Jesus' answer to the people who looked at Him reproachfully does not appear entirely logical at first glance. From the point of view of those around Him, what He was about to do, and did in fact do, was a violation of the Sabbath. And He reminds them that...
Jesus' answer to the people who looked at Him reproachfully does not appear entirely logical at first glance. From the point of view of those around Him, what He was about to do, and did in fact do, was a violation of the Sabbath. And He reminds them that even a domestic animal whose life is in danger is rescued on the Sabbath, and such actions are not a violation of Sabbath rest.
Reasoning in human terms, from the point of view of our untransformed world, healing a man whose main problem was a withered hand is something fundamentally different. If this man's life had been in danger, if medical intervention, in modern terms, had been required for vital indications, no one would have said a word to Jesus. And even if the issue had been a threat to the life of a domestic animal that needed help, no one would have reproached Him. The whole point was precisely that there was no threat to life: the man with the withered hand, with which he had already lived for more than one year, clearly would have lived calmly in the same way for one more day. And then, after the Sabbath ended, he would have received the expected help without violating Sabbath rest. So why hurry?
But Jesus, as we can see, looks at the matter quite differently and does not want to wait. And not because He is a principled opponent of the rules of Sabbath rest accepted in those days. He simply wants to convey to those around Him the true meaning of the Sabbath: this day is given so that it may be spent with God.
If this were simply a matter of medical help, those around Him would perhaps have been right. But this was not about medicine, but about the Kingdom; not about treatment, but about healing, and that changed everything completely. For if the Sabbath is, in fact, the time to be spent with God, then every manifestation of the Kingdom, together with the healings that accompany it, should only be welcomed. In essence, Jesus offers those who are nearby the chance to spend the Sabbath with Him in His Kingdom, and they do not understand Him and do not notice the Kingdom, seeing only a violation of the prohibitions connected with Sabbath rest.
He offers them the fullness of life; hence the mention that even an animal whose life is in danger has a right to help, even on the Sabbath. For without this fullness everyone is doomed to death, and only He, Jesus, can save them from death. But when He does this, joining to the Kingdom at least one person whom He heals, they accuse Him of violating the Sabbath. The spiritual meaning of the Sabbath has moved into the background, while religious formalities, on the contrary, have come to the foreground and obscured the Kingdom, which the people surrounding Jesus do not even notice.
12
12:1 His disciples plucked the ears of corn, and ate - Just what sufficed for present necessity: dried corn was a common food among the Jews. Mar 2:23; Luk 6:1.
12:3 Have ye not read what David did - And necessity was a sufficient plea for his transgressing the law in a higher instance.
12:4 He entered into the house of God - Into the tabernacle. The temple was not yet built. The show bread - So they called the bread which the priest, who served that week, put every Sabbath day on the golden table that was in the holy place, before the Lord. The loaves were twelve in number, and represented the twelve tribes of Israel: when the new were brought, the stale were taken away, but were to be eaten by the priests only. Mat 21:6.
12:5 The priests in the temple profane the Sabbath - That is, do their ordinary work on this, as on a common day, cleansing all things, and preparing the sacrifices. A greater than the temple - If therefore the Sabbath must give way to the temple, much moremust it give way to me.
12:7 I will have mercy and not sacrifice - That is, when they interfere with each other, I always prefer acts of mercy, before matters of positive institution: yea, before all ceremonial institutions whatever; because these being only means of religion, are suspended of course, if circumstances occur, wherein they clash with love, which is the end of it. Mat 9:13.
12:8 For the Son of man - Therefore they are guiltless, were it only on this account, that they act by my authority, and attend on me in my ministry, as the priests attended on God in the temple: is Lord even of the Sabbath - This certainly implies, that the Sabbath was an institution of great and distinguished importance; it may perhaps also refer to that signal act of authority which Christ afterward exerted over it, in changing it from the seventh to the first day of the week. If we suppose here is a transposition of the 7th and 8th verses, then the 8th verse is a proof of the 6th. Mat 12:6-8.
12:9 Mar 3:1; Luk 6:6.
12:12 It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day - To save a beast, much more a man.