Law and Grace

Matthew 12:9-14

a. The Pharisee’s question of the Law (12:9-10)

b. Jesus’s Compassion fulfilling the Law (12:11-14)

1. INTRODUCTION

2. BODY

a. The Pharisee’s question of the Law (12:9-10)

i. The section begins with verse 9 where Jesus now departs from there, the grainfields where He was discussing with the Pharisees regarding the Sabbath. He departs from there and heads to their synagogue. We know that Jesus went there most likely to teach.

ii. This helps us to see in verse 10, as Jesus is there, there was a man whose hand was withered. This is better understood as paralyzed maybe due to some type of injury. So the Pharisees use this as an opportunity so that they might accuse Him. What we see clearly from this verse is that they were finding a reason to accuse Him. It shows us that the Pharisees were not interested in helping the man, or even concerned about the Law. Their main objective was to find a way to accuse Jesus for breaking the Law.

iii. Why is this important? Because if you remember your Old Testament, what is the penalty for breaking the Sabbath? Well according to Exodus 31:14, the penalty is death. It says, whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. The reason the Pharisees wanted to find Jesus breaking the Law is that, then they can justify through the courts why they wanted to put Christ to death. They didn’t need to kill Him in secret, but they can show everyone how justified they are in killing Him. They weren’t the problem, they can show that He is the problem.

iv. What’s more interesting to me was the fact that Matthew records this instance of a man with a withered hand. Obviously we can see that this person was brought to the picture because the Pharisees wanted to make a point but he becomes the main point of what happens here.

b. Jesus’s Compassion fulfilling the Law 예수님의 긍휼이 율법을 완성함 (12:11-14)

i. Verse 11 begins with Jesus asking them a question. Jesus now goes on to start teaching that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Jesus uses an interesting example to prove His point. He asks a question and asks them, if you see a sheep fall into a pit on the Sabbath, who would not try to save it just because it is the Sabbath? And if you are willing to save that sheep, how much more valuable is a man than this sheep? So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Notice Jesus doesn’t say, it is good to work on the Sabbath. He says it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.

ii. Jesus then continues in verse 13 by telling the man to stretch out His hand and as this man stretched out his hand, it was restored. We can think nothing about this phrase.

iii. When we think about what Jesus is talking about here, obviously it is work to save this sheep that fell into the pit. But what Jesus is bringing to the surface is that, Jesus fulfills the Law of God, by loving a neighbor. Jesus is making it clear that when we love someone, it is not work.

iv. As I think about this scenario and this instance of Jesus healing this man with a withered hand, this man doesn’t even have a name. It doesn’t give us information who this man was, what his background was, nothing. No it just tells us that this man had a withered hand. But the amazing thing is, Jesus looks at this person and the text mentions this man.

v. What I was blown away by is the compassion of Jesus. If anyone has been sick, we pray for health. If we’ve been sick, we know how discouraging and hard it is. The more severe the illness, the harder it is to embrace and accept. People who have been sick know and it’s easy for people who have been sick or are going through this sickness, to be defeated by it. We can lose hope because we want something but God is silent.

vi. But the fact that this man is recorded shows us that this person in God’s eyes was important. This person was probably praying asking God to be healed. We know instances of the Bible where people have prayed because they were ill and Jesus goes by and heals them. Mark 5 tells us about the lady who was bleeding and even Jairus’s daughter. And when we think about those accounts, the one thing that stands out to me is the compassion of Jesus. It is the love of Jesus.

vii. We should not be afraid of loving Jesus and showing our love for Jesus. We should not be afraid to show compassion to others or kindness to others. When I read the Scriptures, and I see Jesus, He is a man who listens to people and meets there needs. When I think of Jesus, He knows our every struggle and our every pain, and walks with us. Just like this man with a withered hand, I can imagine that this man prayed to God asking God to heal him. And I can imagine that this man’s faith wavered, sometimes, trusting and sometimes doubting. But the love of God never failed him and it shows us that His love never fails. In God’s timing, from this passage of Scripture, we see Jesus heals this man. It tells us that God knows how we feel and wants to remind us that we are valuable before Him. Please don’t forget that before God, you are precious in His sight. You are so precious, that He sent His one and only son to die on the cross to save you from His wrath.

viii. Yes, we are wretched and sinful, but also, in the same breath, we are precious before Him. The purpose of Jesus teaching regarding the Sabbath is not so much about the Sabbath. It is to remind us, and show us that God is good. There is no day that God rests. He is always good to us, even on the Sabbath. He is always doing and giving us what is best, even on the Sabbath. Why? Because He is Lord of the Sabbath.

ix. Only if this passage ended in verse 13. Too bad there’s a verse 14. Verse 14 tells us that the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him. This idea here for went out might mean, they left because they lost control of their synagogue. Their challenge in verse 10 was thrown back to them and now, they feel ashamed by Jesus’s response that they realized, they now have to act quickly to take Him out.

x. What’s interesting here is that the penalty for working on the Sabbath is death, but even after being proven that Jesus did not actually work by doing good, the Pharisees decided to implement their own understanding of what the command of God was. They had decided what God’s Law demands and execute those things upon Jesus.

xi. It’s easy to think that the Pharisees are wicked people, but the Pharisees are there in the Gospel account to remind us of who we are. Although we might not do the exact same thing as the Pharisees, what the Pharisees help us see is, when we read the account, we think, wow these are wicked people. But again, the Pharisees are there to remind us that we are wicked people.

xii. And as wicked as we are, Jesus comes to save us. This shows us the great love for which God has for us. May we be reminded of 1 John 3:1. “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.”

xiii. We are not children of God because of our great faith. We are children of God because of His great love that He has bestowed upon us. We have kept the faith because He has held us near Him. We are in Christ because He has loved us. My prayer is that we would be reminded of His great love in every facet of our lives, that we would be moved to good works towards one another because of this truth.

3. CONCLUSION