NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TWELVE

Part II

Verse 11: Jesus asked them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a ditch on the Sabbath, will you not grab hold of that sheep and help it out of the ditch?”

It isn’t that Jesus didn’t know the answer, but that He wanted to force them to acknowledge the obvious. A Greek philosopher once remarked: “Necessity is the true creator, it is the mother of invention.”¹ Jesus was using the same philosophy by pointing out that although the Jews knew about the Sabbath restrictions, sometimes intellectual necessity would overrule their religious objection.

Jesus, as well as the Pharisees, no doubt already knew what verbal tradition said on this subject as laid out by their Rabbis: “The following rules apply when an animal falls into a cistern or into a water conduit from which it cannot climb out on its own: If one can supply it with its needs while it is there, one should do so until Saturday night. If not, one may bring cushions and blankets and place them beneath it. If this enables the animal to climb, there is no difficulty…Regardless of the circumstances, it is forbidden to lift the animal up by one’s hands.”²

However, Jewish scholars tell us that by the time Jesus came there are authorities who were more lenient and maintained that even the prohibition of lifting the animal out of the cistern or hole is waved because of the animal’s suffering. He goes on to say: “Then later authorities ruled that one may rely on this lenient decision in a situation where a great loss will be incurred. Moreover, they add that all agree that one may instruct a Gentile to lift the animal from the cistern.”³ The look on the faces of the Pharisees and their lack of retort told Jesus that the Pharisees got the point of His question, so now He makes His point by answering.

Verse 12: Surely a human is more important than a sheep. So it is only right to do good for them on the Sabbath.

This certainly concurred with what the Rabbis spoke of for centuries. It was taught that when the possibility of danger to human life existed, the laws of the Sabbath were suspended. When a person fell ill, it was stated clearly: “One may warm water for a sick person on the Sabbath, both for the purpose of giving him a drink or of refreshing him, and not only for one Sabbath did they rule thus, but also for the following one. Nor do we say: Let us wait, because perchance he will get well, but we warm the water for him immediately, because the possibility of danger to human life renders inoperative the laws of the Sabbath.”⁴

You would think that over the centuries with millions of people turning to Jesus as their Messiah and Savior, critics would not be as harsh or closed minded. But that has not been the case in many areas. One polemic writer in the Middle Ages had many reasons to find fault with Jesus reasoning that is exhibited in the previous twelve verses. He says: “What sort of answer is this that Jesus gave the Pharisees? If David behaved improperly, this does not give them the right to pluck those ears of corn on the Sabbath. Furthermore, if priests perform services in the Temple both on weekdays and on the Sabbath as they are commanded to do, how does this permit Jesus’ disciples to desecrate the Sabbath by plucking ears of corn? As for His statement, ‘I wish mercy and not sacrifice,’ i.e., that He does not want any sacrifices, how does this square with His command to the leper whom He cured to bring a sacrifice in accordance with the commandment given to all lepers in the Torah which was revealed of old? And as for His statement, ‘What man is there among you that has one sheep etc.,’ this is a lie. All people know that Jews are not permitted to lift any animals on the Sabbath either from a well or from a ditch. Why, then, did He answer the way He did? By saying this He was actually permitting work on the Sabbath.”⁵ Apparently this critic forgot that Jesus was pointing out the inconsistencies on the part of the Jews, not on the part of His own disciples. In other words, He was telling them to clean up their act before they found fault with what He was doing.

There was this well-known Jewish story that went around concerning one of their most revered Rabbis: “It was reported about Hillel the Elder that every day he used to work and earn a small sum, half of which he would give to the guard at the synagogue, the other half being spent for his food and for that of his family. One day he found no employment, and the guard at the synagogue would not permit him to enter. So he climbed up and sat in the open window to hear the words of the living God from the mouth of those teaching that day. They say, that day was the eve of Sabbath in the winter solstice and snow fell down while he sat there. When dawn came, one of the teachers said to the other, every day this house is light and today it is dark, is it perhaps a cloudy day. They looked up and saw the figure of a man in the window opening. They went up and found Hillel covered by three feet of snow. They took him down, bathed and anointed him and placed him next to the fire and said: This man deserves that the Sabbath be profaned on his behalf.”⁶ So the Master had taken a cue from His critics who were trying to set Him up for a fall, and turned it around so that now it was their turn to decide if it was proper to heal on the Sabbath.

Verse 13: Then Jesus said to the man with the crippled hand, “Hold out your hand.” The man held out his hand, and it became well again just like his other hand.

With a change of venue from the open fields to the confines of the synagogue. By doing so, our Lord had been given an opportunity to show that He was without doubt the Jewish Messiah everyone was waiting for. Medical science tells us that when a hand is immobile for an extended period of time the muscles begin to lose mass and power. These symptoms are indicative of hand atrophy. The condition is common when a fracture of the hand or wrist requires casting. Joint problems, such as arthritis, in which normal movements become painful can also bring about hand atrophy. That this man with the withered hand suddenly appearing out of nowhere shows that Jesus was obviously aware of the trickery planned by His opponents. So as soon as they asked their baited question about the lawfulness of healing on the Sabbath, Jesus had a loaded answer for them. As we also see, Jesus thwarted their efforts to accuse Him of working on the Sabbath by speaking to the man, not touching him.

This is what we call today, argumentum ad hominem. They had been pointing at Jesus, and now it was His turn to point at them. His point is quite simple. He was comparing His potential healing of this man on the Sabbath with what they would do if they found an animal in stress. No more than they would leave that sheep that had fallen into a hole where it could not extract itself, neither would He leave this man with the withered hand to spend the rest of his life handicapped. This was in the spirit of the law which did not contain any Sabbath restrictions.⁷ It was the humane thing to do. So if they could accept that, why couldn’t they accept the healing of this man. As the Pharisees stood there dumbfounded, Jesus healed the man without even touching him. So He did not defile the Sabbath after all, because they would be hard pressed calling that “work.” And if they did, they’d have to count it as the work of God, and they were not about to accuse God of breaking the Sabbath. As the healed man left the Pharisees huddled together in order to find some way to save face. We don’t know what they said, but Matthew apparently found out that it was a vow to kill this prophet from Galilee in order to solidify their religious authority.

Verse 14: So the Pharisees left and made plans to kill Jesus.

This shows clearly the close-mindedness and hypocrisy of the Pharisees in rejecting the truth of Jesus’ ministry. Today there are many Pharisaical people in this world who are equally defensive when it comes to having their traditional Christian ideas and customs challenged. You hear it over and over again in their objections: “We’ve never done it that way before,” or “It wasn’t done that way when I was young.” In this case, it wasn’t what any man had done but what God did through His Son.

Early Church father Jerome had this to say about what happened here. He writes: “Envy is responsible for the fact that they set a trap for our Lord. What had He done to incite the Pharisees to kill Him? Certainly it was because the man had stretched out his hand. Who of the Pharisees did not stretch out his hand on the sabbath day when he was carrying food, when he was offering a drinking cup or performing the other actions that are necessary for nourishment? So if stretching forth one’s hand and lifting up food or drink on the sabbath are not offenses, why should they make this accusation? They themselves are found guilty of doing the same, especially since that stone-cutter⁸ had not carried anything like food or drinking cups like they had but had only stretched out his hand at the order of our Lord.”⁹

And Chrysostom offers this in one of his sermons: “By this Jesus makes clear that deluded souls are not even persuaded by miracles. And He shows how His disciples also had been wrongly blamed by them without cause. Note how fierce His detractors have suddenly grown, and this happens especially when they see others benefiting from His ministry! When they see someone delivered either from disease or iniquity, then that immediately alerts them to find more fault. According to this pattern they repeatedly demeaned Him, as when He was about to save the prostitute, and again when He was eating with publicans, and now again, when they saw the withered hand restored. Note carefully how He does not cease in His tender care for the infirm yet softens the envy of His adversaries. Hence ‘great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all; and He charged those that were healed that they should not tell anyone.’ But the multitudes seemed more ready to admire Him and trail after Him than to change their decadent ways.”¹⁰

Verse 15-21: Jesus knew what the Pharisees were planning. So He left that place, and many people followed Him and He healed all who were sick. But then He warned them not to tell others who He was. This was to give full meaning to what Isaiah the prophet said when he spoke for God:

‘Behold my servant
whom I have selected,
My chosen one
with whom my soul is pleased;
I will put my Spirit upon Him,
and He declare justice to the nations.
He will not fear nor will He run
nor will anyone hear His voice in the street.
A crushed reed He will not break
and a flickering flame He will not quench
Until He establishes justice forever,
and in His name the Gentiles hope.”¹¹

No matter what the Pharisees thought, Matthew comes to his own conclusion about what just happened. To him this was another case of a prophecy being fulfilled in the life and ministry of Jesus to show who He really was. But he did not pick out just some prophetic word that fit his mind or the occasion, but one found in Isaiah that many astute Jewish scholars believed pointed to the Messiah.¹²