Matthew 12:9-14: a reflection

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.

When the Pharisees, hoping to accuse him, ask Jesus whether it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath, he answers with a question that reveals his heart: Which of you, if your one sheep falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lift it out? And then the point: Of how much more value is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. And he heals the man with the withered hand.

Notice the value Jesus assigns to the person in front of him. His opponents were treating the man as an occasion for a legal debate; Jesus saw a human being of immense worth, worth far more than a sheep, worth interrupting any rule to help. Of how much more value is a person, he says. Where others saw a test case, Jesus saw a person to be valued and healed. His reasoning is driven by the worth of the human being before him.

That is worth pausing over, both for how we see others and how we see ourselves. Jesus places enormous value on people, more than on rules, more than on property, more than on the debates we so easily get lost in. Every person you encounter is, in his eyes, of far more value than a sheep, worth helping, worth interrupting your day and your rules for. And you yourself are of that immense worth to him. Do not let people become mere occasions for debate or obstacles to your schedule. See them as Jesus sees them: of great value, worth doing good to. And receive the worth he assigns to you.

Lord Jesus, while others saw a test case, you saw a person of immense worth, more valuable than a sheep, worth interrupting any rule to help. Give me your eyes for people. Keep me from treating them as occasions for debate or obstacles to my schedule, and help me see the great value you place on every person, and to do them good. And thank you that you assign that same worth to me. Help me see others, and myself, as you do.