Matthew 12:9-14, A Man with a Withered Hand

9 He went on from there and entered their synagogue.10 And 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. 11 He 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? 12 Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.

Comments

The man with the lifeless hand was not in imminent danger of death, so the Pharisees reasoned that healing it should be done on a different day. Jesus points to the inconsistency of the Pharisees’ own practice. They tend to their sheep on the Sabbath, and Jesus will tend to this man. By healing on the Sabbath, Jesus is reminding people that God is not resting but healing his broken and fallen world.

This is the first mention of a plan to kill Jesus. It illustrates the irreconcilable differences between the radical ideas of Jesus in obeying the will of God and the Pharisees’ rule-bound religious practices that will continue to clash until they come to a head during the passion.

Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, teach me to see the radiance of God’s image in the face of others that I may tend to them as you tended to the man with the withered hand.