Key Thought

Any day set aside to honor God and to bring rest to his people must recognize the holy worship in blessing others. To rest on the Sabbath for the Jews did not mean to refrain from any form of labor, but it did mean to honor God on the day he set aside and to bless his children by letting them enjoy his rest and praise him. Similarly, everyday for Christians is to be a day to worship God and to serve others.

Today's Prayer

Get WJD by EMAIL!

Enter your email address above to subscribe to the email edition of What Jesus Did! Follow along FREE every day as we go through Matthew in a year. More Info on Mailing Lists

Holy God, today I ask for your blessing to be upon those I love who need your blessing, grace and healing. I know you know them far better than I, but I ask you to bless them as I bring their names to your attention ... Father, lead me to those today that you want me to reach with the grace of Jesus. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Today's Verses in Context

About that same time, Jesus was walking through the fields of grain on a Sabbath day. Jesus' followers were with him, and they were hungry. So the followers began to pick the grain and eat it. The Pharisees saw this. They said to Jesus, "Look! Your followers are doing something that is against the {Jewish} law to do on the Sabbath day." Jesus said to them, "You have read what David did when he and the people with him were hungry. David went into God's house. David and the people with him ate the bread that was offered to God. It was against the law for David or the people with him to eat that bread. Only the priests were allowed to eat it. And you have read in the law {of Moses} that on every Sabbath day the priests at the temple break the law about the Sabbath day. But the priests are not wrong for doing that. I tell you that there is something here that is greater than the temple. The Scripture says, 'I don't want animal sacrifices; I want you to show kindness to people.' You don't really know what those words mean. If you understood those words, then you would not judge those people that have done nothing wrong. "The Son of Man is Lord (ruler) over the Sabbath day. " Jesus left that place and went into their synagogue. In the synagogue there was a man with a crippled hand. Some Jews there were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus of doing wrong. So they asked Jesus, "Is it right to heal on the Sabbath day?" Jesus answered, "If any of you has a sheep, and the sheep falls into a ditch on the Sabbath day, then you will take the sheep and help it out of the ditch. Surely a man is more important than a sheep. So the law {of Moses} allows people to do good things on the Sabbath day." Then Jesus said to the man with the crippled hand, "Let me see your hand." The man put his hand out for Jesus, and the hand became well again, the same as the other hand. But the Pharisees left and made plans to kill Jesus.

— Matthew 12:1-14 (ERV)

Easy-to-Read Version copyright © 2001 by World Bible Translation Center. All rights reserved.