The Man with a Withered Hand (Matthew 12:9–14; Mark 3:1–6; Luke 6:6–11)

The texts below are quoted verbatim from public-domain English translations; nothing is paraphrased.

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St. Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444)read the full homily ›

Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Sermon 23 (on Luke 6:6–11) Source: trans. R. Payne Smith, 1859. Public domain. Full text: https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/cyril_on_luke_02_sermons_12_25.htm

On the envy that watched Him, and why He called the man into the midst:

But the Pharisees watched Him, to see if He would heal on the sabbath: for such is the nature of an envious man, that he makes the praises of others food for his own disease, and wickedly is maddened by their reputation. And what once more said He to this, Who knoweth all things, Who searcheth the hearts, and understandeth whatever is therein? ... "He spake to him that had the withered hand, Stand forth into the midst." And why did He do this? It might perhaps be to move the cruel and unpitying Pharisee to compassion: the man's malady perhaps might shame them, and persuade them to allay the flames of envy.

On the question "Is it lawful to do good?", and the Sabbath as a law of mercy:

I will ask you something: Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? Most wise in very deed is this question, and a statement most suitable to meet their folly. For if it be lawful to do good on the sabbath, and nothing prevents the sick being pitied by God, cease thus picking up opportunities for faultfinding against Christ ... But if it be not lawful to do good on the sabbath, and the law forbids the saving of life, thou hast made thyself an accuser of the law, thou hast slandered the commandment, for which the ministry of Moses is regarded with admiration.

And were it our wish to examine closely the law enacted for the sabbath, we should find it ordained by God for purposes of mercy. For He commanded to do no work on the sabbath, and entirely to abstain from labour, and even to give rest at the same time to the irrational animals. For He said, that its purpose was, "that thy manservant may rest, and thy maidservant, thy ox, and thy beast of burden, and all thy cattle." But He Who has mercy on the ox and other animals, how would not He pity on the sabbath day a man who was attacked by a severe and irremediable malady?

On the madness that answered the miracle:

And they were filled with madness. Is not the miracle enough to produce faith? Thou seest Him working with godlike dignity, and with supreme power healing the sick, and travaillest thou with murder, bred of envy and malice?

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St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407)read the full homily ›

Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew, Homily 40 (on Matthew 12:9–14) Source: trans. in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 10. Public domain. Full text: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/200140.htm

On the tenderness that set the man in the midst, and the hardness that preferred to wound Christ's name:

See the tender bowels of the Lord. “He set him in the midst,” that by the sight He might subdue them; that overcome by the spectacle they might cast away their wickedness, and out of a kind of shame towards the man, cease from their savage ways. But they, ungentle and inhuman, choose rather to hurt the fame of Christ, than to see this person made whole: in both ways betraying their wickedness; by their warring against Christ, and by their doing so with such contentiousness, as even to treat with despite His mercies to other men.

On the question asked not to learn but to accuse, and the meekness that answered it:

And it is likely that both took place. For being unholy wretches, and well assured that He would doubtless proceed to the healing, they hastened to take Him beforehand with their question, thinking in this way to hinder Him. And this is why they asked, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days?” not for information, but that “they might accuse Him.” Yet surely the work was enough, if it were really their wish to accuse Him; but they desired to find a handle in His words too, preparing for themselves beforehand an abundance of arguments. ... But He in His love towards man doth this also: He answers them, teaching His own meekness, and turning it all back upon them; and points out their inhumanity.

On the appeal to their own practice, and the tragedy that the man's healing left them worse:

And here again; “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? Which of you shall have one sheep?” For He knew their love of wealth, that they were all taken up with it, rather than with love of mankind. And indeed the other evangelist saith, that He also looked about upon them when asking these questions, that by His very eye He might win them over; but not even so did they become better. ... But nevertheless none of these things made them meek; rather, while the man was healed, they by his health became worse. ... For His desire indeed was to cure them before him, and He tried innumerable ways of healing, both by what He did in their presence, and by what He said: but since their malady after all was incurable, He proceeded to the work.

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Theophylact of Ohrid (c. 1055–1107)read the full homily ›

From his Explanation of the Gospel of Mark, as preserved in the Catena Aurea on Mark. Public domain.

On why the Lord worked this miracle on the Sabbath:

After confounding the Jews, who had blamed His disciples, for pulling the ears of corn on the sabbath day, by the example of David, the Lord now further bringing them to the truth, works a miracle on the sabbath; shewing that, if it is a pious deed to work miracles on the sabbath for the health of men, it is not wrong to do on the sabbath thing necessary for the body.

On the withered right hand as a figure of the soul that has ceased from good works:

Or, he had his right hand withered, who does not the works which belong to the right side; for from the time that our hand is employed in forbidden deeds, from that time it is withered to the working of good. But it will be restored whenever it stands firm in virtue; wherefore Christ saith, "Arise," that is, from sin, "and stand in the midst;" that thus it may stretch itself forth neither too little nor too much.

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Blessed Augustine of Hippo (354–430)read the full homily ›

From his On the Harmony of the Evangelists, as preserved in the Catena Aurea on Mark. Public domain.

On the apparent difference between Matthew and Mark in who asked the question:

But some one may wonder how Matthew could have said, that they themselves asked the Lord, if it was lawful to heal on the sabbath-day; when Mark rather relates that they were asked by our Lord, "Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath-day, or to do evil?"

On how the two accounts are reconciled:

Therefore we must understand that they first asked the Lord, if it was lawful to heal on the sabbath-day, then that understanding their thoughts, and that they were seeking an opportunity to accuse Him, He placed in the middle him whom He was about to cure, and put those questions, which Mark and Luke relate. We must then suppose, that when they were silent, He propounded the parable of the sheep, and concluded, that it was lawful to do good on the sabbath-day.

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St. Bede the Venerable (c. 673–735)read the full homily ›

From his Commentary on Mark, as preserved in the Catena Aurea on Mark. Public domain.

On how the watchers laid a snare on every side:

For, since He had defended the breaking of the sabbath, which they objected to His disciples, by an approved example, now they wish, by watching Him, to calumniate Himself, that they might accuse Him of a transgression, if He cured on the sabbath, of cruelty or of folly, if He refused.

On the mystical meaning of the withered hand, dried up in Adam and restored on the Cross:

But mystically, the man with a withered hand shews the human race, dried up as to its fruitfulness in good works, but now cured by the mercy of the Lord; the hand of man, which in our first parent had been dried up when he plucked the fruit of the forbidden tree, through the grace of the Redeemer, Who stretched His guiltless hands on the tree of the cross, has been restored to health by the juices of good works.

On why the hand was withered in the synagogue itself:

Well too was it in the synagogue that the hand was withered; for where the gift of knowledge is greater, there also the danger of inexcusable guilt is greater.