The Gospel of Mark 3:1-6
1 And He entered again into a synagogue; and a man was
there with a withered hand. 2 And they were watching Him to see if He would
heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. 3 And He said to the
man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!”4 And He said to them,
“Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to
kill?” But they kept silent. 5 And after looking around at them with anger,
grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your
hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 And the Pharisees
went out and immediately began taking counsel together with the Herodians
against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.
Jesus, after walking with His disciples by the grainfields entered
a synagogue and there was a man who had a withered hand. The Jews were watching
Jesus and according to Matthew 12:10 they questioned Jesus, “Is it lawful to
heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse Him.” By their tradition, if
you cut yourself, you could stop the bleeding, but it was considered work to
put ointment on it or to heal it.” Therefore, they were determined to catch Him
breaking the Sabbath law by doing work.
Jesus returns their question, “Is it lawful to do good or to
do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?” (Mark 3:4) “What man is
there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath,
will not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable then is a man
than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” (Matthew
12:11-12)
Why? Because God desires mercy over sacrifice. Scripture
tells us that doing good is an honorable and pleasing thing to do. Acting evilly
only brings hardship and despair. Jesus looked around at those who were trying
to accuse Him of doing what was wrong on the Sabbath according to their
tradition and saw their silence. This angered Jesus. Why? Because He saw the uncaring,
unmerciful leaders holding to their tradition over the ways of Yahweh.
Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he
stretched it out, and his hand was restored to normal. Jesus
made the man whole; it wasn’t a mediocre healing; it was healed as though the
man’s hand was never withered and could function like any other person’s hand.
It was completely healed.
This was good, for a man was saved and
his life was recovered. He could do work and not be in pain and use fine
manipulation again. He was overjoyed that Jesus would bring life to him, while
the leaders would want to do death. They would save a sheep, an animal, from
being stuck in a ditch but they wouldn’t heal a man for they compartmentalized
the Law they had made to only affect mankind.
Hypocrites! All of them! For their
hearts were hardened to do that which is evil in the sight of God. But what
does this mean for you? Are your hearts hard as well? Have you not seen your brother
in humanity suffering and have not rendered mercy? Or do you wait for them to
die so that you may take what they owned that you coveted?
Do you cry victim and then steal from
the hands that would be merciful to you as they proclaim the good over the evil
you worship? Do you not see what Christ
Jesus brings to you? He brings life, truth, and salvation and desires that you
practice mercy and grace. To repent from the evil that you do. This is what
angered Him, that the Pharisees would not see reason or the works He has done
and continued to harden their hearts.
So, they plotted with the Herodians, which are a sect in the
religious order that moved to keep Herod in power because they benefited from
his rule. Much like people today who love their evil so much that they would
vote for their candidate who brings evil and not good. Together the Pharisees
and the Herodians, and eventually the Sadducees began to work together on how
they may destroy Jesus.
And that is what evil does, it says, “Let us tear their
fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!” For evil people care nothing
for the things of Yahweh and His anointed one, Jesus. Do you? Do you treasure
the words of God and abide by them, or do you disregard and blaspheme Him? “For
the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who
are being saved, it is the power of God.”
“Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the
debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For
since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not come to know
God, God was well-pleased, through the foolishness of the message preached, to
save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for
wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentile’s
foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the
power of God and the wisdom of God.”
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in
unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within (you);
for God made it evident to (you). For since the creation of the world His
invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been
clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that (you) are
without excuse. For even though (you) knew God, (you) did not glorify Him as
God or give thanks, but (you) became futile in (your) thoughts, and (your)
foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, (you) became fools, and
exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the likeness of
corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
Do you consider yourself a good person? Understand this,
Jesus came to save the lost, to save sinners. Sinners repress the truth and
hide in their darkness, but sinners who know God, are people who know in their hearts
that they are vile, rebellious, haters of God who are lost and they stand in
condemnation and will be judged and sent to hell where they will burn for
eternity in the lake of fire.
But God so loved His creation, Mankind, that He sent His Son
Christ Jesus who seeks you this day. He can forgive you of your sins and
restore you whole again, for He has the authority and the power of redemption. You
who are lost in the ideologies of this world, imprisoned by the doctrines of
men, slaves to your sexual desires and perversions, and pursuits of the flesh
and mind, who rebel at the created order of God and stand condemned to death
and destruction and are destined for eternal punishment in the lake of fire.
Jesus seeks you right now and brings life to all who repent
and believe. Jesus the Messiah has risen from the dead, conquering it, and
lives. He is in your midst with us, but you cannot see. You are blind and your
heart is darkened thus we bring the light that we proclaim.
For death will soon take you and when you die you will face
judgment for your sins. God is just and cannot by His nature abide by sin nor
dismiss it. Every act of rebellion and transgression against God is wrapped up
in sin, yet you have foolishly chosen to do it because you love your sin, rather
than follow Christ and His righteousness that would truly enrich you.
From the Ten Commandments, we have false worship,
idolatry, misusing God’s name and living vain lives, violating the Sabbath,
dishonoring parents, murder, adultery, stealing, lying/false witness, and
coveting.
In Galatians
5:19-21, we are told, “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious:
sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred,
discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and
envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that
those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Jesus bore all our sins; He bore all the sins of all who believe in Him. He suffered the totality of God’s Wrath upon Himself that every sinner deserves, willingly, so that those who believe in Jesus may have peace with God. Turn away from your unrighteous sinful ways which lead to death and turn toward and follow Jesus which leads to life.
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