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If you are new to our church today, it would be helpful for you to know that we practice a form of preaching called “Expository Preaching”.

What that means, is we believe the Bible is best taught by taking books of the Bible and then breaking them down from beginning to end, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. Our goal, to better understand not only what God’s Word says, but what it means in our lives today.

We are currently walking through the NT book of Matthew.

Today we are Continue Chapter 12 of Matthew. As we read this we need to understand that Matthew is finalizing the first large section of this letter.

The Presentation of the King

Chapter 12 will mark a change in Jesus’ Ministry. We are about to see the Nation of Isreal as a whole reject the Messiah. This is not to say that large numbers of Jews did not accept Jesus but what we are saying is that We will now see the Leadership go from the interrogation stage to the punishment stage of their investigation of Jesus.

So let’s dive into today’s Scripture.

Matthew 12:9–10 CSB

9 Moving on from there, he entered their synagogue. 10 There he saw a man who had a shriveled hand, and in order to accuse him they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

Jesus and his disciples have just violated the Sabbath by picking grain. Now we see the violations move into the Synagogue or Church building.

Matthew and Mark do not go into quite as much detail as Luke when discribing this encounter so lets set the stage.

Mark 3:1–2 CSB

1 Jesus entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a shriveled hand. 2 In order to accuse him, they were watching him closely to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath.

Luke 6:6–7 CSB

6 On another Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. A man was there whose right hand was shriveled. 7 The scribes and Pharisees were watching him closely, to see if he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they could find a charge against him.

If you are beginning to put this all together. Many Scholars believe that this was a set up. The leadership planted a guy with a messed up hand in the room to see if Jesus would heal on the Sabbath and violate the most sacred of commandments.

To give you an idea of how sacred the Sabbath was and how many fences were involved here there are 39 categories of Sabbath Work Prohibited by the Oral Law which included 1500 rules against work on the Sabbath Day.

Keep in mind The Old testament is very vague when it comes to Keeping the Sabbath Holy.

But leave it to the Religious Elite to fix the Bible and Clear things up for everyone.

Here are the First Ten Categories.

Carrying

2. Burning

3. Extinguishing

4. Finishing

5. Writing

6. Erasing

7. Cooking

8. Washing

9. Sewing

10. Tearing

Now each category has subcategories and breakdowns to make sure that no one violates any set category.

In the book Yeshua the Messiah.

This is how serious the Pharisees where about Sabbath

Dr Arnold Fruchtenbaum explains it like this.

“Some Pharisees would not walk on grass on the Sabbath day. If someone asked such a rabbi, “ what is wrong with walking on grass on the Sabbath day?” he would answer, “ Nothing. It is permissible to walk on the grass on the Sabbath day.” However there is a problem. What looks only like a grassy field might have one wild stock of wheat growing in it. A person walking through the field of grass might inadertently step on that on wild stalk of wheat and separate the wheat from its stalk, Thus, he would become guilty of reaping on the Sabbath day. Furthermore, if his food came down and twisted the wheat just enough to separate the wheat from the chaff, he would be guilty of threshing on the Sabbath day. If he continued to walk, the outer hem of his garment might cause just enough breeze to blow the chaff away, and he would be guilty of winnowing on the Sabbath day. Finally, once the person had gone, a bird or rodent might see the exposed piece of wheat and swallow it, causing him to be guilty of storing the wheat on the Sabbath day.”

Doesn’t self righteousness sound so refreshing and obtainable?

Now back to our Story.

The Leadership has planted a guy with a messed up hand in the congregation and want to test Jesus to see if he will heal this guy.

You know the Chosen does a great job of giving a visual on this event. Let’s take a look.

Play Video.

So this guy wasn’t dying, the shriveled hand wasn’t immediately affecting his health. So Should Jesus have healed him?

Let’s see what Jesus says.

Matthew 12:10–12 CSB

10 There he saw a man who had a shriveled hand, and in order to accuse him they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” 11 He replied to them, “Who among you, if he had a sheep that fell into a pit on the Sabbath, wouldn’t take hold of it and lift it out? 12 A person is worth far more than a sheep; so it is lawful to do what is good on the Sabbath.”

So what we see here is Jesus again using what is called a Kal v`chomer argument (from the lesser to the greater)

If it is permissible to help an animal in need during Sabbath (lesser)

Than how much more permissible is it to show mercy for a person on Sabbath (greater)

Even the Pharisees understood that acts of necessity and mercy were permitted on the Sabbath.

So then Jesus follows through.

Matthew 12:13 CSB

13 Then he told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and it was restored, as good as the other.

Mark implies that Jesus does this in spite of the Leadership:

Mark 3:5 CSB

5 After looking around at them with anger, he was grieved at the hardness of their hearts and told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

So there are a couple of things we need to understand here.

This man was planted here to trap Jesus.

Notice that Jesus never asks the man if He has Faith to see his Hand restored.

He never asked the man if He believed that Jesus could heal him.

Jesus simply heals the man because at this point in Jesus’ Ministry Healing is an Authentication of His Messianic Claims.

Look I am Who I say I am So take it or leave it.

Here is where I think we can learn from this story So we don’t fall into the same trap as the Pharisees.

A trap that is set when we harden our hearts.

At the end of this section we see the Pharisees reaction to this Miracle and all three Gospels point out a different point of failure of heart.

Luke 6:11 CSB

11 They, however, were filled with rage and started discussing with one another what they might do to Jesus.

They allowed their emotions to consume them to the point they could no longer think logically and rationally.

The Story of Philly

Matthew 12:14 CSB

14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted against him, how they might kill him.

2. In spite of all the miracles and signs they had witnessed they chose to seek a way to get rid of Jesus in order to have it their way.

Mark 3:6 CSB

6 Immediately the Pharisees went out and started plotting with the Herodians against him, how they might kill him.

3. They reached out to others in partnership to share in the offense and get rid of the offender.

Pharisees hated the Roman Occupation

Herodians were ok with the Roman Occupation as long as power came through Herod.

Both want Jesus silenced because it messed with how the wanted things to be.

Nothing will destroy a church faster than people who want their way over God’s will.

Close and End.