Matthew 12:1-14

Today in our Bible reading, Jesus is speaking with the Pharisees – the religious “elite” of that day. Many of them have spent a lot of time attempting to track Jesus, trick Him, and trap Him – all with great disappointment. They were frustrated, embarrassed, and angry. And we know why. They were angry that many were hailing Jesus as the Messiah, the very personal God-in-flesh, and this made them desperate.  Desperate enough to put to death the One who brought light and life wherever He went. Not exactly a group we’d want to hang out with… especially when life gets us down and we need all the light and life we can get.

I once heard the motivational saying, “Our reach must exceed our grasp.” In other words, push yourself beyond what you think you can grasp. And that is a good thought, an inspiring word.  But what if your grasp is hurting? What if your wrists are tied? What if your hand is withered? Jesus met a man just like this one day at the synagogue.

It was the Sabbath, the holy day, and the Pharisees were literally daring Jesus to “disrespect” the day by healing this man right there on the spot. I love Jesus' answer to their dare...

And He answered, “If you had one sheep, and it fell into a well on the Sabbath, wouldn’t you get to work and pull it out? Of course you would. And how much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Yes, it is right to do good on the Sabbath.~ Matthew 12:11, 12

And Jesus proved His point by getting right to work.

Then He said to the man, “Reach out your hand.” The man reached out his hand, and it became normal, just like the other one. ~ Matthew 12:13

Jesus healed the withered hand.  Did you ever wonder why Jesus commanded the man to reach out his hand? I mean, surely all Jesus had to do was to speak the word and the hand would’ve been healed.  Why did He require effort from this man?  Well, just in case you were wondering, I found out something very interesting about this incident.

Many scholars believe that this man, with the obvious deformity, was not in the synagogue merely by chance that day.  They believe he was actually planted there. The Pharisees just may have placed him there purposely, on the Sabbath, in order to trap Jesus. Now if that's the case, then this surprise encounter was no surprise to Jesus. He knew exactly what was going on. I think that’s why Jesus didn’t simply release healing. He wanted to make sure our friend realized exactly what was happening.  This man needed to know just Who he was dealing with.