Scripture Daily

Context No. 471 of 4322 · Matthew

Context · Reflection

Matthew 12:9-14: in context

9He departed from there and went into their synagogue. 10And behold, there was a man with a withered hand. They asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?” so that they might accuse him. 11He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if this one falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, won’t he grab on to it and lift it out? 12Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day.” 13Then he told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out; and it was restored whole, just like the other. 14But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how they might destroy him.

This is another Sabbath confrontation. A man with a withered hand is in the synagogue, and the religious authorities, hoping to trap Jesus, ask him whether it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath. Instead of a theological argument, Jesus reaches for something from their own lives, something they did without a second thought. Which of you, he asks, if you had one sheep, and it fell into a pit on the Sabbath, would not take hold of it and lift it out? They all would. Of course they would. A sheep is worth money, and no one is going to let his property die in a ditch over a Sabbath technicality. Then Jesus draws the conclusion that exposes them: of how much more value is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.

The genius of the argument is that it lays bare their actual scale of values. These men would bend the Sabbath rule in a heartbeat to rescue an animal, because the animal was theirs and it was worth something to them. But when it came to relieving the suffering of a human being, someone who could give them nothing, they suddenly became rigid guardians of the rule. Their willingness to make exceptions ran exactly as far as their own interests, and no further. They valued their property over a person, and the Sabbath was only a problem when the beneficiary was someone who could not repay them. Jesus simply names the inversion: a person is worth incomparably more than a sheep, and any system that will rescue the sheep but not heal the man has its values upside down.

That cuts uncomfortably close, because I do the same accounting more often than I would like to admit. I will bend rules, spare no effort, and make endless exceptions when it comes to protecting my own interests, my own property, my own convenience, my sheep. But when the need in front of me is a person who cannot benefit me, my energy and my flexibility mysteriously dry up. Do my priorities reveal that I quietly value my own interests above people, ready to move heaven and earth for my sheep but rigid and reluctant when it comes to doing good for someone who can give me nothing back?

Sources