Jesus Cures A Man On The Sabbath Day
Jesus Cures A Man On The Sabbath Day
Jesus went into a synagogue. Some Pharisees were with him. They wanted to see what he would do. They hoped that they could accuse him. There was a man there with a hand that he could not use. Some writers have guessed that he was a stonemason. [A stonemason cuts and shapes stones for building. He needs to be able to use both hands.] This man could not work. He had to ask other people for money. Jesus felt love and sympathy for the man. But these Pharisees did not care about the man. They believed that to cure someone was ’work‘. The Pharisees thought they would be able to accuse Jesus now. Jesus knew their thoughts. So, he spoke to them.
11 Jesus said to them, ‘Maybe one of you has a sheep that falls into a deep hole on our day of rest. What will you do? You will take hold of it and you will lift it out of the hole.
Matthew 12:11 EasyEnglish Bible (EASY)
Jesus then told the man to stand in front of everyone. He told him to lift his hand. When the man did this, his hand was immediately healthy. It was just like his other hand.
A Cruel Plot Against Jesus
But this miracle did not make the Pharisees think again about their rules. They did not think that they were wrong. They went away to plot to kill Jesus.
Mark 3:6 says that the *Pharisees plotted with the ’Herodians‘. The Herodians were a political party. They were cruel men. They had no religion and they did not love God's law. They supported king Herod, whom most people hated. They thought that Jesus was a danger to them. He was too popular. They decided that they wanted to kill him.
Many Pharisees Were Jealous of Jesus
This shows the differences between the Pharisees and Jesus. Many Pharisees were jealous of Jesus. They even wanted to murder him. They did not want to love or to forgive. Jesus cared very much about people‘s private thoughts and the reasons for their behaviour. He cared about love. He helped poor people. He helped evil people who wanted to change. He offered to forgive them. He said that they could live in a new way. Mark 2:27 records that Jesus also said, ’God made the Sabbath for man, not man for the Sabbath .‘ The Sabbath day is a day of happiness. On the Sabbath , people should praise God. And on the Sabbath , people should be kind to other people. The ideas of Jesus contrasted very much with the ideas of the Pharisees. The people had respected the Pharisees, and this gave the Pharisees power. But now Jesus was taking away their power with the people. Because of this, there would be more trouble.
