Luke alone (6:6) tells us that these events did not occur on the same Sabbath. In the previous narrative the Pharisees harass Jesus because of the actions of his disciples. On the second occasion, Jesus initiates the controversy by placing the man with the withered hand center stage (Lk 6:8). This event takes the Sabbath controversy to a new level. Not only was the Sabbath for man’s benefit; it was an opportunity to do good for other people.

Lk 6:6-8 with Mt 12:10  ⁶On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. ⁷The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, [they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”^MT] so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. ⁸But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there.

The Oral Law was clear in its regulations for Sabbath healing. You could provide medical attention which would save a life, but that was all. If a man fell off a cliff and cracked his head, you could stop the bleeding, but you could not set a broken leg. Since a withered hand was not life-threatening, it would be illegal to heal this fellow on the Sabbath. Jesus, perceiving their scheme, picks up the gauntlet they have thrown down and deals with their machination head-on. Jerome, commenting on this passage, says that this man was a mason. Thus, he would have been severely impaired from earning a living. Even after he’s healed, he can’t work until the next day. According to the Pharisees, Jesus is clearly out of bounds.

This incident is a crucial moment in the life of Jesus.  He deliberately and publicly broke the Sabbath Law; and the result was a conference of the orthodox leaders to search out a way to eliminate him.

We will not understand the attitude of the orthodox unless we understand the amazing seriousness with which they took the Sabbath Law.  That Law forbade all work on the Sabbath day, and so the orthodox Jews would literally die rather than break it.

In the time of the rising under Judas Maccabaeus certain Jews sought refuge in the caves in the wilderness.  Antiochus sent a detachment of men to attack them; the attack was made on the Sabbath day; and these insurgent Jews died without even a gesture of defiance or defence, because to fight would have been to break the Sabbath.  1 Maccabees tells how the forces of Antiochus “gave them battle with all speed.  Howbeit they answered them not, neither cast they a stone at them, nor stopped the places where they lay hid; but said:  ‘Let us die in our innocency:  heaven and earth shall testify for us, that ye put us to death wrongfully.’  So they rose up against them in battle on the Sabbath, and they slew them with their wives and children and cattle, to the number of a thousand people” (1 Maccabees 2:31-38).  Even in a national crisis, even to save their lives, even to protect their nearest and their dearest, the Jews would not fight on the Sabbath.

It was because the Jews insisted on keeping the Sabbath Law that Pompey was able to take Jerusalem.  In ancient warfare it was the custom for the attacker to erect a huge mound which overlooked the battlements of the besieged city and from the height of the mound to bombard the defences.  Pompey built his mound on the Sabbath days when the Jews simply looked on and refused to lift a hand to stop him.  Josephus says, “And had it not been for the practice, from the days of our forefathers, to rest on the seventh day, this bank could never have been perfected, by reason of the opposition the Jews would have made; for though our Law gave us leave then to defend ourselves against those that begin to fight with us and assault us (this was a concession), yet it does not permit us to meddle with our enemies while they do anything else” (Josephus:  Antiquities, 14.4.2.).

Josephus recalls the amazement of the Greek historian Agatharchides at the way in which Ptolemy Lagos was allowed to capture Jerusalem.  Agatharchides wrote:  “There are a people called Jews, who dwell in a city the strongest of all cities, which the inhabitants call Jerusalem, and are accustomed to rest on every seventh day; at which time they make no use of their arms, nor meddle with husbandry, nor take care of any of the affairs of life, but spread out their hands in their holy places, and pray till evening time.

Now it came to pass that when Ptolemy the son of Lagos came into this city with his army, these men, in observing this mad custom of theirs, instead of guarding the city, suffered their country to submit itself to a bitter lord; and their Law was openly proved to have commanded a foolish practice.  This accident taught all other men but the Jews to disregard such dreams as these were, and not to follow the like idle suggestions delivered as a Law, when in such uncertainty of human reasonings they are at a loss what they should do” (Josephus:  Against Apion, 1:22).  The rigorous Jewish observance of the Sabbath seemed to other nations nothing short of insanity, since it could lead to such amazing national defeats and disasters.

It was that absolutely immovable frame of mind that Jesus was up against.  The Law quite definitely forbade healing on the Sabbath.  It was true that the Law clearly laid it down that “every case when life is in danger supersedes the Sabbath Law.”  This was particularly the case in diseases of the ear, the nose, the throat and the eyes.  But even then it was equally clearly laid down that steps could be taken to keep a man from getting worse, but not to make him better.  So a plain bandage might be put on a wound, but not a medicated bandage, and so on.

In this case there was no question of the paralyzed man’s life being in danger; as far as danger went, he would be in no worse condition the next day.  Jesus knew the Law; he knew what he was doing; he knew that the Pharisees were waiting and watching; and yet he healed the man.  Jesus would accept no law which insisted that a man should suffer, even without danger to life, one moment longer than necessary.  His love for humanity far surpassed his respect for ritual Law.

Mk 3:4-5a “Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. ⁵He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts…

Mt 12:11-12  ¹¹He 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? ¹²How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

The answer to Jesus’ question is so obvious! But religious fervor and protection of pet theologies can be blinding. Jesus gets mad. That didn’t happen very often. But when people place tradition and regulation over human need his anger is predictable. How their gaze must have dropped when Jesus’ angry eyes pierced deeply into their souls.

Since they won’t answer his question, he will. The Oral Law made provision for rescuing animals that fell into a pit on the Sabbath (b Sabb. 128b). Again Jesus used typical Jewish logic—from lesser to greater. A man is more valuable than an animal. Therefore it must be lawful to do good things for people on the Sabbath beyond just saving their lives. But Jesus doesn’t stop there. Not only is the Sabbath an opportunity to work for another’s good; to do nothing in the face of human need is evil, paramount to murder (Mk 3:4).

Mt 12:13 ¹³Then 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.

Mk 3:6 with Lk 6:11 ⁶Then the Pharisees went out [furious^LK] and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.”

It appears that as the man put forth his hand, it was healed. Even the muscle atrophy from lying dormant was healed. It was as healthy as his other hand. The Pharisees start their work immediately; they were furious. In fact, the word Luke uses means “mindless anger.” They plot here for the first time how they might kill Jesus. Oddly enough they pair up with the Herodians.

There is no conclusive evidence to identify this group, but their political affiliation with Herod is beyond question. That would make them odd bedfellows for the Pharisees. As near as we can tell, this was the only thing these two groups ever agreed upon.

A Verse-by-verse Study

(12:9-13) Introduction: Jesus went into the synagogue, and in it was a man with a paralysed hand.  Our gospels tell us nothing more about this man, but the Gospel according to the Hebrews, which was one of the early gospels which did not succeed in gaining an entry to the New Testament, tells us that he came to Jesus with the appeal:  “I was a stone mason, seeking my living with my hands.  I pray you, Jesus, to give me back my health, so that I shall not need to beg for food in shame.”

Christ used this event to prove His Messiahship and to show that man is greater than religion.

1. Jesus departed (v.9-10).
2. The truth questioned: Is a man more important than religion—than Sabbath rules (v.10)?
3. The truth illustrated (v.11).
4. The truth stated: doing good for man supersedes religious rules (v.12).
5. The truth demonstrated: man and his needs are put before religious rules—man is greater (v.13).

(12:9-10) Jesus Christ, Compassion: Jesus departed. This is not referring to Jesus leaving the cornfield where He had just been debating with the religionists (Matthew 12:1-8). It means that He left the town He was in for another town. It was “on another Sabbath” that He entered their synagogue (cp. Luke 6:6).

1. Christ entered their synagogue. Note that discord, disputes, and opposition did not cause Christ to withdraw from worship nor prevent Him from doing what He should (cp. Matthew 12:1-8).

Note two striking lessons.

• Jesus was worshipping on the Sabbath. He was where He belonged on the Lord’s Day.
• Conflict and discord should not cause us to forsake the Lord’s house. Our first obligation is to love and worship the Lord with our whole being.

2. Christ confronted a man with a withered hand. Note that Jesus had not begun to heal the man. The religionists apparently noticed Jesus eyeing the man or else sensed Jesus’ compassion and movement to heal the man. The religionists were disturbed, deeply so, for Jesus was about to disregard their beliefs and Sabbath rules again.

This man was in the synagogue. He was a man who sensed his dependency upon God. Note two things.

1. A physical handicap does not keep a person from being strong. A person can be handicapped and still be wonderfully strong. He can be strong spiritually and strong mentally, strong in confidence and strong in assurance, strong in a sense of God’s presence and strong in a sense of purpose and meaning. God can give this kind of strength. In fact, physical health is useless and sometimes destructive without the spiritual strength of God. This man with the withered hand evidently knew God’s strength, yet he had a need. These two facts touched Jesus’ heart.
2. A physical handicap can be used by God—greatly so. God uses handicaps…

• to demonstrate great faith.
• to set a vibrant example of trust before loved ones, neighbors, and acquaintances.
• to be a dynamic testimony of God’s saving grace.
• to cause a person’s own salvation.
• to draw a person ever so close to God in a very, very special way.
• to cause a person to become a prayer warrior, an intercessor for both God’s people and for a world reeling from a restless and warring spirit, lost and trying to find its way.

(12:10) Religionists: the truth was questioned. Is a man more important than religion, than Sabbath rules? The law said that persons could not be healed or helped on the Sabbath unless life itself was threatened. However there sat the man and he desperately needed help. Jesus had the power to help him, but should He? If He healed the man, He would be breaking the religious rule. Should Jesus put the man or the ritual first?

The Scribes and Pharisees were not concerned with the man with the paralysed hand; they were concerned only with the minutiae of their rules and regulations.  So they asked Jesus:  “Is it permitted to heal on the Sabbath day?”  Jesus knew the answer to that question perfectly well; he knew that, as we have seen, unless there was actual danger to life, healing was forbidden, because it was regarded as an act of work.

But Jesus was wise.  If they wished to argue about the Law, he had the skill to meet them on their own ground.  “Tell me,” he said, “suppose a man has a sheep, and that sheep falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not go and haul the sheep out of the pit?”  That was, in fact, a case for which the Law provided.  If an animal fell into a pit on the Sabbath, then it was within the Law to carry food to it, which in any other case would have been a burden, and to render it all assistance.  “So,” said Jesus, “it is permitted to do a good thing on the Sabbath; and, if it is permitted to do a good thing to a sheep, how much more must it be lawful to do it for a man, who is of so much more value than any animal.”

Jesus reversed the argument.  “If,” he argued, “it is right to do good on the Sabbath, then to refuse to do good is evil.”  It was Jesus’ basic principle that there is no time so sacred that it cannot be used for helping a fellow-man who is in need.  We will not be judged by the number of church services we have attended, or by the number of chapters of the Bible we have read, or even by the number of the hours we have spent in prayer, but by the number of people we have helped, when their need came crying to us.  To this, at the moment, the Scribes and Pharisees had nothing to answer, for their argument had recoiled on their own head.

Sabbath—Sunday: the word means rest, cessation of labor. The Sabbath is the seventh day of each week (Saturday). It was the day Israel celebrated by resting and doing absolutely no work. It was based upon the seventh day when God rested following His six days of creation (Genesis 2:2-3).

So far as is known, there was no Sabbath from creation until Moses. The Sabbath was first instituted under Moses’ leadership (Exodus 16:23; Neh. 9:13-14), thereafter it became a part of Israel’s law (Exodus 20:8-11).

The Sabbath was kept as a sign to distinguish Israel as God’s peculiar people. It was never a day of worship or religious service. It was simply a day of complete rest for man and beast. Christ is accused of violating man-made rules encrusted around the Sabbath.

There is a difference between the Sabbath as observed by the Jews and others and Sunday as observed by Christian believers. The Sabbath is the last day of the week. It was a day when Jesus the Messiah was in the tomb, a day of great sadness for the Christian. However, Sunday is the first day of the week. It is a day of great joy, for it was the day of Jesus’ resurrection, the day that He triumphed over death. It is called the Lord’s Day and is celebrated as a day of rest and joy, a glorious day for searching the soul and meditating upon God. It is the day of worship and of Christian fellowship celebrated by believers worldwide (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2).

• It was Jesus’ custom to worship on the Sabbath (Luke 4:16).
• It was Paul’s custom to worship on Sunday (Acts 17:2).
• God’s people are not to neglect worship (Hebrews 10:25; cp. Acts 16:13).
• God’s people are to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (Exodus 20:8; Exodus 31:14; Exodus 34:21).
• God’s people are promised a special blessing for keeping the Sabbath day holy (Isaiah 56:2; Isaiah 58:13-14).
• Polluting the Sabbath will bring the judgment of God upon a people (Ezekiel 20:13; Ezekiel 22:8, 15; cp. Numbers 15:32-35; Jeremiah 17:27; Ezekiel 22).
• Buying and selling are not to take place on the Sabbath (Neh. 10:31; Neh. 13:15).
• Helping the needy is lawful on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:12; cp. John 7:23; John 9:14).
• Early believers worshipped on the day that Christ arose from the dead, that is, on Sunday, the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2).

Note several lessons.

1. There are reasons why we put religious custom and the present order of things before man and the meeting of his real needs.
2. a) We slip into a routine, a way of doing things, and we just continue in it because it is comfortable.
3. b) We fear change lest we lose some people and their support.
4. c) We fear the loss of position and security.
5. d) We fear failure, the weakening of what we already have, of losing the loyalty of others to our religious position and practices.

2) Every man has need. He needs salvation, a true worship experience, a personal relationship with God day by day, a sense of the Spirit’s presence and direction moment by moment. He needs to know how to live in a world that pulls him away from God, a world that pulls him toward every worldly thing imaginable. Yet, everything is too often put before man: maintaining the religious organization, form, ritual, ceremony, custom, service, order, liturgy, rules, and regulations—all seem to be more important than meeting man’s needs.

3) Nothing should keep us from meeting man’s needs, from putting him and his needs first before all religious ritual and form.

1. a) It is the only way the heart of man can be reached and satisfied (Col. 2:9-10; John 10:10).
2. b) It is the only way the church can stop the loss of people who are being lost by the droves. As we have so often heard: they come in the front door and slip out the back door. Why? Their needs are not being met.

We need to be courageous and come before the Lord searching our hearts and asking several questions. Are we really reaching that many for Christ? Are people really accepting Christ through our ministry? Why not, when the Lord said the fields are white unto harvest? Could it be we are steeped in religion so much that we are putting religion before meeting the needs of people?

4) Man’s basic need is to know and worship God in a personal way. Yet, too often we fail to reach out to man by putting worship, form, order, ritual, and rules before meeting his need. Too often, we act as though…

• man exists for religion, instead of religion existing for man.
• man exists for worship services, instead of worship services existing for man.
• man exists for maintaining the organizations, instead of the organization existing for man.
• man exists for the rules and rituals, instead of the rules and rituals existing for man.

(12:11) Man: the truth was illustrated to prove that man is greater than religion. Jesus asked: If a man had only one sheep, and it fell into a pit on the Sabbath day, would the man not rescue it? Imagine the force of the Lord’s question. It showed just how unreasonable and illogical the religionists were in their thinking. It exposed them as ignorant and blind to real spiritual truth.

The Lord’s question had two points…

• Is an animal’s welfare not put before religious rules?
• Is a man not of more value than an animal?

 Two questions need to be asked, questions that should search our hearts.

1) Is an animal of more value than a man and his needs?

2) Can things (ritual and order) ever be said to be of more value than compassion for man?

How deceived and irresponsible we so often live and act! How often we oppose Jesus Christ and His true mission just as the religionists of His day opposed Him! And we do it for the same reasons.

We have animals today that are put before reaching man and meeting his needs: the animals of religious rituals and rules and of personal position and security. The truth needs to be known and lived. Priorities need to be established.

Man is not only more rational than animals, he is spirit, capable of worshipping and living forever with God. Animals are not spiritual beings; therefore, man and his needs should be placed before animals. If a person has a problem with this fact, it reveals a deceived heart and blinded mind. How many of us follow religious form before reaching out to man and meeting his real needs? How many of us have deceived hearts and blinded minds in our practice of religion?

(12:12) Man: the truth was stated. Christ said that doing good for man supersedes religious and Sabbath rules. We are to help a person who has needs before we worry about keeping the rituals and rules of religion.

(12:13) Man: the truth was demonstrated. Man and his needs are put before the Sabbath and religious rules. Man is greater; he is much more important. Jesus healed the man. Jesus demonstrated in no uncertain terms that there is nothing more sacred to God than man. Man is to be reached and brought into a personal relationship with Him (Luke 19:10), and he is to be helped and brought into a state of abundant living—as much as possible (John 10:10).

 What a lesson for us as we reach out to lead men to God week by week and day by day! How much we need to correct our deceived hearts and blinded minds! How much we need to be freed from being enslaved to our religious order and forms and our own personal position and security!

1) We live only a short time and then we shall give an account to God.

2) We have only a few short years to be about the task of the Lord.

Christ gives us an important lesson: we are to put man and his needs before our religious practices and our personal security. We are not to let our fears stop us

DEEPER STUDY

(12:10) Religionists: the religionists’ conflict with Jesus over religious beliefs and rules is sometimes thought by modern man to be petty and harsh, or else such conflicts are just not understood. Three facts will help a person in understanding why the conflicts happened and were life-threatening, ending in the murder of Jesus Christ.

1. The Jewish nation had been held together by their religious beliefs. Through the centuries the Jewish people had been conquered by army after army, and by the millions they had been deported and scattered over the world. Even in the day of Jesus they were enslaved by Rome. Their religion was the binding force that kept Jews together, in particular…

• their belief that God had called them to be a distinctive people (who worshipped the only true and living God).
• their rules governing the Sabbath and the temple, intermarriage, worship and cleansing, and what foods they could and could not eat.

This belief and these rules protected them from alien beliefs and from being swallowed up by other peoples through intermarriage. Their religion was what maintained their distinctiveness as a people and as a nation.

Jewish leaders knew this. They knew that their religion was the binding force that held their nation together. Therefore, they opposed anyone or anything that threatened to break or weaken the laws of their religion and nation.

3. The religionists were men of deep, deep conviction. They were strong in their beliefs; therefore, they became steeped in religious belief and practice. To break any law or rule governing belief or practice was a serious offense, for it taught loose behavior. And loose behavior, once it had spread enough, would weaken their religion. This is the reason Jesus was committing a great offense by breaking their law. In their minds, He was weakening their religion and threatening their nation.
4. The religionists were men who had profession, position, recognition, esteem, livelihood, and security. Anyone who went contrary to what they believed and taught was a threat to all they had. Some religionists undoubtedly felt that Jesus was a threat to them. Everytime Jesus broke their law, He was undermining their very position and security.

The errors of the religionists were fourfold.

1. They misinterpreted and corrupted God’s Word.
2. They committed serious sin after serious sin in God’s eyes.
3. They rejected God’s way of righteousness, God’s Messiah, which is Jesus Christ.
4. They allowed religion in its tradition and ritual to become more important than meeting the basic needs of human life: the need for God and the need for spiritual, mental, and physical health. Christ, being the true Messiah, was bound to expose such error. Thus the battle lines were drawn.

• The Messiah knew that He had to liberate people from such enslaving behavior. He had to save them so they could worship God in freedom of spirit.
• The religionists felt that they had to oppose Christ because He was a threat to their nation and to their own personal position and security.

The religionists’ attack took two forms.

1. First, they tried to discredit Christ so the multitudes would stop following Him (cp. Matthew 21:46).
2. Second, failing to discredit Him, they sought some way to kill Him

So Jesus healed this man, and in healing him gave him three things.

(i)  He gave him back his health.  Jesus is vitally interested in the bodies of men.  Paul Tournier, in his book A Doctor’s Case Book, has some great things to pass on about healing and God.  Professor Courvoisier writes that the vocation of medicine is “a service to which those are called, who, through their studies and the natural gifts with which the Creator has endowed them . . . are specially fitted to tend the sick and to heal them.  Whether or not they are aware of it, whether or not they are believers, this is from the Christian point of view fundamental, that doctors are, by their profession, fellow-workers with God.” “Sickness and healing,” said Dr. Pouyanne, “are acts of grace.”  “The doctor is an instrument of God’s patience,” writes Pastor Alain Perrot.  “Medicine is a dispensation of the grace of God, who in his goodness takes pity on men and provides remedies for the evil consequences of their sin.”  Calvin described medicine as a gift from God.  He who heals men is helping God.  The cure of men’s bodies is just as much a God-given task as the cure of men’s souls; and the doctor in his practice is just as much a servant of God as the minister in his parish.

(ii)  Because Jesus gave this man back his health, he also gave him back his work.  Without work to do a man is half a man; it is in his work that he finds himself and his satisfaction.  Over the years idleness can be harder than pain to bear; and, if there is work to do, even sorrow loses at least something of its bitterness.  One of the greatest things that any human being can do for any other is to give him work to do.

(iii)  Because Jesus gave this man back his health and his work, he gave him back his self-respect.  We might well add a new beatitude:  Blessed are those who give us back our self respect.  A man becomes a man again when, on his two feet and with his own two hands, he can face life and with independence provide for his own needs and for the needs of those dependent on him.

We have already said that this incident was crisis.  At the end of it the Scribes and Pharisees began to plot the death of Jesus.  In a sense the highest compliment you can pay a man is to persecute him.  It shows that he is regarded not only as dangerous but as effective.  The action of the Scribes and Pharisees is the measure of the power of Jesus Christ.  True Christianity may be hated, but it can never be disregarded.