1

Jesus Healed a Man with a Shriveled Hand

2

(Matthew 12:11)

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?

3

In the land of Judah, where Jesus stayed, the Sabbath was kept very strictly.
They thought doing anything on the Sabbath was wrong.

4

On one Sabbath, Jesus went to the Jewish synagogue.
The synagogue was a place where the Jews worshipped and had Bible studies.
It was a place like our church.

5

There were many Jews in that synagogue.
However, among them, there was a man who had a shriveled hand.

6

The Jews wanted to make trouble for Jesus and accuse Him.
So when Jesus came inside of the synagogue, they tested Jesus.
They asked, "Is it right to heal a sick person on the Sabbath?

7

Jesus already knew that they asked this question to make trouble for him.
So instead, Jesus asked back with another question.

8

"Let's say that one of you has a sheep and that sheep fell into a pit.
If it was your sheep, wouldn't you pull out the sheep from the pit?"
Even the Jews who asked Jesus were not able to say a word.

9

Jesus continued, "How much more valuable is a man than a sheep?
If you are going to pull out the sheep from the pit even it was the Sabbath, isn't it right to heal a suffering man on the Sabbath, too? Doing good on the Sabbath is right."

10

After saying that, Jesus went to the man with a shriveled hand.
Then said to that man. "Stretch out your hand."

11

Hearing the words of Jesus, the man stretched out his shriveled hand.
Then, surprisingly, his shriveled hand stretched out just like the other hand.
An amazing miracle had just happened.

12

Jesus healed the man with a shriveled hand.
By doing so, Jesus gave great happiness to that person.
Jesus did a truly good thing on the Sabbath.
That man had received a great gift on the Sabbath.

13

The Jews, who tried to accuse Jesus for not keeping the Sabbath, saw the miracle that Jesus performed but even after seeing it they still did not believe Jesus.
Instead, they hated Jesus all the more because they thought they were humiliated.

14

The Jews kept the Sabbath well by following the law but they had no heart for loving God. They did not know what makes God happy.
That is why they had done such wrong acts.

15

For us, the Sabbath is Sunday.
Different from the other days, Sunday should be kept specially.
On Sundays, we should faithfully worship God with all of our hearts.

16

Also, Jesus tells us to help the hardships of others and comfort them on Sunday.
On Sunday, try to take care of new-comers or help friends needing help.
It is also a thing which can make God happy.

17

On every Sunday, we should remember Jesus, the owner of Sunday and we should work hard to do something that can make Jesus happy. Just like how our Jesus did, we should also do good things to help others.