Joel M Bradshaw

9He [Jesus] went on from there and entered their synagogue. 10And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him. 11He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? 12Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”13Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. 14But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.–Matthew 12

1. These people knew that Jesus has the power to heal. And yet, they wanted to use this somehow against Him.
2. Jesus, gave them an absurd scenario. Of course, each of them would set legalism aside to rescue their animal!
3. This meant that Rabbi Jesus also found their trap absurd. Of course he would heal the man!
4. Some people won’t do the good thing because it clashes with something else.
5. For example, they know they need to forgive someone, but the other person hasn’t confessed their sin, or what the other person did was just too wrong. They tell themselves that they wouldn’t expect anyone to forgive them if they had done what the other person did!
6. The sovereign God arranged for that man to meet Jesus on the Sabbath. The Sabbath is meant for good, for rest. Rather than focusing on the letter of the law, the spirit of the law was therefore to do good. Forgiveness is also meant for good. Nobody ever truly deserves grace. Don’t use excuses to hold onto your bitterness.
7. Are you more like the people who tried to trap Jesus or like Jesus?–JMB