Daily Devotional For Monday, November 3, 2025
Good morning and I hope you are enjoying this autumn season. I hope you enjoyed getting an extra hour of sleep between Saturday and Sunday this past weekend. We are making our way through the Gospel of Matthew and today we come to this passage in Matthew 12:9-14:
“Then Jesus went over to their synagogue, (10) where He noticed a man with a deformed hand. The Pharisees asked Jesus, ‘Does the law permit a person to work by healing on the Sabbath?’ (They were hoping He would say yes, so they could bring charges against Him.) (11) And He answered, “‘you had a sheep that fell into a well on the Sabbath, wouldn’t you work to pull it out? Of course you would. (12) And how much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Yes, the law permits a person to do good on the Sabbath.” (13) Then He said to the man, ‘Hold out your hand.’ So the man held out his hand, and it was restored, just like the other one! (14) Then the Pharisees called a meeting to plot how to kill Jesus” (NLT).
As you can tell from yesterday, it seems the Pharisees wanted to set traps to get Jesus to break the Sabbath Law so they could charge Him. Jesus enters the synagogue in Capernaum and sees a man with a withered or lame hand. We are not told how the man’s hand came to be lamed. Maybe he was born this way or later in life had an accident that caused this. Luke tells us it was the man’s right hand (Luke 6:6). This would be tough because in those days Jews ate with their right hand and when they went to the bathroom, used their left hand to clean themselves. This man was forced to do both with his left hand.
Knowing Jesus had put them in their place about His disciples pulling the heads off of wheat in order to eat and feed their hunger, so the question was to the Pharisees: would Jesus heal on the Sabbath? Based on Ex. 31:14-17 the religious leaders did not allow even healings to occur on the Sabbath. To do so, would bring about the death penalty. The Pharisees did not care about this man’s appearance, only in bringing accusations against Jesus. So, as to appear sincerely to know from Jesus, they asked Him if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath. Jesus healed many times on the Sabbath and none of these were out of an emergency.
If Jesus had waited until the next day, He would have been submitting to the Pharisees. If Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath, the Pharisees could claim He was breaking God’s law and thus He and His ministry were a scam. So, as in yesterday’s devotion, Jesus showed the Pharisees how foolish, petty and legalistic their rules were. Jesus healed this man to prove that God is a God of relationships, not rule, rituals and regulations. The best time to help someone is right there in their immediate need.
The Pharisees said that someone might be healed on the Sabbath IF their life was in danger. Jesus had healed on the Sabbath and in these healings no one’s life was in danger. The Pharisees knew this and attempted to use it against Jesus. Had Jesus given into the Pharisees, He would have said that the authority of the Pharisees was equal to God’s law. If He healed on the Sabbath, the Pharisees could claim His Jesus broke God’s law and thus He was not from God.
In verse 13 Jesus healed the man’s hand to prove how foolish it is to put rules ahead of relationships. Jesus healed the man of his lame hand to prove how ridiculous it is to put law above love. Jesus restored the man’s hand to be exactly as his left hand. As the man started stretching his hand towards Jesus, the healing occurred. No other action of Jesus is recorded other than telling the man to stretch out his hand towards Jesus. According to their own law, Jesus had not broken any law.
Therefore, Jesus embarrassed the Pharisees for their religious system that put law over life. If they would rescue one of their own animals on the Sabbath, isn’t a life worth saving as well? The Pharisees realized that Jesus had put His authority to heal above their authority to legislate and adjudicate. This only fuelled their hatred of Him and from this point on plots are made to kill Jesus. When we go to Mark’s Gospel, we learn that the Pharisees form an unlikely alliance with the Herodians (See Mark 3:6).
This shows how desperate the Pharisees were. They hated Herod and anyone who supported Rome. To choose Rome’s leadership over Palestine shows their desperation. In this case, they intentionally chose to align with a group who they had always seen as enemies for one purpose – to kill Jesus. In order for this to work He would have to be a threat to both groups. Jesus threatened the Pharisees’ authority over the people; they presented to the Herodians Jesus being a threat to the Herodians’ political ambitions because his talk of a “kingdom” caused them to think that this popular and powerful man was planning to set himself up as a ruler and attempt to overthrow Rome with His power.
The Herodians also had the love of the people since they opposed Herod and Rome. New Testament scholar Bruce B. Barton writes this:
“The way Jesus kept the Sabbath irritated his critics to the point of fury. To us, their reaction seems overstated. We must remember that the religious leaders, by imposing a bewildering system of Sabbath laws, had in fact made themselves lords of the Sabbath and thus lords over the people. By claiming the title of Lord of the Sabbath (12:8), Jesus was stating His own divinity, and this claim was an affront to the position of the religious leaders. His remaking the Sabbath into a day of refreshment, worship, and healing pried open the tight-fisted control the Pharisees held on the people. No wonder Jesus’ approach to the Sabbath led his enemies to plot his death” (Source: Bruce B. Barton, The Life Application Bible Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 238).
Assignment: Where are your loyalties? Do you use Christian judgment in times of conflict between human need and keeping rules and laws? If you are in a Bible study group or community group, take some time to ask some hypothetical questions and attempt to discern how Jesus might respond to each one. For example, here is one: you oversee the Benevolence Fun at your church. Your fund is overflowing with money. Someone who has harmed and cost you significantly comes to your financial help, would you help them? Why or why not?
Scripture To Meditate On: Luke 6:9, “Then Jesus said to his critics, ‘I have a question for you. Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, help me to see people as You see them. Help me to show kindness, grace and love to those who are deemed unworthy of it. I know Lord that life is not really about hypotheticals, but about avoiding hypocrisy. Lord, everyday I probably pass people who need Your love. Give me discernment through Your Holy Spirit to know this and then show me how I can reach out to them in Your name. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly