Matthew 12: 9-14 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.”
So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus (NIV).
After having given an explanation in response to the accusation by the Pharisees, possibly within the hour, the Pharisees continue with their vindictive course by asking Jesus a question to try and find fault with Him. Jesus patiently answers their question, and then Jesus does a miraculous healing right there in front of everyone in a synagogue. What is the response of the Pharisees? They react by working to develop some plan to kill Jesus.
Tragically, this is one of a number of occasions recorded in Scripture where religious leaders, who probably felt a threat to their power and prestige, considered killing Jesus after He began His ministry work at about thirty years of age (see Luke 3:23). For example, John even recorded there were people who realized that religious leaders were trying to kill Jesus: “At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, ‘Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?’” (John 7:25).
Jesus would eventually be killed following a Passover meal which started at twilight on the day we now call “Friday.” (Note each ancient Jewish new day started at twilight, unlike in the U.S. where a new day starts at midnight.) Christians around the world have taken some time year after year to remember the crucifixion of Jesus on the Friday within the week of the Jewish Passover. (Note the day floats every year because the Jewish calendar follows a lunar cycle.) Christians for many years have termed this annual day “Good Friday.”
Why is the day which Jesus was murdered termed “good?” Because God’s plan all along was for Jesus to die on a cross as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of people. The death of Jesus, God the Son, goes beyond my understanding, yet the result: Jesus made it possible for every person ever created to have the gift of eternal life. This is because Jesus was the substitute for the consequence of sins, which is spiritual death. On the cross, Jesus died for your sins. If you believe in Jesus as your Savior and Lord, you will be forgiven of your sins, you will be justified before our Holy God, and you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit, who will dwell in your heart forever. You also will begin a process of being sanctified, which means you will be changed to be more and more holy. That means there is going to be some suffering as you are changed, yet you will be a person you can be proud of, proud in a good way.
Only God could take such a disaster and bring eternal good from it. And our Holy God wants to enable us to carry on doing good for people, and even ourselves, day after day.
Hunter Irvine
