Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 12:11-12

"And he said unto them, What man shall there be of you, that shall have one sheep, and if this fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man of more value than a sheep! Wherefore it is lawful to do good on the sabbath day." — Matthew 12:11-12 (ASV)

He answers their question with another. He propounds a case and makes them judges in it. If a poor man, with one sheep, saw it fall into a pit, or become cast on its back on the sabbath, would he not lay hold on it, and lift it out, and set it on its feet? Of course he would, and he would be right to do so. How much then is a man better than a sheep? Therefore, it is and must be right to help a man. Alas, some act as if a man were not better than an animal, for their dogs and horses are better housed than their laborers, and they are more indignant about the killing of a fox than at the starving of a pauper.

Our Lord’s argument was overwhelming. One form of human kindness being proved to be right, the whole class of beneficent actions is admitted, and it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days. One wonders that anybody ever thought otherwise. But zeal for externals and hatred of spiritual religion, when united, create a narrow bigotry as cruel as it is ridiculous. Our Lord has set us free from the Rabbinical yoke, and we find rest unto our souls in a true spiritual Sabbath. Let none, however, from this liberty, infer a license and treat the Lord’s Day as if it were their own and might be spent for their own purposes. They best keep the Sabbath who on the seventh day, and always, rest from their own works, as God did from His; but how can a man rest until he knows the finished work of God in Christ Jesus?