9Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. 10And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" -- that they might accuse Him.
11Then He said to them, "What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of 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." 13Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. 14Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.
Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? According to footnotes in my Bible, it was against their laws to heal on the Sabbath. The only healing they were allowed to do was if it was a life threatening situation, and then only enough to maintain the person till they could work on healing him the next day. These men weren't questioning their law, they were trying to setup an accusation against Jesus. They knew that if Jesus did anything to help this man, whose condition wasn't life threatening, that Jesus would be breaking their laws.
Jesus chose an interesting example to use in His explanation. He uses an example of a sheep rather than a child. He talks of it falling into a pit rather than getting lost. He talks of lifting it out rather than healing. He talks of doing good rather than healing.
Yes, Jesus' example hit home. If they had only one sheep and it was in trouble they would take care of it, even on the Sabbath. They had to agree that man has more value than a sheep. And how could they argue that it is wrong to do good on the Sabbath? Yes, it is always lawful to do good. Healing is only one example. There may be other work we are called to do, even on the Sabbath, that would help someone. Our desire to keep the Sabbath holy should never be so single minded that we turn down opportunities to do good.
But I wonder if in Jesus' example He was trying to make another point that they missed. In Matthew 9:36, Jesus was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. In Matthew 10:6 Jesus instructed His apostles to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Are these Pharisees the sheep in Jesus' story today? Are they the ones falling into a pit? Is Jesus trying to help them out by helping them to understand that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath? Is He reminding them that they should be doing good not evil too?
But instead of taking the help that Jesus extends them, they dig themselves deeper into the pit. Rather than trying to do good on the Sabbath, they go out and plot against Jesus to destroy Him. They did not see the irony in their concern of healing on the Sabbath compared to their works to destroy someone on the Sabbath.
But we are all Jesus' sheep. The good news is that He is always there to help us out of any pit, even the pits that are of our own doing. We have to desire to come out in order to recognize the help Jesus is sending us. We are all of more value to Him than if we were His only sheep who got trapped in a pit.