath, the Lord Jesus Christ now on another Sabbath day enters their synagogue. Now while He is there, they lay a trap for Him by asking Him about healing a certain man there who had a withered hand so that they might accuse Him. Obviously, they had already witnessed the Lord Jesus healing others, so His ability to do so is never in doubt with them, only whether He would do so on a Sabbath Day, a Day which they observed (or commanded to be observed) with such strictness that even it’s true meaning of bringing rest had been lost to them and those who observed it like them. And so, in the Pharisees we see the horrible effects of coldly and callously observing God’s commandments and statutes which can never produce the righteousness of God, but will only manifest the cruelty of mankind’s sinful and unregenerate heart when they justify all manner of hypocrisy and evil in their zeal for their “religious” observances.

Vs.11-12 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? ¹² Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

If the Pharisees wouldn’t hesitate to save one of their own sheep if it had fallen into a pit on the Sabbath, why would they think that the Lord Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath would be a severe violation of it? For as the Lord Jesus says a man is of much more value than a sheep. Indeed, you yourself are in the eyes of God of much more value than their heartless observances of their religious ordinances (John 3:16). Therefore, as the Lord Jesus say’s to us all it is lawful not only for Him but us all to do good on the Sabbath. For truly if we can bring relief or rest to someone in their time of need or distress by doing good towards them on the Sabbath, or on Sunday, or on any other day then truly the love of God is then being worked through us!

Vs.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.

Having exposed the Pharisees hypocrisy, the Lord Jesus Christ now tells the man with the withered hand to stretch out his hand, and with that Word from the Lord the man does so and is completely healed in the presence of the Pharisees on the Sabbath to their ire as we will see.

Scripture Quotations 

The New King James Version. (1982). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.