They were puzzled. Jesus was talking again as though he was the Messiah. So far as the Pharisees could see, Jesus was just a preacher who broke the Law.
The Pharisees began to watch him still more carefully. They found another chance to get him into trouble soon after this. Jesus had gone into the synagogue to teach, and in the synagogue was a man whose hand was withered and useless. On any other day there was no doubt that Jesus would heal this man. But this was the Sabbath, and it was against the Law to heal anybody on that day unless he were in danger of dying. A man with a withered hand could wait another day. Surely even Jesus would not dare to break the rules again!
Jesus knew that they were watching to see what he would do. They would never forgive him if he made a move to heal this man.
He called out to the man,
"Stand up—up here, in front of everybody!"
When the man had come to the front, Jesus turned to the Pharisees.
"I am going to ask you something," he said. "If any one of you owned a sheep, and it fell into a pit on the Sabbath, wouldn't you lift it out? And don't you think that a man is worth more than a sheep? You say that it is against the Law to heal a man on the Sabbath. I say that it is always right to do good to somebody, on the Sabbath just the same as any other day!"
He looked around at the whole crowd. He was angry now. Would they actually let a man suffer one day more than was necessary? He turned back to the man with the useless hand.
"Stretch out your hand!" he commanded.
And when he spoke, the withered hand was healed, and made as good as the other one.