READ: Mark 3:1
CHALLENGE: Avoid a Stubborn Heart
Mark 3:1-6 – Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”
4 Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.
5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
This passage demonstrates a colossal contrast between Jesus and the religious leadership. We want to emulate Jesus and not the “calloused religious”. Jesus was willing to heal on the Sabbath which was taboo in their world. Yet, the Pharisees plot murder on the Sabbath, who do you want to follow?
Jesus walks into the synagogue and there was a man there with a shriveled hand. What does that mean? It comes from a word that means, “withered” which can mean to dry out. When I think of a plant with leaves that are brown, dried, crinkly, and curled up becoming green again, that would be quite a stunning miracle. Brown crispy leaves unfurling back to a lush green. That’s not the way things tend to go so it would take power to cause such and effect. It’s truly amazing!
However, his poor man is apparently bait in a trap the Phasisees hoped to spring on Jesus. They were sitting back and salivating at the prospect of Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath. Then their narrow-minded band can accuse him and get rid of him.
The man’s handicap was a well-established fact to everyone in the synagogue and this fact is important to establish. This man’s hand did not work. His hand was useless and did not function at all.
Something supernatural and epic happens here. What can we learn about Jesus and ourselves?
- JESUS IS BOLD so, BE BRAVE
Jesus marches straight into the lion’s den. He knows they are picking a fight but that does not stop him. He’s not worried about human nonsense. If Jesus were to live to avoid all nonsense, he would have to live on a rock on a mountain top all by himself. The truth is, as long as there is humanity, there are sinners, and with sin comes a laundry list of bad behaviors and words. Don’t let that stop you from doing the right thing.
Jesus has the man stand up in front of everyone! Openly. Publicly. He’s not hiding anything! He wants the work of God to be clear. He wants his role in the work of God to be clear. He doesn’t wait until after service and quietly motion to the man and heal him out back when no one is watching so he avoids complaints. He’s not worried about catching flack for doing the right thing.
The Bible teaches that we don’t hide our light under bowl – we put it on a lampstand. He’s not living in secret.
(trans.) So here are a few lessons from the boldness of Christ.
- The Brave Don’t Cave to Peer Pressure
All eyes are on Jesus. What will He do? Will He cower? Will He cave? Or will He heal? The enemies of Jesus are specifically watching and he knows it. This is peer pressure, right? Some hate bucking the majority group think, right? They’re more worried about fitting in, popularity, and applause. The majority in the religious leadership thought that Jesus was wrong but the truth is not always found in the majority.
Jesus could not wait for the group approval to do the right thing. He sought God’s approval. Don’t wait for the crowd to approve what you are doing, do what’s right no matter what.
I love Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 4:3-4 – I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.
What if your family doesn’t like you coming to church? Does that mean you don’t come along? If your family doesn’t want you to pray before a meal, does that mean you don’t pray?
Parents have often said, if everyone was jumping off a cliff, would you? Of course you wouldn’t. You can’t follow the crowd over a cliff.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, did not go with the flow. They followed God and God rescued them. You have to be willing to stand alone!
Sometimes you’re the only one honest. The only one who cares. When it comes to doing the right thing, keep being the only one. There is power in one person. In Jeremiah, God was looking for one honest person. He said, if I found one honest person, I wouldn’t destroy the city. Be the only honest person and save your city!
Noah stood out in his world as the only righteous man on the planet and he and his family were the only ones to survive the flood too. Be brave enough to stand alone.
- The Brave Don’t Hide Their Light
Jesus brought the man up front. He wasn’t worried about what everyone else thought. You never have to be ashamed to do the right thing. It’s only when you’re not doing the right thing. Isn’t it weird to be embarrassed to do right? Like pray before you eat. Or read your Bible. Or talk about your faith. Or that you love your spouse! You
People are watching, are we willing to live out loud? Set a good example and people will see that and it will speak just like this story speaks too.
I think of Daniel when they told him not to pray. He threw open the shutters and prayed for them all to see. He wasn’t going to stop. They used to teach us that song. This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine. This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine! Hide it under a bush … oh no!
He’s bold – bring him up front.
- The Brave Will Challenge Your Thinking
V4 – Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?”
Truth isn’t complicated, right? He asks them a question – which is lawful on the Sabbath. To do good or to do evil? To save life or to kill? The answers are obvious. You should do good and save life.
There are times you have to challenge bad thinking. And you put it in a different light and make them think about it. Sometimes it’s good to ask, “How would you feel if someone did that to you”? Well, that’s a new perspective. You’re supposed to treat others how you want to be treated.
You want your life more simple, do the right thing. The Bible does not complicate it, it simplifies. God made us male and female. There, that wasn’t hard! Be faithful. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. Don’t forsake the assembling of ourselves together.
Is healing someone ever wrong? No, of course not! Do the right thing and let your light shine.
- JESUS HAD A HEART FOR OTHERS so BE LOVING
V5 – He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts,
He looks around at THEM. There’s more than one judgmental person in that crowd. He’s upset because why? Their stubborn hearts.
The word stubborn comes from a word that means, “hard”. You think of callouses on your hands and it causes you to have less feeling. And certainly their hearts were insensitive toward the plight of this man. They were religious and heartless at the same time. They didn’t believe in curing things on the Sabbath unless it was life or death. This guy can wait! He’s fine! Come back another day is a terrible principle. If it’s within your power to do right in the moment it needs to be done, then do it.
It’s interesting that their hard hearts grieve Jesus. He actually has feeling for them and their spiritual plight even though they have no compassion for this man. He’s the complete opposite of them.
I don’t want to be these guys. I would not want to grieve Jesus. So what do we need to avoid so we never come into the crosshairs of Jesus.
- Avoid Being Spiritually Blinded By Pride
These men are waiting for Jesus to do something UNLAWFUL! They want to accuse him. Who is the accuser of humanity? Satan. The name Satan means accuser! What was the original sin? Pride! You’re pretty prideful when you think you can be pulling specks out of people’s eyes while ignoring the planks in your own eyes.
If you’re throwing stones at someone, you have to believe that you’re better rather than an imperfect fellow sinner. They already have Jesus pinned as a sinner and they can never see past that to see any good. Because he’s this, he can never be good or do good. Jesus is bad. They start there despite all evidence to the contrary. They’re too blinded by pride to see the truth and that’s sad.
When you cannot see that God is working throught someone’s life because you’re blind to the good that they do because you think they are “bad”, that’s an issue. These were the people who would never allow a Mary Magdalene a chance to stand on her feet. They decried a notorious sinner touching Jesus. Complained that Jesus ate with sinners. They would never see good coming from a Levi even though he would write one of the most read books in history – the gospel of Matthew. They could never see past the label. Yes, Levi was a sinner but he didn’t stay there.
They had Jesus pinned as unlawful. Words they might use would be “unfit”. “Sinner”. Because Jesus didn’t fit their spiritual mold, any good that he did couldn’t be good. Whether you like someone or not, you should be able to acknowledge the difference between good and evil.
If you call yourself spiritual but can’t see the difference between good and evil, that’s a problem. Pride can really twist your thinking. All they see in a great miracle is something bad. Something unlawful. They genuinely believe that Jesus is a bad person when he’s not.
Our own prejudice at times can hold people back. We’ll deem them as not good enough and not see good as good because of something we considered bad, or their past, or the fact that we don’t like them. Somehow, some way, we’re above them and allowed to throw stones.
I think the best thing that we can do is to leave judgment with God. Just don’t judge. I like Paul’s attitude. Even if they preach out of false motives, as long as Christ is being preached, I’m happy. At least they’re doing a good thing. Jesus said, “If they’re not against us, they’re for us”. See the good!
- Avoid Looking for Problems
It says of these mean that they were looking which means to “observe from the side, or observe minutely”. They were paying great attention to detail. And what were they looking for? They were on the edge of their seat to see if perhaps Jesus would heal a man. So they could run and get him in trouble.
And did they want to see a great miracle? Did they want to praise Jesus? Were they hoping he would look good? They were only looking for bad.
This is what bias looks like. No matter what that person does, it will guaranteed not be the right thing from your perspective. Jesus will heal a person and they will say that is wrong.
It reminds me of the men in the days of Daniel. They didn’t like Daniel even though Daniel wasn’t doing anything wrong. So they really tried to find “the dirt” but he was so noble that they didn’t find him doing anything wrong. So what did they do? They decided to make a law that made it impossible for him to do his normal religious things, like pray to God. He was not allowed to pray. He did it any way of course. But they were looking.
Maybe we can say it like this – don’t be a nitpicker. If you have enough time to be worried about what everyone else is doing, you have way too much time on your hands.
- Avoid Lacking Compassion
Do the leaders actually care about the man? No. They just want to use it as a way to bash them. If they cared about a man who was handicapped, they’d want Jesus to heal him. As if their rule about the Sabbath was as important as the person. They’d be thinking, “Jesus, please heal them”. But they hate the fact that He’s helping because they don’t care.
This would be like stopping an ambulance for speeding. Or being mad at a police officer because he ran by you in an effort to save someone. He didn’t even say hi! There were bigger perogatives than you.
We need to be concerned about the people around us more than about rules. IF people are being helped, get out of the way.
- JESUS RESTORES so Be Confident in God’s Power
Vv 5-6 – He … said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
The religious leaders see the good of the miracle. Are they happy for the man who was healed? Nope! Luke 6:11 – But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.
They are mad as hornets because the man was healed. Remember Jesus said, these guys strain a gnat but swallow a camel? Here you are! My goodness!! He’s “curing” someone on the Sabbath. He mixed nothing up. He just said the words, “Stretch out your hand”. That’s all he did. And now that infraction makes him worthy of death in their eyes. Let’s forget that a person was just healed!
This is man – destroy what’s good. So ridiculous. They can’t be happy for him. They can’t be happy a great miracle has been done. THAT sinner! THAT evil man just totally healed this guy and it was awful.
You have to be able to discern the difference between right and wrong. He healed a man. Does this wake no one up? I would think that if He could unwither one person’s hand, he could wither another’s. Like maybe we just lay off Jesus.
They partner up with the Herodians. They are not particularly religious. They aren’t going to be perfect by a long shot and what they do is OK. As long as we can join together to attack Jesus we can be friends. You hate along with me? We can be friends. And it really does take the religious to attack God’s work. They are cool with plotting murder on the Sabbath but you can’t heal. Like Jesus said, by their fruit you will know them. What’s the evidence?
Celebrate good and decry evil. Paul said, abhor what is evil and cling to what is good. See the difference and certainly be able to see when God has been good.
God gives us the harvest. God gives us food. God gives us family and friends and it’s a beautiful thing. Can we see that? It’s important to acknowledge God. Do we understand – that’s a God thing! And this healing … that’s a God thing and it’s utterly ridiculous that so called religious leaders could not see it.
Let’s end with this. The healing happens at the moment that he says, “stretch out your hand”. He stretched it out and his hand was completely restored. Jesus restores the hand. He restores it back to new. This is what we need to understand about Christ; about God. He can restore back to new. He can restore your life. Restore your marriage. Restore your character. He can restore you.