“On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him. But he knew their thoughts, and he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come and stand here.” And he rose and stood there. And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” And after looking around at them all he said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” And he did so, and his hand was restored. But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.”
As was their custom, the Pharisees followed Christ around in order to find instances in which He disobeyed the “law,” and certainly working on the Sabbath was a big one for them. But as was Jesus’ custom, He knew their hearts and their motives, and acted accordingly. And so He asks the crowd of leaders, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm.” This certainly put them in a bind, for the “law” certainly had allowances for acts of mercy.
But more amazingly, observe how Jesus circumvented the letter of the law that the Pharisees had constructed. All Jesus did was to say “Stretch out your hand.” No work done there. Likewise, the man with the withered hand did not put in much effort to actually show Jesus his hand. What an effortless, non-working-on-the-Sabbath miracle was displayed that day.
Of course, the Pharisees understood this craftiness on the part of Jesus, even if I had never noticed it before! They were indeed filled with anger and plotted how to harm Jesus in the future. And their plots to kill Jesus? That was actually against the law.
Anyway, I admire Him. He did not do anything wrong that day. He did something good. What’s so bad about that?
Excellent Candy, I too have read this miracle a few times but I guess I never took the time to thoughtfully pick it apart as you have. Thanks for enlightening us on the ways of Jesus. I will look more closely at scripture to see what is being said below the surface of just the words. So often I miss these things because I only see a small picture of what is happening, but like peeling an onion there are many layers to be uncovered before getting to the fruit inside. DS
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