Matthew 12:9-10……..Working

Matthew 12:9-10……..Working

 Going on (To illustrate His point-(New) from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10 and a man with a shrivelled hand (His hand was completely Inoperable due to a lack of blood flow or nerve damage.-(New) was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” (Their question puts Jesus in a difficult spot if He said “No” they would accuse of cruelty if he said “Yes” they would accuse Him of violating the Sabbath.-(New) (For a Compete Expository Note See Book)

Extended Sermon Notes

“Calls for making ourselves available in doing good, despite the opposition and criticism we may face.” ⇒ This call to availability is not just a passive state but an active willingness to step into difficult situations, offer support, and show love, even when it is inconvenient or unpopular. It means stepping forward when situations are dire, extending a hand when most would turn away.

“Warns how legalism makes you unloving and uncaring of others, that you stop seeing people to seeing only rules.” ⇒ This unyielding focus on the letter of the law can blind us to the needs and struggles of those around us. Instead of seeing individuals as children of God, deserving of compassion and love, we begin to view them through the narrow lens of whether they conform to our established norms and regulations.

    More Notes & Applications

Illustrates how Jesus doesn’t seek out the healthy to sit down beside, but the sick and broken who need His healing.

Calls for making regular worship in the Lord’s house with others a priority. Just as it was Jesus’ custom to be in God’s house on the Sabbath. So to it should be our custom to be in church on Sunday, the Christian day of worship.

Teaches how breakthroughs come when we least expect it. The man with the shriveled hand probably didn’t go to the Synagogue that day expecting a miracle, yet it happened.

Warns how people will take advantage of our compassion and good nature to trap us. Look how insidious and evil the Pharisees plan was in taking advantage of Jesus’ compassion knowing He couldn’t pass by the man with the withered hand without healing him. They exploited His goodness to set a trap, an act that was both calculated and malevolent. This treachery serves as a stark reminder of the lengths some will go to manipulate and ensnare those who act out of genuine kindness.

Prepares believers if were going to be Christ-like, we have to expect that we’re going to be scrutinized and tested in seeing if were living with consistency and compassion.

Displays how we can be in worship and still have hatred in our hearts. Think about it the Pharisees were in the house of worship, not with faith and love in their hearts, but murder, while watching Jesus, Yes, it’s possible to sit worshipfully in a meeting with murder in the heart.

Calls for seeing that we’re coming to learn and grow, not to justify or prove ourselves right.

Teaches if our critics are ever going to try to criticize us, better they find us doing good lest they have ammunition to further their case.

The man must have felt very hurt after hearing their remark, that he was nothing more than a pawn in their wicked plan to trap Jesus.

Those who question whether Jesus upheld the Sabbath, have their answer here, yes He did. He went to the Synagogue for worship and bible reading on the Sabbath.

Those who favor of the Pharisees planting of the man with a shriveled hand as a ploy to trap Jesus. Do so by arguing that the man would not have been allowed in the Synagogue in the first place due to the fact that he was considered unclean because of his disease. Therefore those people, like lepers, were social outcasts and not allowed into mainstream society, even less so in the Synagogue.

From ancient sources such as the apocrypha Gospel of Hebrews it says the man was a bricklayer or stonemason who, while working, dropped a big field stone on his hand during construction. And that he asked Jesus to heal him so we wouldn’t have to beg anymore.-(  ?     )

We don’t know what caused the man’s debilitating condition. Over the years there have been a lot of different speculations: Some say he hurt his hand at work. There had been an accident and some rocks or bricks had fallen on the man’s hand which caused severe nerve damage. As a result his hand withered up. The man contracted a form of polio that was known to have existed around Capernaum at that time and that is what damaged his hand. The man suffered from of a type of rheumatoid arthritis that caused what some today call a “Claw hand”. The man was born that way as a result of a birth defect. The truth is we may never really know for sure. And to tell you the truth, it really doesn’t matter whether his hand was damaged by an accident or a disease.

If one stops to think of the severity of this man’s handicap and what it would have placed on him. He could no longer work, make a living, or earn an income. Think of the many restrictions this would have place upon him. If he was right-handed,-(Luke 6:6) His problem was extremely serious. The hand is a powerful multi-tool to help us through life. The hand is used to write, dress, wash dishes, prepare a meal, eat a meal. On the job he couldn’t use it to to pick a shovel, swing a hammer, or lift up stones. And as a result of not being able to provide for himself or his family, he was resigned to begging and casting himself on the charity of other people.