As we read through the Gospels, we see Jesus being accused again and again of breaking the Law. I have even heard Christians say that Jesus broke the Law. It would be good to understand what's happening.
One of the most common accusations made against Jesus was for healing on the Sabbath. So, I'll use that to help see what was happening.
In the Law given to Israel through Moses, it simply says to do no work on the Sabbath. It doesn't say whether healing is a work or not.
However, hundreds of years after Moses, when the Jews returned from exile in Babylon, they were naturally concerned. They had been exiled because they failed to keep God's Law. Thinking of the Law as being like a large hole in a field that someone might accidentally stumble into, they decided it would be a good idea to put a kind of fence or hedge around it. For example, they would define what is meant by working on the Sabbath. They were consciously adding definitions to God's Law.
Some years later another group decided it would be a good idea to put another hedge around the first one, in case someone accidentally stumbled through the first one.
These became a group of writings called the Mishnah, the Talmud and so on. In them is a whole book called Shabbat. This contained rules of what should and mustn't be done on the Sabbath.
By the time Jesus came, these extra rules were placed far above the Law of Moses. In fact, they even claimed these added definitions came from Moses as well. We must remember these came from anxiety, and not from God. They said that Moses wrote down the Law, which we find in the Old Testament. But, they said at the same time, Moses passed on an oral tradition through the line of high priests, and it was this tradition that they wrote down.
However, Jesus blasted them saying their traditions of men nullified the word of God (Mat 15:6 & Mark 7:13).
Irony
There is a wonderful irony in what happened. In their written down rules, they wrote down a list of things that only the Messiah could/would do. Obviously, the Jews were keenly waiting for their Messiah. Being very orderly people and by-the-book, they had signs to look out for. When someone reported one of these signs they would then investigate. They would follow the person around to see what they said and did. The first part of this was done in silence. Then, after the silent observation, they would ask questions.
There were four miracles they said only the Messiah could perform. This was to distinguish Him from the prophets such as Elijah and Elisha, for example. These four miracles are:
1, Cleanse a Jew of leprosy.
2, Cast out a deaf or dumb spirit.
3, Heal a birth defect.
4, Raise someone who has been dead for more than three days.
Here's the irony. They both said only the Messiah could heal someone who had been born blind, for example, but it was forbidden to heal on the Sabbath. Jesus performed the Messianic miracles on the Sabbath. He could have healed on any day, but He chose to show them He is their Messiah, while at the same time showing that He did not accept their teachings and rules.
When Jesus healed the man who had been born blind, the Pharisees questioned the man about who had healed him. The man replied as if to say, 'All my life you have been telling me only the Messiah can heal someone born blind, I've been healed, and now you are asking whether He was from God?!' John 9:30-33
The Pharisees were so hung up on the fact Jesus had broken their man-made traditions that, to them, he couldn't possibly be the Messiah.
God's covenant with His people was through His Law. As well-intentioned as it might have been to try to protect people from God's Law, God's Law was the means of the covenant, not the additions. Jesus came to teach the Jews the fullness of God's Law. The additions were a counterfeit that led people astray. Again and again, Jesus criticised their teachings.
The point here is Jesus never broke the Law given through Moses. But, he didn't allow the Pharisee's made-up rules get in His way.
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