Matt. 12:1, At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.” 3 But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, 4 how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? 5 Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent? 6 But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 But if you had known what this means, ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT A SACRIFICE,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. Lord of the Sabbath 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” 9 Departing from there, He went into their synagogue. 10 And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned Jesus, asking, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse Him. 11 And He said to them, “What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then He *said to the man, “Stretch out your hand!” He stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.
Luke 6:8, But He knew what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” And he got up and came forward. 9 And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to destroy it?”
In this story Jesus is not primarily trying to confront a religious spirit in the hearts and minds of the Pharisees. I believe he was trying to accomplish two distinct things. One, he was again manifesting the true heart of the Father by revealing the Father’s heart of compassion. There were all kind of rules the Pharisees kept on the Sabbath as acts of sacrifice to God to prove to Him their devotion, and in hopes that their sacrifices would earn His favor; but Jesus was wanting them to understand that the Father was already a God of favor, because He is good. The Father was more concerned, out of compassion, that the disciples were hungry, than He was about rule keeping. He is a God of compassion.
The second thing Jesus wanted to accomplish was in the heart’s of his disciples. I quoted that one verse from the Luke account because Jesus looked at all of them just before he healed the man with the weathered hand, and asked them a question; “..is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or evil, to save a life, or to destroy it?” He basically said to have the ability to heal this man’s withered hand and to not do it is to do an evil act, and to participate in the destruction of his life. Jesus revealed once again the compassionate heart of the Father by healing the man’s hand, even if it meant breaking a Sabbath rule. Obviously, the Father picked a Sabbath for both of these events, because He trying to make a point.
There’s something really important here for you and me to see. Jesus gave his apostles, even while he was still on the earth, the power and authority to release the compassionate heart of God, to others. He sent them put to heal the sick, and to cast out demons. By the way, He has given all of us as members of His Church, the same authority and power, and assignment. Of course, the love of God can be manifested in many forms as we minister His compassionate heart, including healing the sick, and the demonized. According to verse 9 of luke 6, to not do so is to commit an act of evil, by allowing the destructive activity of the devil in a persons life to go unchallenged. My prayer is that all of us would wake up to the reality that because we are in Christ and that He is in by the indwelling Holy Spirit, we actually have HIS ability, and carry His assignment to do something about human suffering in all of its forms. Jesus wasn’t trying to make His disciples feel guilty, nor does he want us to feel guilty. That’s not how he operates. What he does want is for us to remember our assignment in continuing His ministry of destroying the works of the devil; and He wants us to be thrilled at the possibilities.