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There are many variations of passages of available but majority
25 Jun

Jesus Heals Man With Withered Hand

Take Every Passage to Prayer - Volume 2, The Gospels
Tuesday June 25, 2024

Matthew 12:9-14, Mark 3:1-6, Luke 6:6-11

Father, I love Your law. It provides a clear roadmap to a good life, a life of peace and joy. It is by following Your law that we avoid trouble. The sum total of all of Your law is to love – love You and love our neighbors. Father, please help me to be responsible to people’s needs, even those who are breaking Your law. It may be by my love for them, in their darkest hour, that they learn that it is good to follow the laws of the God who loved them through me. Father, the world cannot win an argument that challenges Your Word. The world cannot win a debate that contradicts the truths found in Scripture. Those who are in Christ have access, through the Holy Spirit, to the wisdom of the ages. Father, please give me the wisdom that derails the arguments of the godless. Please give me reason and logic, like Jesus had, that is insurmountable by those who challenge my faith. Amen.

Father, Jesus left the grainfield and went into the synagogue. He encountered a man with a withered hand. The scribes and Pharisees were still watching Him, eager to accuse Jesus of violating another Sabbath law. Jesus knew what they were thinking, and He became righteously and justifiably angered at them for being so unloving and heartless towards this man.

“Hey, Jesus – is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

They must have thought to themselves – “Hah. Now we’ve got Him. If He says ‘no’, then He will be admitting He has violated the law if He heals this man. If He says ‘yes’, we will have Him on record verbally defying the law because it is not lawful to heal on the Sabbath.”

As Jesus loves to do with them, He answered their question with His own questions:

“Is it lawful to do good or evil on the Sabbath? Is it lawful to save or kill on the Sabbath?”

Jesus knew that that they weren’t going to say “evil” or “kill” because those would be clear violations of the law. The only other choice they had was to say it was lawful to do “good” and “save” on the Sabbath. With the point established that it was lawful to do “good” and to “save” on the Sabbath, Jesus now defines what “good” and “save” look like.

“If your beloved sheep falls into a pit on the Sabbath, would you rescue the animal?”

If the Pharisees and scribes said “no”, their heartlessness would be apparent to all who were listening. If they said “yes”, Jesus had won the argument. It was good to save a life on the Sabbath. Jesus then asks them which life is more important to save – a sheep or a man? If they said a sheep, Jesus could have challenged them on Genesis 1 and 2 that says humans alone are made in the image of God. If the men said “man”, then Jesus would have received their permission to heal this man with the withered hand on the Sabbath.

The text tells us they kept their lips sealed, knowing Jesus had trapped them.

Jesus answered for them, saying: “It is lawful to heal on the Sabbath.”

Jesus asked the man with the withered hand to stand up. Standing enabled the man to declare to the audience that he wanted to be healed by Jesus. Our faith in Jesus is intended to be shared with the public (Matthew 10:32-33).

Jesus told the man to stretch out his hand. As he did, his muscles and bones returned to normal. He had full functionality of his hand once more. The text doesn’t share it, but it is reasonable to assume that the man was delighted and thankful. Whatever friends or family may have been with him were also overjoyed. Strangers who had watched this encounter with the man and the Jewish leaders were amazed.

The Pharisees were furious that, once more, Jesus had humiliated them. They had enough. They agreed to gather at a meeting place, most likely around a table lit by candlelight, to discuss how they could destroy Jesus and His ministry. The text tells us that the Herodians were in that meeting as well. Amen.


It was most likely not a coincidence. Jesus was looking for this particular man when He entered the synagogue. Jesus’ ministry is intentional and planned in people’s lives, never spontaneous.

This man most likely had atrophy. His muscles had begun to lose their strength which causes a reduction in movement and distortion of the fingers and thumb which can make the hand look like a claw. Atrophy can be caused by an excessively long time in a cast for a fracture, arthritis, diabetes, Gullain-Barre, and ALS. The man's livelihood was most likely impaired as was his ability to do simple daily tasks.

The Herodians were essentially Jewish politicians, not unlike the leaders of our political parties today. They too didn’t like the attention Jesus was stealing from them. He was also considered a threat to their political control of Jerusalem.



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