Jesus Handles Further Opposition (Matthew 12: 9-21)

Introduction – Jesus Moves on.

Let’s continue where we left off last time by looking at how Jesus deals with the rising opposition against him by looking at how he compares, and contrasts Love and the Law.

9 He left there and went into their synagogue. And look you, there was a man there with a withered hand. So, they asked him, "Is it permitted to heal on the Sabbath?" They asked this question in order that they might find an accusation against him. "What man will there be of you," he said, "who will have a sheep, and, if the sheep falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, will not take a grip of it, and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep? So, then, it is permitted to do a good thing on the Sabbath day." Then he said to the man, "Stretch forth your hand!" He stretched it out, and it was restored, sound as the other. So, the Pharisees went away and conferred against him, to find a way to destroy him.  (Matthew 12: 9-14)

This incident is a crucial moment in the life of Jesus. He has deliberately and publicly broken the Sabbath Law; and the result was a conference of the religious leaders to search out a way to eliminate him legitimately according to their view of the law of Moses. We cannot understand the attitude of these scribes and these pharisees unless we understand the amazing seriousness with which they took the Sabbath Law. That Law forbade all work on the Sabbath day, and so these religious leaders would literally die rather than break the law.

For example, in the time of the rising under Judas Maccabaeus in the 2nd century certain Jews sought refuge in the caves in the wilderness. The Seleucid king Antiochus sent a detachment of men to attack them; the attack was made on the Sabbath day; and these insurgent Jews died without even a gesture of defiance or defence, because to fight would have been seen to break the Sabbath. A book written at the time called I Maccabees tells how the forces of Antiochus recorded these events.

"They gave them battle with all speed. Howbeit they answered them not, neither cast they a stone at them, nor stopped the places where they lay hid; but said: 'Let us die in our innocence: heaven and earth shall testify for us, that ye put us to death wrongfully.' So, they rose up against them in battle on the Sabbath, and they slew them with their wives and children and cattle, to the number of a thousand people"  (1 Maccabees 2:31-38).

Even in a national crisis, even to save their lives, even to protect their nearest and their dearest, the Jews would not fight on the Sabbath.

On another occasion we see the Jews insisting on keeping the Sabbath Law is when Pompey was able to take Jerusalem. In ancient warfare it was the custom for the attacker to erect a huge mound which overlooked the battlements of the besieged city and from the height of the mound to bombard the defences. Pompey prepared for his attack by building his mound little by little on the Sabbaths. The Jews simply looked on and refused to lift a hand to stop him. Josephus says.

"And had it not been for the practice, from the days of our forefathers, to rest on the seventh day, this bank could never have been built”. (Josephus: Antiquities, 14. 4. 2.).

This was a long held religious principle of the Jews Josephus also recalls the amazement of the Greek historian centuries earlier when he writes about the way in which Ptolemy was allowed to capture Jerusalem. Agatharchides wrote: 

"There are a people called Jews, who dwell in a city the strongest of cities, which the inhabitants call Jerusalem, and are accustomed to rest on every seventh day; at which time they make no use of their arms, nor take care of any of the affairs of life, but spread out their hands in their holy places, and pray till evening time. Now it came to pass that when Ptolemy came into this city with his army, these men, in observing this mad custom of theirs, instead of guarding the city, suffered their country to submit itself to a bitter lord."  (Josephus: Against Apion, 1: 22).

The rigorous Jewish observance of the Sabbath seemed to other nations nothing short of insanity, since it could lead to such amazing national defeats and disasters. It was that absolutely immovable frame of mind that Jesus was up against. The original law of Moses quite definitely did not forbade healing on the Sabbath. saying "every case when life is in danger supersedes the Sabbath Law." But even that became defined as someone could only take steps to avoid someone from getting worse, but not to make them better. In this case there was no question of the paralysed man's life being in danger; as far as danger went, he would be in no worse condition the next day. Jesus knew the Law; he knew what he was doing; he knew that the Pharisees were waiting and watching; and yet he still healed the man. This is because Jesus would accept no supplemental rule which insisted that anyone should suffer, one moment longer than necessary. His love for humanity far surpassed his respect for ritual Law.

The Challenge Accepted.

So we see Jesus go into the synagogue, and in it was a man with a paralysed hand. However, the Scribes and Pharisees were there, too. They were not concerned about the state of this man with the paralysed hand; they were concerned only with the minutiae of their rules and regulations. So, they asked Jesus: "Is it permitted to heal on the Sabbath day?" Jesus knew the answer to that question perfectly well; he knew that, as we have seen, unless there was actual danger to life, healing was forbidden by their interpretation of the law, because it was regarded as an act of work. But Jesus choose to respond by debating the law with them.  "Tell me,” He said, "suppose a man has a sheep, and that sheep falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not go and haul the sheep out of the pit?" That was, in fact, a specific case for which the Law provided for intervention. If an animal fell into a pit on the Sabbath, then it was within the Law to carry food to it, which in any other case would have been a burden, and to assist it getting out of it trap. 

Therefor, Jesus is saying, "it is permitted to do a good thing on the Sabbath; and, if it is permitted to do a good thing to a sheep, how much more must it be lawful to do it for a man or woman, because they are so much more valuable to God than any animal." Jesus reversed the argument against them. "If," he argued, "it is right to do good on the Sabbath, then to refuse to do good, is in fact, evil." It was Jesus' basic principle that there is no time so holy that it cannot be used for helping a fellow human being who is in need, because that is the core principle of the heart of God towards humankind. In other words, it is more holy, so to speak. In the great scheme of things we will not be judged by the number of church services we have attended, or by the number of chapters of the Bible we have read, or even by the number of the hours we have spent in prayer, but by the number of people we have helped, when their need came before us. Upon hearing what Jesus said, it appears that the Scribes and Pharisees had no answer to it. Their argument had recoiled on their own heads. So, Jesus heals this man, and in healing him gave him three things.

(i) He gave him back his health. Jesus is always interested in the physical states we find ourselves in. Whether or not they are aware of it, whether or not they are believers, from the Christian point of view, doctors are, by their profession, meant to be fellow workers with God. The doctor is meant to be an instrument of God's grace, and medicine is a dispensation of the grace of God. God in his goodness always has empathy with sick people and provides remedies for the sickness even sometimes when that illness is the consequences of their sin." John Calvin described medicine as a gift from God, saying. He who heals men, is helping God. 

(ii) Because Jesus gave this man back his health, he also gave him back his work. Without work to do an individual has no real purpose in life.  In being active in life through work or family role we can find real meaning and purpose in life.  Over the years unemployment can become harder to bear than illness. One of the greatest things that any human being can do for any other is to give them the ability to work or serve other people.

(iii) Because Jesus gave this man back his health and his work, he gave him back his self-respect. A person can feel human again when, they can face life and with independence ,provide for their own needs and help meet the needs of those dependent on him. We have already said that this incident would create a crisis reaction in the minds of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. At the end of it the Scribes and Pharisees began to plot the death of Jesus. It shows that he is regarded not only as dangerous but as effective. The action of the Scribes and Pharisees is the measure of the power of the ministry of Jesus Christ. For us still today, true Christianity may be hated, but it can never be disregarded.

The Characteristics of The Servant Of The Lord.

15 Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. A large crowd followed him, and he healed all who were ill. 16 He warned them not to tell others about him. 17 This was to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: 18 “Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. 19 He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. 20 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory. 2In his name the nations will put their hope.”  (Matthew 12: 18-21) 

Two things here about Jesus show that he never confused recklessness with courage. 

First, he withdraws, initially here he withdraws. The time for the head-on clash had not yet come. He had work to do before he would face the cross.

Second, he forbade people to publicize what he has done. He knew only too well how many false Messiahs had arisen; he knew only too well how easily inflamed the people were. If the idea got around that someone with miraculous powers had emerged, then certainly a political rebellion might have arisen and lives would have been needlessly lost. He had to first teach people that his Messiahship did not mean him coming and welding a crushing military or political power that would throw out the Roam oppressors. Rather it was a Messiahship of sacrificial service, The power of a cross, had to be embraced before they could spread his story further afield. The power of the cross would have to come before the power of his throne.

The question which Matthew uses to sum up the work of Jesus is from Isaiah 42:1-4 . In a sense it is a strange quotation, because in the first instance it referred to Cyrus, the Persian king. The original point of the quotation was addressing a particular political situation. Cyrus was sweeping onwards in his conquests; and the Isaiah saw those conquests as within the deliberate and definite plan of God. Although the people did not know it, Cyrus, the Persian, was the instrument of God. 

Furthermore, Isaiah saw Cyrus as a relatively gentile conqueror, as indeed he was. But although the original words referred to Cyrus, the complete fulfilment of the prophecy undoubtedly came in Jesus Christ. In his day the Persian king may have mastered a region of the Middle East, but the true Master of the entire world would be Jesus Christ. Let us then see how wonderfully Jesus satisfied this forecast of Isaiah.

(i) He will tell all the nations what justice is. Jesus came to bring men and women to justice. The Greeks defined justice as giving to God and to men that which is their due. Jesus showed people how to live in such a way that both God and other people receive their proper place in our lives. He showed us how to behave both towards God and towards other people.

(ii) He will not strive, nor cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. The word that is used for crying aloud and is the word that is used for the barking of a dog, or the bawling of a drunken man, or even the uproar of a discontented audience at the theatre. It means that Jesus would never brawl with people. In Jesus there is the quiet, strong serenity of one who seeks to conquer by love, and not by strife or harsh words.

(iii) He will not break the crushed reed nor quench the smoking wick. The reed may be bruised and hardly able to stand erect; the wick in a candle may be weak, and the light may be reduced to a flicker. A person’s witness may be shaky and weak; the light of their life may be but a flicker and not a flame; but Jesus did not come to discourage, but to encourage. He did not come to treat the spiritually frail with contempt, but with understanding; he did not come to extinguish the weak flame, but to nurse it back to a brighter and a stronger light. The most precious thing about Jesus is the fact that he is not the great discourager, but the great encourager.

(iv) In him the Gentiles will also find hope. With Jesus there came into the world the invitation was not just to one nation, but to all the people of earth. An invitation to accept the love of God. In him God was reaching out to everyone with the offer of his love and the forgiveness of sin.