“If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?<\/em>” (Matthew 12:11 NIV).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So what is the right thing to do? To be merciful to the animal and pull it out? Or to follow the law and refuse to help it, and let it die?<\/p>\n To the man who has common sense, this is one of the most ridiculous questions to be asked:\u00a0“Why is there any discussion being made about what is right? Clearly, the right thing to do is to help the sheep regardless of the day.”<\/em><\/p>\n But this is commonly where religious legalism, dogma, whatever you want to call it, frequently leads people who genuinely want to do\u00a0what’s right<\/em> but find this apparent contradiction between common sense and a strict, narrow interpretation of a religious commandment.\u00a0So it becomes a real conundrum for them:\u00a0“The law told me not to work on the Sabbath, and following the law is\u00a0right<\/strong>, therefore I’m actually doing the\u00a0right<\/strong>\u00a0thing by doing nothing and letting the sheep die, even though it seems cruel. It was actually the good thing to do, because God told me to.”<\/em><\/p>\n This is also why so many people are turned off by “religion” because sooner or later, religious people end up debating whether doing something evil is actually good according to religious law. And it’s a disgusting and off-putting discussion to consider, much less engage with those on the outside.<\/p>\n Jesus continues his statement by saying:<\/p>\n “How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath<\/em>” (Matthew 12:12 NIV).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It is always,\u00a0ALWAYS<\/em><\/strong> lawful to do good. There should never be a question! If your interpretation of Scripture leads you to the conclusion that to do the right thing, you must then do an evil thing; you have not interpreted Scripture correctly. It is always lawful to do good.<\/p>\n Always.<\/p>\n This is how Paul put it:<\/p>\n “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.\u00a0Against such things there is no law<\/strong><\/em>” (Galatians 5:22-23 NET).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n There is no law of God that prevents, circumvents, or forbids you from doing good.<\/p>\n[Matthew 12:9-14] by Eric M. Hamilton via\u00a0A Whisper After the Fire Is it possible to come across a situation where the right thing to do would be to let something evil happen? Or would the wrong thing to do be to let a good thing happen? It may seem ridiculous that questions like that should even be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[78,177],"class_list":["post-36993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-authority","tag-law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":91934,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-much-more-the-god-who-cares\/","url_meta":{"origin":36993,"position":0},"title":"\u201cHow Much More\u201d – The God Who Cares","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson More than once, Jesus used a telling phrase that beautifully conveys how much God truly cares about us. \". . . which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22213,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-faith-an-absolute-requirement-for-jesus-healing-people\/","url_meta":{"origin":36993,"position":1},"title":"Was faith an absolute requirement for Jesus’ healing people?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Was faith the absolute requirement for Jesus' healing people? Answer: \"Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57680,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jesus-and-the-sabbath-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":36993,"position":2},"title":"Jesus and the Sabbath Law","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 5, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Walton Weaver From\u00a0That They All May Be One: Studies on Unity, Freedom and Authority in the Body of Christ, pp. 90-93 Those who adopt this way of handling the word of God believe that the law of love gives them the \"right\" to exalt love above God's law and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/disciplesGrain.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/disciplesGrain.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/disciplesGrain.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":57975,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-lost-one\/","url_meta":{"origin":36993,"position":3},"title":"The Lost One","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 14, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edwin Crozier via\u00a0Gospel Power, Vol. 14, No. 28, July 15, 2007 In Luke 15:1,2, the Pharisees and scribes grumbled against Jesus saying, \"This man receives sinners and eats with them.\" Jesus responded with a parable of a lost sheep. He asked how many of the men wouldn't leave the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/scan0071-246x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":66073,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ive-been-breaking-the-sabbath\/","url_meta":{"origin":36993,"position":4},"title":"I’ve been breaking the Sabbath","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 21, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm kind of in a tough situation and I need some help with this. I have a bad sin. It's the breaking of the Sabbath. \"Whoever breaks one commandment is guilty of breaking them all. For the same one who said, \"Do not commit adultery,\" also said, \"Do not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28037,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-paul-keep-the-sabbath\/","url_meta":{"origin":36993,"position":5},"title":"Did Paul keep the Sabbath?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I\u00a0read through\u00a0your article about the Sabbath\u00a0and how we don't have to keep it today.\u00a0 There are many scriptures I could cite to the contrary, but will only cite these few. In Matthew 24:20, \"breaking into what He was teaching about the time of the end just as the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36993\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/lamb-267x300.jpg\")
You have a situation where a sheep falls into a pit, but it’s the Sabbath. What do you do? Any other day of the week, this would not be a hard decision. You would lift the sheep out. But the Jews were forbidden by the law to do work on the Sabbath. You could make the argument that lifting a sheep out of a pit takes effort and is, therefore, work … and is, therefore, forbidden.<\/p>\n
\n[Galatians 5:22-23]\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"