Jesus had just healed a man who had an abnormal swelling (Luke 14:1-4).  It was the Sabbath and the people were all watching to condemn Him for breaking the extensions to the Sabbath law - which Moses never commanded.  So, Jesus asked them where Moses said that people should not be healed on the Sabbath.  Their silence was appropriate because Moses never said that people could not do good on the day of worship.

Animals matter to God.  He has made them and allowed them to provide part of our food supply (Genesis 9:3), clothing (Genesis 3:21), hard-wearing leather (Exodus 25:5); and they can be killed for sacrifice (Exodus 29:36).  They are not made in the image of God, as human beings are, but they are all to be treated with dignity and compassion (Exodus 23:5; Exodus 23:12).  Jesus taught that Father God cares about even the birds (Matthew 6:26).  One of the ways children learn to be caring is to look after animals and give them names (Genesis 2:19-20).  However, nowhere does the Bible say that animals should take precedence over human beings – and yet pet animals are sometimes treated with more care than people, while farming communities see animal welfare as important to protect their investment portfolio.  

Jesus exposed the hypocrisy of their religion.  The Pharisees said that no healing might be done on the Sabbath - even though they were incapable of healing! - but accepted that the commercially valuable animals must be rescued even if they fell into a pit on the Sabbath (Luke 13:15).  That gave livestock greater rights and freedom than humans!  By contrast, the Pharisees wanted people to continue to suffer on the Sabbath just to comply with their rules (which God had not given).

Hypocrisy comes in many different forms.  Here, while pretending to be zealous for God, the financial implications of leaving a large animal in a pit (where it would die) outweighed all the regulations about people not being allowed to work.  Their god was really their money.    If animals should be respected and treated well, how much more important are human beings ?  By contrast, Jesus came to rescue people who had fallen into the pit of sin (Luke 19:10).  He knew we would die in our sins if we were left to ourselves ... and so He was determined to save us.  The healings on the Sabbath were visible demonstrations that He could and would fulfil His mission.  Religion which plays legalistic games but cannot save is useless - it is the ultimate hypocrisy.  But by contrast, Jesus sacrificed Himself because He wanted to save people from their sin.  What a freedom that should give us in sharing our faith with others at work.  We do not want (or need) to force people into a particular pattern of religious behaviour: but we do want them to meet Jesus and be transformed by Him.