And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was
there who had a withered hand. So they
watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they
might accuse Him. And He
said to the man who had the withered hand, “Step
forward.” Then He said to them, “Is it
lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they
kept silent. And when
He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their
hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch
out your hand.” And he
stretched it out, and
his hand was restored as whole as the other. Then the
Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how
they might destroy Him.- Mark 3:1-6
This story
of the man with the withered hand can be found in Matthew 12, Mark 3, and Luke
6. Today, I will be focusing mostly on
the account in Mark 3.
I love the
Gospel of Mark. It has become my
favorite Gospel. It seems like it has
the most stories of healing in it, though I haven’t ever counted and compared
it with the others.
Mark
didn’t walk physically with Jesus when he present during his earthly ministry. He would have been a youth at that time, so
he might have encountered Jesus. It is
widely held that the accounts he recorded came from the preaching of Peter.
In his
Gospel account, we find the word “immediately” a lot. I like that word.
In the
account of the man with the withered hand, Jesus was in the synagogue. Luke’s Gospel says He was teaching. He notices a man whose hand is “withered.” Withered is also translated as “paralyzed,
shriveled, and deformed.” Strong’s
Concordance defines withered as “dry, withered, dry land.” To me, that creates the image that it is
without moisture, like a desert, no life.
The way
the events are recorded is interesting.
Mark tells us that there is a man there with a withered hand. Then he tells us that there are people there
waiting to see if Jesus would heal him on the Sabbath, so they could “accuse
him.” Wait. THEY EXPECTED JESUS TO HEAL THE MAN. Isn’t that funny to you? They believed that Jesus was functioning in
the power of God and wherever He went, if death was present, He would bring
life back to it. But they weren’t
looking to Him for this in their own lives.
They were so wrapped up in being lawfully correct, and were bound by
something they didn’t understand, that they wouldn’t even care if someone who
was sick was made well.
So, Jesus
knew what they were thinking. He calls
the man up. Because that is what He
does. He acknowledged something not
right with the man and was going to fix it.
He didn’t ignore that the man needed help.
He has him
stand in front of everyone. Let’s think
about the man for a minute. It might be
quite embarrassing to be made to stand in front of everyone. Humility must have been present in that man’s
life. I believe humility is important
for faith to be present.
Then Jesus
asks them this question, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do
evil, to save life or to kill?” And then
nobody says anything. This makes Jesus
angry. I think this may be the only time
we are told Jesus is angry in the Bible.
We know He is grieved in other places, but this actually says He is
angry.
The
question He asks them is very telling. It
would seem that Jesus would equate healing with doing good and saving
life.
Jesus goes
on to heal the man.
He said to the man, “Stretch
out your hand.” And he
stretched it out, and
his hand was restored as whole as the other.
I think it is interesting how Jesus told him to do something
that in the natural might seem to be completely impossible. The man must have had some measure of faith,
to do what Jesus told him to do. And his
hand was completely restored, just like the other.
I believe that Jesus longs to restore what is withered in our
lives too.
Many blessings to you as you grow in the knowledge of Him,
Beth
To read more in the series go here:
Restoration, is my desire
ReplyDelete