Message preached Sunday, December 7, 2014 from Mark 3:1-6
Theme: In this passage, we see the characteristics of Jesus’ goodness in action.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
I come to this morning’s story from the Gospel of Mark with a sense of excitement. One reason for the excitement is because just about a month and a half ago, I was standing in the very place where it happened. (I probably will never get tired of saying that; but I hope you don’t get tired of hearing it!) But another reason I’m excited is because it is a wonderful story of our Lord. We can never hear enough about Him!
I want to begin by simply reading the story. Then, I need to show you why it is important in terms of the whole story of the Gospel of Mark. And finally, I want to share with you what I have discovered about the character of our wonderful Lord from it.
First, here’s the passage. It’s found in Mark 3:1-6; and it reads;
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).
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What an amazing story! And let me begin our look at it by telling you why I believe it is important to the whole flow of the Gospel of Mark.
One clue that you will find is from the first word you see in it—the word “And”. That word connects this story very closely to the story that preceded it in Mark’s Gospel—the story that’s found at the end of the second chapter of this Gospel. We looked at that story together last week. It’s the story that tells of how the disciples of Jesus were walking along the grain field and began to pluck the heads off of the grain, rub them in their hands, and began eating. We’re told that the Pharisees confronted Jesus about that because they felt that the disciples were violating the requirements of the Sabbath Day. They interpreted the disciples as working on the Sabbath; and they wanted to know why Jesus—the Teacher of those disciples—was allowing them to do so.
And you’ll remember that Jesus answered the Pharisees by saying that even the Old Testament law allowed God’s people to place the requirements of necessary mercy over a strict adherence to the letter of the law. His disciples were hungry and in need; and so, even though they may have been violating the strict Sabbath regulations as the Pharisees had interpreted them, they were not doing anything wrong in terms of what God truly required of them. And what’s more, Jesus even asserted that He Himself was the Lord of the Sabbath.
So; that story was about the opposition that was beginning to grow between our Lord and the religious leaders of the day. They believed that He was violating the Sabbath—and even daring to set Himself above their regulations as Lord over the Sabbath. The word “And” at the beginning of this morning’s passage connects that story with this one as yet another story about that growing opposition.
And another very obvious clue about its importance to the story of Mark’s Gospel is what we find in the very last verse—that is, in verse 6. After Jesus healed this poor man with the withered hand in the synagogue on the Sabbath, we’re told, “Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.” The opposition to our Lord in this story took a deadly turn—and as we know, that opposition even eventuated in Jesus being handed over for crucifixion!
Look at how intense this opposition became! We’re told that the Pharisees plotted with the Herodians against Him. Who were the Herodians? They were a Jewish political party that—as their name implied—stood in support of the reign of the Herodian family and in favor of Roman rule. King Herod the Great—the king who was reigning over the Jewish people at the time of Jesus’ birth—was not a Jew. He was an Idumean—a man of Arab descent, and was therefore not legitimate in his role as the king of the Jewish people. The Romans had placed him over the Jews; and he, in turn, served the interests of the Roman government. His sons later reigned in his place; and the Herodians in the time of Jesus were in support of their rule. That meant that they were in support of Roman law and Greek culture over against that of the Jewish law and Jewish culture.
You really couldn’t find two more opposite groups than the party of the Pharisees and the party of the Herodians! And yet, they joined together in their opposition to our Lord. They plotted together how they might destroy Him. And from then on, their plotting and scheming and opposition are always in the background in in the story of our Lord’s earthly ministry.
So; that’s one reason why this morning’s story—the story of our Lord’s healing of a poor, needy man on the Sabbath—is so important. But there is another reason why it is important. It’s important because it teach us much about the goodness of our Lord in the work He did of displaying His power and authority in bringing about that healing.
One reason that it’s a good thing to study the character of our Lord is because we learn what He is able to be toward all those who trust Him. Our Lord is a good Savior—The Good Shepherd. And that’s a wonderful thing to know, because we ourselves are broken, needy, sin-damaged people; and we desperately need the goodness of the Good Shepherd! But another reason why it’s so good for His redeemed followers to study what He is like is because, as we do so, we ourselves grow to be more like Him. As the apostle Paul wrote;
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18).
So this morning, I ask that we go through the details of this story together; and enjoy pulling out from it some of the things it teaches us about the goodness of our Lord.
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Now; the first thing we see is . . .
1. JESUS’ FAITHFULNESS TO THE FATHER’S PRIORITIES (v. 1a).
We see this in verse 1 where it tells us, “And He entered the synagogue again . . .”
That word “again” tells us that this was a synagogue that He had entered before; and if we look back in the Gospel of Mark, we find that this would be the synagogue in His adopted hometown of Capernaum—along the northern shores of the Sea of Galilee.
Do you remember what happened in that synagogue before? That was where Jesus was teaching one Sabbath Day when a man with an unclean spirit began to cry out and say, “Let us alone! What have we do to with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:24). Jesus rebuked that unclean spirit and commanded it to come out of the man. And soon afterward, Jesus’ fame spread everywhere throughout the regions of Galilee; and people were coming to Him to be ministered to by Him. You might say that, in terms of the opposition to our Lord from the religious leaders of the day, that’s where the trouble began. From then on it seems, opposition began to follow Him into every synagogue and on every Sabbath. And yet, thought it may have meant more trouble to do so, our Lord was nevertheless there in the synagogue on the Sabbath “again”—entering into the place of the worship of His Father.
And may I suggest to you that this shows forth the good character of our Lord’s faithfulness with respect to the priorities of the Father for His life? Even though it may have meant difficulty for Him; even though it may have cost Him something to do so; even though we could reasonably say that, if anyone didn’t really ‘need’ to go to the place of worship, it would have been the Son of God, Jesus nevertheless went to place of worship on the appointed day and pursued the priorities of His heavenly Father.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; I am of course speaking to you today while you are here—in this place of worship on Sunday morning. I’m glad we’re all here. But may the Holy Spirit impact us with the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus; so that for all our days on earth—while we live and have the strength—we will pursue the priorities of the heavenly Father for our lives. May He help us to be faithful to be in a Bible-believing, Christ-proclaiming church somewhere every Lord’s day. May He help us to meet with the Lord daily in personal prayer, and in personal study of His word. May He help us to be faithful to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness”.
That’s the kind of faithfulness our Lord displayed toward His Father’s priorities.
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So; Jesus was faithful to be in the Father’s house—pursing the things that concerned His Father. And Mark tells us that “a man was there who had a withered hand”.
We’re not told that this poor man’s whole arm was withered or disfigured and disabled. It was only his hand that was withered; because when Jesus commanded him to rise up in the synagogue and stretch that hand out, he was able to do so. And Luke—who was a physician, by the way; and would notice such things—wrote in his Gospel that it was the man’s right hand. I don’t believe that the man had suffered this condition from birth. I believe that the disabling of his right hand came about because of some accident; because at the end of the story, we’re told that Jesus “restored” it. There was even an ancient tradition from one of the non-biblical writings that drifted around in the early church that this man was a mason who had made a living with his hands; and that because of this injury, he had been reduced to begging for his food.1
Now; perhaps this poor man had heard the stories about the healing power of Jesus; and had made his way into the synagogue in the hopes that—sometime along the way—he might come to Jesus and ask for mercy. But there were some others who were present who knew about the man—and that was the Pharisees. We’re not told at first who they were; but only in verse 2 that “they” watched Jesus “closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath”. But the “they” could be no other than the very ones that had confronted Jesus and His disciples a Sabbath or two before in the grain field.
It may be that, as they were in the synagogue, they were excited to see this poor man come in, because it gave them the opportunity against the Lord that they had been hoping for. Or it’s even possible that they encouraged the man to come in in the hopes of planting him before our Lord as a trap against Him. It wouldn’t be the only time, after all, that they had sought to lay a trap for our Lord. But however it happened, we’re told that they watched Jesus carefully to see if He would heal the man on the Sabbath “so that they might accuse Him”.
And think carefully about that! They counted on the fact that the Lord Jesus would see the poor man, and would want to heal him. This, I believe, leads us to another quality of the goodness of our Good Shepherd that we see in this passage; and that is . . .
2. JESUS’ RELIABILITY TO DO THAT WHICH IS GOOD (v. 1b-2).
Do you remember way back in the Old Testament, and to the story of Daniel? Daniel was a great man of God who had been appointed as a high ranking official over all the other officials of the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians. Those other officials were jealous of him and wanted to have some kind of charge to make against him. But he was a profoundly righteous man; and they knew that the only way they could trap him, and could thereby have him thrown alive into the den of lions, was if it was through his devotion to God. So, they crafted a law that made it illegal for anyone to pray or make petitions to any god except to the king. And just as they hoped, Daniel was faithful to open up the window of his home—three times a day—and pray openly to God. They counted on Daniel’s reliability before God to do what was good. And that’s also how these Pharisees sought to trap our Lord—counting on His reliability to see the man in need and to do good to him on the Sabbath. In spite of the notorious nature of the details, what a wonderful aspect of our Lord’s goodness this shows us!
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; I wonder—could the enemies of our Lord do that with you and me? If they wanted to trap us in some way, could they do so by counting on our reliability to do what is good in the sight of God? Frankly, I hope so. Let’s grow closer to Jesus, and learn to be as reliable as He showed Himself to be in doing good.
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So; those who sought trap the Lord Jesus counted on Him to do what was good. And of course, in this, they were not disappointed.
But Jesus knew what they were up to. The Bible tells us that no one ever needed to tell our Lord what was in man. He always knew. In fact, when Luke tells us this story, he tells us plainly that Jesus knew the thoughts of these Pharisees. But that’s when we see yet another quality of our Lord’s goodness; and that is . . .
3. JESUS’ COURAGE IN THE PRESENCE OF HIS ENEMIES (v. 3).
Jesus didn’t merely cast the man a knowing glance; or merely mouth the words to him that He would meet him out back—after the synagogue service was over. Look at how bold our Lord is! We’re told that—knowing what the Pharisees were up to; and in the plain sight of everyone—“He said to the man who had the withered hand, ‘Step forward.’” It may be that the man had been sitting almost unnoticed in the crowd before then; but because Jesus literally told him, “Arise in the midst”, the attention of everyone was now on the man—and on what Jesus would do for him.
We live in dark times. And in such times, it’s tempting to hide our faithfulness to God from the eyes of those who are in rebellion against Him. But I love what it tells us in Acts 4:13 about the apostles—after they were told by the leaders of Israel to be silent about Jesus. The apostles nevertheless continued to testify of the Lord. And Bible tells us this about those leaders;
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13).
May we so ‘be with’ Jesus that His courage in this world becomes our courage as well!
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So; Jesus called the man up in the sight of all—including the sight of the Pharisees who were attempting to trap Him. Perhaps everyone recognized the man as a poor beggar who had a withered hand. I am supposing you could have heard a pin drop!
And even though the Pharisees meant to challenge Jesus, Jesus now challenged them. He put a question to them—with everyone listening; and because it was a question about the law, everyone would have been looking at the Pharisees to see what answer they would give. Jesus said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” What a question! If Jesus had knowingly turned this poor man away in his need—if Jesus had simply said, “Go away, and come again some other day”—that would have left the man with yet another day of need; another day without the ability to provide for himself. To do so would have been to leave the man in need. It would have been an act of evil; an act that took away something of the man’s life—and it would have been to do so on, of all days, the Sabbath of the Lord. Our Lord would not let such a thing happen.
This, then, shows us another aspect of our Lord’s goodness; that is . . .
4. JESUS’ JUSTNESS WITH RESPECT TO GOD’S LAW (v. 4a).
God’s Sabbath law prohibited people from doing their regular work; and all so they could rest and be refreshed from their labors. But it was never meant by God as a day to allow people to suffer and remain under the burden of need when that need could be met. As the Lord Himself said in Isaiah 58:6-7;
“Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
To loose the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the heavy burdens,
To let the oppressed go free,
And that you break every yoke
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out;
When you see the naked, that you cover him,
And not hide yourself from your own flesh?” (Isaiah 58:6-7).
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day would have left this poor man in the bondage of need out of a distorted devotion to their own concept of the letter of the law. That would have been to use the law of God in such a way as to inflict cruelty upon people. That would have been an unjust thing to do with respect to God’s good law. And our Lord Jesus is Someone who is always just in His dealings with people.
May we learn from Jesus to practice His justice toward others with respect to the law of God.
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Notice their reaction to Jesus. We’re told, “But they kept silent.” And it wasn’t because they felt convicted by His words. It was because they knew that He had them over a barrel. If they said, “It is right to do good and save a life;” then they would lose their opportunity to accuse Him. If they said, “It is right to do evil and destroy a life”—which, by the way, was exactly what they were preparing to do—then they would have looked like monsters in front of the people. So, they said nothing. It wasn’t out of wisdom that they kept their peace. It was out of wickedness.
And now, notice the emotion our Lord displayed. We’re told that “He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts.” And I suggest to you that this shows us . . .
5. JESUS’ COMPASSION FOR THOSE WHO ARE HURTING (v. 4b-5a).
It’s not very often that we read in the Scriptures that our Lord expressed anger. But when He did, it was over the mistreatment of people, or over the hypocrisy of religious leaders, or over the dishonor of that which concerned His Father. Here, our Lord was angry because of the compassion He felt toward this man—and over the hardness of heart that the religious leaders were displaying toward him.
We often think that it’s somehow a sin to be angry. But that’s not true. It’s never a sin to be angry over the things that we should be angry over. The sinfulness comes through being angry over the wrong things; or over keeping hold of righteous anger longer than we should. “Be angry,” the Bible tells us, “and do not sin” (Ephesians 4:26). I suggest that we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus; and as we do, we’ll learn how to have the right kind of anger—the kind that comes from a truly godly compassion for those around us who are hurting.
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But Jesus didn’t just have compassion and emotion. He took action. It’s after that display of emotion in this story that we see . . .
6. JESUS’ MERCY IN MEETING THE NEEDS OF OTHERS (v. 5b).
He made His point. He scolded the hard-heartedness of the Pharisees. But He didn’t then just leave it at that and have the man sit back down. With all eyes on Him, we’re told that “He said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’” And I wonder if, at that moment, that man’s heart swelled with joy! Jesus would indeed meet his need!
Jesus never turned anyone away who sincerely brought their need to Him. May we be like Him—and mercifully meet the needs of those He brings our way, however we can.
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And there’s one final thing to notice. We’re told that the man “stretched it out, and his hand was restored . . .”; with some translations adding, “as whole as the other.” You can almost hear the crowd gasp with amazement!
And do you notice that we’re not told that the Lord Jesus did anything to physically touch the man? All we’re told is that He told the man to stretch out his hand at His command; and when he did, the hand was whole. It’s clear that it was the Lord Jesus who healed him; but if the Pharisees had wanted to make some kind of case against the Lord for doing the work of healing the man on the Sabbath, they would find it utterly impossible to do! Jesus healed the man; but He did not in any way break the Sabbath in doing so.
May I suggest that this leads us to one final observation to make about our Lord’s goodness? That is . . .
7. JESUS RIGHTEOUSNESS TOWARD GOD’S STANDARDS (v. 5c).
In all that our Lord did, He never disobeyed the will of His Father. He always fufilled the true spirit of God’s law in a way that was in perfect keeping with that law. Even later on, when He challenged His opponants to accuse Him of sin, none of them could do so.
Truly, He is the Good Shepherd.
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And so in closing, what do we do with Him? What do we do with Jesus; who proved Himself to be faithful, reliable, courageous, just, compassionate, merciful, and righteous; and who also proved Himself—manifestly so!—to be the Son of God?
Think of what the Pharisees and the Herodians did. They rejected Him. In fact, they went out to plot how they might destroy Him for healing on the Sabbath—utterly ignoring the remarkable fact that He had just healed a man on the Sabbath! Their response, if you ask me, was pretty close to a kind of insanity! I don’t believe the Lord would have done such a thing as this, of course; but didn’t they stop to think that if He could heal something that is withered, He was also probably able to wither a few things that were well if He wanted to? And yet, that’s the irrational lengths unbelief will go in its rejection of our mighty Savior.
Instead, let’s be like that man in the story. Let’s come to Jesus with our need—trusting in His goodness. Let’s allow His sacrifice on the cross to heal all the withering of our soul because of our sin. And more, let’s draw close to Him, and keep our gaze upon Him, and learn from Him, and allow the Holy Spirit who He places in us to transform us increasingly into His own dear likeness.
May the people of this world increasingly see in our lives the goodness of Jesus.
1Montague Rhodes James, The Aprocryphal New Testament (London: Oxford University Press, 1924), p. 5.