Luke 6:9
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? 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?
Jesus asked whether Sabbath law permits kindness or harm, preserving life or ending it, when He restored a disabled hand on the holy day. The answer is that compassionate action to relieve suffering is right on that day, while withholding help leaves harm to continue. The question exposed stubborn hearts, for He was giving life while His critics nursed hatred and plotted His death on that same day. It strips away human restrictions that misrepresent God, upholding the fourth commandment as given while freeing the day for mercy.
Healing and Opposition
The question was asked at the healing of the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath, a good work of healing done on the Lord's day. The scribes and Pharisees and teachers were watching for grounds to accuse Him, and they accused Him as Lord of the Sabbath of breaking the Sabbath. They were angered, enraged and furious that He had done this good work on the Lord's day, though they claimed God's favor.
The charge that He broke the Sabbath could not be proved. An examination of His Sabbath work of healing the afflicted, which was doing good, would have exposed the weakness of the charge. His opponents therefore resorted to false witnesses rather than establishing a violation of the Sabbath.
That Sabbath miracle stirred great malice among the Jews. Jesus therefore withdrew with His disciples to the seaside of Galilee as a more favorable field to continue teaching and healing. News of the healing spread through all that region and drew great multitudes to follow Him there. There in divine pity He healed the sick and those possessed with demons, with healing power going out to all who touched Him in faith and with the demons confessing Him as the Son of God.
Lawful Sabbath Mercy
It is lawful on the Sabbath to do good and to save life, and restoring the man's withered hand demonstrates that the Sabbath permits acts of mercy. Refusing to help and allowing suffering to continue is set against doing good, and is likened to doing evil and destroying life. His extensive work of healing on the Sabbath put this principle into practice, comforting the sick and healing them.
The question confronts hearers with the moral choice between good and evil, saving life and killing, and exposes unreasonable hardness. While He healed the sick to preserve life, they pursued Him with hatred and planned to kill Him. Harboring murderous intent on the holy day is greater wickedness than showing love through deeds of mercy, contrasting Sabbath mercy and love with murder in the heart.
The question corrects false teachings about the Sabbath and sets aside the misrepresentation of God by those claiming to know Him. In His earthly ministry He emphasized the binding claims of the Sabbath and showed reverence for the institution He Himself had given, which had become so perverted that its observance reflected selfish and arbitrary men rather than God. In healing He breaks down Jewish custom and sweeps away the senseless restrictions that encumbered the day, leaving the fourth commandment standing as God gave it to the world. He exalts and honors the Sabbath by keeping it straight forward according to the law of God without even appearing to conform to human requirements and traditions, although followed with merciless hostility by the rabbis, while those who complain dishonor the Sabbath by many useless rites and ceremonies. He healed on the right hand and on the left, and fasting and prayer for the afflicted and dying on the Sabbath meets the Spirit of the Lord, so that when hearts are humbled before God He will come in and work abundantly to uphold and raise up the sick.