Extend Your Hands

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?”

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.”

13 Then he told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and it was restored, as good as the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted against him, how they might kill him.

Extend Your Hands

The Attack

We see here that the Pharisees are on the prowl to use Christ as an enemy and point him out to get rid of him.

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?”

This happens so much in our lives when we look at this See the Pharisees wanted to paint the picture that will make them look like the religious leaders

How many times in our lives do we end up being like the Pharisees and try everything that we can to paint the picture that we are the religious person?

We are on the prowl and on the attack. sometimes we have to be reminded that Just how unimportant we really are as Christians so that we may remember our place.

The Response

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.”

Sometimes we have to be reminded a couple of things here in this section of the passage.

Who has ever had something come up on the Sabbath and had to put God on hold to solve the problem?

See What he is trying today to them is this How many times are you going to get caught up in being the Church or being the better Christian that you're in fact living a life of sin.

Then he continues and says that everyone else life matters far more than a sheep life.

Translation It is far more important to care about the salvation of others and what is going on in others' lives than to worry about it you're doing church right, or you're following all of the rules correctly.

God does not care about man-made rules.

So then comes to the so what of the passage. He says stretch out your hand.

Stretch Out Your Hand

13 Then he told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and it was restored, as good as the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted against him, how they might kill him.

He tells us that we are to forget ourselves and reach out to help the others that are in need. Just as we have had to stretch out to Christ and ask for help we are called to do the same thing.

Short Version: It is time to wake up the Church. Stop worrying about the small things that happen around you and start worrying about the salvation and relationship that need to be built to lead others to Christ.