J.C. Ryle's Devotional Thoughts on the Gospel of Luke
Section 31
The Withered Hand Healed
Luke Chapter 6, verses 6-11

And it came to pass also on another Sabbath that he entered into the synagogue and taught. And there was a man whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and Pharisees watched him whether he would heal on the Sabbath day that they might find an accusation against him. But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man that had the withered hand, Rise up and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth. Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing. Is it lawful on the Sabbath days to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it? And looking around about upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so. And his hand was restored whole as the other. And they were filled with madness, and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus.

These verses contain another example of our Lord Jesus Christ's mode of dealing with the Sabbath question. Once more we find him coming into collision with the vain traditions of the Pharisees about the observance of the fourth commandment. Once more we find him clearing the day of God from the rubbish of human traditions and placing its requirements on the right foundation.

We're taught in these verses the lawfulness of doing works of mercy on the Sabbath day. We read that before all the scribes and Pharisees our Lord healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. He knew that these enemies of all righteousness were watching to see whether he would do it in order that they might find an accusation against him. He boldly asserts the right of doing such works of mercy even on the day when it is said you shall do no manner of work. He openly challenges them to show that such a work was contrary to the law. I will ask you one thing, he says, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy? To this question his enemies were unable to find an answer.

The principle here laid down is one of wide application. The fourth commandment was never meant to be so interpreted as to inflict injury on man's body. It was intended to admit of adaption to that state of things which sin brought into the world. It was not meant to forbid showing kindness on the Sabbath to the afflicted, or attending to the needs of the sick. We may drive in a carriage to minister comfort to the dying. We may stay away from public worship in order to fetch a doctor or be useful in a sick room. We may visit the fatherless and widow in trouble. We may preach and teach and instruct the ignorant. These are works of mercy. We may do them and yet keep the Sabbath holy. They're not breaches of God's law.

One thing, however, we must carefully remember. We must take heed that we do not abuse the liberty which Christ has given us. It is in this direction that our danger chiefly lies in modern times. There is little risk of our committing the error of the Pharisees and keeping the Sabbath more strictly than God intended. The thing to be feared is the general disposition to neglect the Sabbath and to rob it of that honor which it ought to receive. Let us take heed to ourselves in this matter.

We are taught secondly in these verses the perfect knowledge that our Lord Jesus Christ possesses of men's thoughts. We see this in the language used about him when the scribes and Pharisees were watching him. We read that he knew their thoughts. Expressions like this are among the many evidences of our Lord's divinity. It belongs to God alone to read hearts. He who would discern the secret intents and imaginations of others must have been more than man.

No doubt he was a man like ourselves in all things, sin only accepted. This we may freely grant to the Sackinian, who denies the divinity of Christ. The texts the Sackinian quotes, in proof of our Lord's manhood, are texts which we believe and hold as fully as himself. But there are other plain texts in Scripture which prove that our Lord was God as well as man. Of such texts, the passage before us is one. It shows that Jesus was God over all, blessed forever. Romans 9, verse 5.

Let the remembrance of our Lord's perfect knowledge always exercise a humbling influence upon our souls. How many vain thoughts and worldly imaginations pass through our minds every hour which man's eye never see? What are our own thoughts at this moment? What have they been this very day while we've been reading or listening to this passage of scripture? Would they bear public examination? Would we want others to know all that passes in our mind? These are serious questions and deserve serious answers.

Whatever we may think of them, it is a certain fact that Jesus Christ is hourly reading our hearts. Truly, we ought to humble ourselves before Him and cry daily, Who can tell how often He offends? Cleanse me from secret faults. God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

We are taught lastly in these verses the nature of the first act of faith when a soul is converted to God. The lesson is conveyed to us in a striking manner by the history of the cure which is here described. We read that our Lord said to the man whose hand was withered, stretch forth your hand. The command at first sight seems unreasonable, because the man's obedience was apparently impossible. But the poor sufferer was not stopped by any doubts or reasonings of this kind. At once we read that he made the attempt to stretch forth his hand, and in making the attempt was cured.

He had faith enough to believe that he who bade him stretch forth his hand was not mocking him, and ought to be obeyed. And it was precisely in this act of implicit obedience that he received a blessing. His hand was completely restored.

Let us see in this simple history the best answer to those doubts and hesitations and questionings by which anxious inquirers often perplex themselves in the matter of coming to Christ. They ask, how can we believe? How can we come to Christ? How can we lay hold on the hope set before us? The best answer to all such inquiries is to bid men do as he did who had the withered hand. Let them not stand still reasoning, but act. Let them not torment themselves with philosophic speculations, but cast themselves just as they are on Jesus Christ.

By so doing, they will find their course made clear. How, or in what manner, we may not be able to explain. But we may boldly make the acetation that in the act of striving to draw near to God, they shall find God drawing near to them. But if they deliberately sit still, they must never expect to be saved. you