He replied, “If one of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out?
11. What man shall there be among you who shall have a sheep? Christ again points out what is the true way of keeping the Sabbath; and, at the same time, reproves them for slander, in bringing as a charge against him what was a universal custom.
The Jews had twisted the fourth commandment into a harsh strictness that Christ here corrects by His example. Works of necessity and mercy are lawful on the Sabbath; Christ's careful exposition proves the commandment stands firm for all ages, but His Church is freed from the rigid rules the Jewish elders had piled upon it.
AI summary
Commenting on Matthew 12:1-13
How much then is a man better than a sheep?.... As a rational creature must be better, and more excellent, than an irrational one, more care is to be taken of, and more mercy shown unto, the one, than the other: even the health of a man is preferable to the life of a beast; and if it is lawful to give food to a...