Honour God By Doing Good

Matt 12:9-21 Honour God By Doing Good

Matt 12:9-21 ESV Parallel Passages: Mark 3:1-5 and Luke 6:6-11

9He 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.

15Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all 16and ordered them not to make him known. 17This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: 18“Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. 19He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; 20a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory; 21and in his name the Gentiles will hope.”

The conflict that the Pharisees had with Jesus regarding not doing any work on the Sabbath day continues.

• Jesus entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and was met by a man with a withered hand.

• He wanted to heal this man but the Pharisees saw this as a chance to catch Jesus at work on a Sabbath and accuse Him of violating the Jewish Law.

They raised the question, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” (12:10).

• The commandment not to work on the Sabbath was given by God and passed down from the time of Moses.

• Exo 20:8-9 “8Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six days you shall labour, and do all your work, 10but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.”

• Six days we work and on the seventh we rest. This was the example God sets for us when He created the world.

• We read last week from Gen 2:1-3 “1Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”

• After 6 days of creation when everything was completed, God rested.

This commandment reminds us not to make work our god but to rest from work and trust that God will continue to provide.

• We keep the rest day holy by honouring God as our Creator and Provider.

Unfortunately, the religious leaders in Jesus’ time had already added many more rules and restrictions to define what they considered as work.

• They have 39 categories of work that are forbidden on this day.

• So to keep to their Law, Jesus was not supposed to heal this man, which would be considered as working. They asked, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

• The Pharisees have already lost sense of God’s original intent for the Sabbath, which is to honour God, which includes doing good.

Jesus replied with an illustration: “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?” (12:11)

• It was almost a common sense question and they would know the answer. Owners would save their sheep under those circumstances.

• Yet they would not attempt to help this man. Jesus states it openly, “Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” (12:12)

Jesus exposes the inconsistency of their practice.

• They were strict in forbidding the healing of this man but not the saving of their sheep. They love animals more than men.

• They chose to honour the rules of men rather than the will of God, by doing good and loving people.

The truth is, if you look at the Ten Commandments that God has given, the first 4 have to do with honouring God, and the next 6 about loving people.

• The 4th commandment is to “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”