Sabbath Day Healing

23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” 25 He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? 26 In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” 27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” 1 Another time he 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.

Introduction

We continue our look this morning at the series of controversies that are recorded for us by Mark. There are a series of 5 controversies, beginning in Mark 2:1, and this morning we reach the final of those 5 controversies - and in certain respects the climactic controversy, as recorded for us by Mark.

The final controversy falls in along the same lines as the previous one we looked at last week, as both of them relate to the Sabbath day, and the contention that is caused as Christ either allows or performs certain actions on the Sabbath.

Last week we considered the account concerning when the disciples were picking heads of grain on the Sabbath as they walked through a grain field, and then eating the grain. The Pharisees who saw what was taking place, responded with opposition, claiming that these disciples were breaking the Sabbath day by doing work on the Sabbath.

In the minds of the Pharisees, to pick grain (irrespective of how much you picked) was considered work. According to their traditions, rules and established regulations, it was unacceptable to pick grain, even when it was for the very basic human need of satisfying hunger, while the food was right there before them. Talk about a burdensome, irrational religious system!!

What we also looked at very briefly last week was an introductory overview of the Sabbath in the Old Testament, particularly relating to the nation of Israel. I won’t go into that again this week, but just for the benefit of those who weren’t here, as we did that overview it was noted that to the Israelite nation, the issue of Sabbath-Day observance was a critical issue of their faith and identity.

Sabbath Day observance was one of the central issues of Jewish identification, and the Sabbath law was held in very high regard.

The Sabbath Day was also a covenant sign for them - and so it was a sign that God instituted for them as a nation so that they may recall to their minds their deliverance from slavery in Egypt (you’ll see that particularly in Exodus 31:13 and Deuteronomy 5:15).

Failure to obey the Sabbath day law, which required a complete rest from normal work, would result in the death penalty for the offender (and we saw the example of this last week).

But we also considered last week that the Jewish leaders in general, and the Pharisees in particular, had become masters of creating any number of ridiculous man-made rules, which were aimed at ensuring that a person could never be found to be inadvertently breaking the Sabbath.

And so the entire system of Sabbath rules and regulations became a heavy burden on the people - a burden nearly impossible to bear!!

In our passage today, we once again have a Sabbath Day event taking place, and a healing that Christ performs on the Sabbath. Once again, the Pharisees are indignant of the fact that Christ could even consider to perform such a healing on the Sabbath Day, which leads ultimately to them going out and plotting his murder...

But let’s take a step back, and consider the event one step at a time...

The Setup (v.1-2)

As we come to the text this morning, we notice firstly that again an incident is about to take place on the Sabbath, but this time in the synagogue.

Christ, on a particular Sabbath morning, enters into a synagogue (probably near to Capernaum, but we can’t be sure) and He goes into the synagogue in order to teach (this according to Luke 6:6). And so as this entire event unfolds in the synagogue, it does so with Christ teaching those present.

Also present in this instance however is a man with a shrivelled right hand.

In all likelihood this was not a defect from birth, but rather it was more likely a result of an accident of some sort. But whatever the cause, the man is incapacitated to an extent, which would have meant that he could not work with that hand.

In a time of physical work being the key source of income for a person, this would have been a challenge to him, as his functionality and ability to provide for himself and family would have been restricted. According to other external sources from the time, this man was described as a stonemason - someone who would certainly have derived his income from working with his hands. But whatever he was, he would certainly have been very restricted in his ability to work.

Also present in the synagogue, and bent on finding fault with Jesus, were the Pharisees.

The sad reality is that when the Pharisees see this man with the withered hand (perhaps someone they knew regularly attended the synagogue) they didn’t have compassion on the man or any deep concern for him, but rather they saw this as an opportunity to catch Jesus out.

Notice verse 2 of our text...

Mark 3:2 NIV84

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.

Their desire was merely to find a reason to accuse Jesus. This had become their goal and mission: to find fault with Jesus, and according to verse 6 of our text, to ultimately find a way to get rid of this man Jesus, who to them had become a menace!

Christ had become known for doing good, for healing people, and for being one who taught with authority. But the authority of Christ, and the popularity of Christ, caused resentment in the hearts of those who were used to being looked up to in society!

But let us realise dear friends that the motives and the conduct of the Pharisees in this instance is merely another demonstration of the sinful heart of man, apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of men.

In this case, even those who were the foremost of religious people, when their pride and self-sufficiency took root in their lives, got to the point of plotting murder!

There are two important lessons that we can learn from the Pharisees even today!

Firstly, we would do well to cultivate daily in our hearts a spirit of humility. For surely pride, and a high sense of self-worth and self-importance leads to all manner of evil, as it did here with the Pharisees! That was the problem with the Pharisees - pride in their religiosity.

And so as Christians, we need to take pride in our low position - as those who have been redeemed by the grace of our Saviour. Any sense of pride is certain to lead us, as it lead the Pharisees, to all manner of evil, and to out-workings in our lives that are contrary to the ways of God. Let us remain ever focused on the wonderful grace that has been given through Christ.

But secondly, let us learn that such is the heart of stone within man outside of Christ. Any man who has not been brought to spiritual life is opposed to Christ. We need to recognise that even in the world in which we live, we can expect to find opposition to the Gospel message, and the truth concerning Christ.

As the Pharisees were opposed to this Messiah speaking against their systems of religion, so it is that the world will be offended by the Christian who brings the Gospel message, the message of light and truth into a world of darkness.

The message of the Gospel - the message that we as man are sinful, and need to repent of that sin and turn to the only one who can save us, is a message that will be scorned and hated by society, who sees themselves as righteous through the manner in which they live in obedience to some system of rules and regulations!

Returning to our account in Mark, we notice that the scene is now set. Jesus is the one teaching in the synagogue. The man with the shriveled hand has entered. The Pharisees are waiting, certainly expecting Christ to step out of line, and in fact hoping that he will, so that they will be able to have him charged with violating their man-made traditions and laws.

The Challenge (v.3-4)

With the stage set, and tension filling the air, the confrontation begins!

The different Gospel accounts of this event, apart from the key aspects of the confrontation, give some slight different details on the peripheral issues.

If we go across to Matthew’s Gospel, we find that the Pharisees actually pose a question to Jesus:

Matthew 12:10… “Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

Given the context and the presence of the man with the shriveled hand, Jesus knew exactly what they were thinking, and no doubt would have known their intents to catch him out.

And so...

Mark 3:3 NIV84

Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”

The man - expectant and hopeful that he will receive a healing touch - obeys Christ and he stands up alongside Christ in front of this filled synagogue.

And Christ, having been posed with a question by the Pharisees, once again poses a question in response to them.

He asks: “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?”

The question to them: “Which is lawful” was again a confrontation in the sense that they were the ones who were supposed to be fully versed in the law. If any person knew what was lawful on the Sabbath, it was thought to be the Pharisees!!

But the question elicits no response from them, because the obvious response would be that obviously one should do good!

If they responded that it is lawful to do good, then in what way was Christ breaking the Sabbath by healing the man who was in need of healing!!

You see, Christ knew that in essence, the problem was that the Pharisees had become cold in their love for and care for people. They truly had no care. They truly had no love!!

They had lost sight of the fact that the royal law, upon which all the law and commands hung, was to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and secondly but equally importantly, to love your neighbour as your love yourself.

When Paul wrote to the Galatian church, he wrote these words:

Galatians 5:13–15 NIV84

13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

This law that Paul speaks of in these verses was in one sense not new, since it was found in the Old Testament in Leviticus 19:18! The Pharisees would have known the law, and yet they failed to understand the importance of serving others in love!!

But to Christ, it was clear that where there was a man in need of help, and with Him having the ability to provide that help, that it would be wrong to fail to give that help.

As one commentator writes here:

The Pulpit Commentary: St. Mark (Vol. I) Chapter 3

Our Lord’s meaning appears to be this: “If any one having it in his power, omits to do an act of mercy on the sabbath day for one grievously afflicted, as this man is, if he is able to cure him, as I Christ am able, he does him a wrong; for he denies him that help which he owes him by the law of charity.”

The Pharisees are posed with this question by Christ - which is lawful: to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?

Here was Christ, desiring in essence to save a mans life through restoring his use of his hand so that he would be able to work and provide for himself without begging for bread. On the other hand, here were the Pharisees, looking for an opportunity to kill. How different these opposing perspectives!!!

As Christ asks these questions, the correct response would have proved to be an indictment against themselves. They would have been self-condemned. And so the Pharisees remain speechless.

Absolute Silence!!

The tension in the air was palpable, as the battle lines were effectively drawn.

The Healing (v.5)

But we see then in verse 5 the healing that takes place.

Notice the response of Jesus during this time when the Pharisees remain silent, and refuse to respond to his question…

The response as recorded by Mark is that which is filled with emotion!! Emotion that flows out of Christ’s deep care and compassion for the man. But also emotion that flows out of His deep concern and displeasure at the hardened hearts of the Pharisees! The Pharisees had been motivated by law. Christ was motivated by love!!

There are two different emotions described for us as Christ responds here.

In the first place, there is anger. He looked around at them in anger!!!

Here was the servant king, come into the world in order to serve, in order to save, in order to do good - the best possible good for mankind - and yet he is met by self-centered opposition, and it drives him to a righteous anger within His heart.

It was of Christ that Isaiah the prophet said the words “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.” (Isaiah 42:3)

This was the One despites and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.

And yet, despite the meekness of the Saviour there was an appropriate response of anger...

Charles Spurgeon says here...

The look of a man who is much given to anger has little force in it: it is the blaze of a wisp of straw, fierce and futile. In many cases we almost smile at the impotent rage which looks out from angry eyes; but a gentle spirit, like the Saviour’s, commands reverence if once moved to indignation. His meek and lowly heart could only have been stirred with anger by some overwhelming cause. [1]

Indeed, the cause of His anger was overwhelming - the failure of people to care for people. The failure of image bearers of God, to truly bear the image of God by reflecting a care and concern for the created people.

The Pulpit Commentary: St. Mark (Vol. I) Chapter 3

Here is the difference between the anger of fallen man and the anger of the sinless One. With fallen man, anger is the desire of retaliating, of punishing those by whom you consider yourself unjustly treated. Hence, in other men, anger springs from self-love; in Christ it sprang from the love of God. He loved God above all things; hence he was distressed and irritated on account of the wrongs done to God by sins and sinners. So that his anger was a righteous zeal for the honour of God

But notice further that Christ is deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts!

Christ’s anger was not isolated and unrestrained. But mixed in with his anger was a deep sense of grief within him that these men refuse to even consider that what Christ is saying is truthful, and that what Christ was doing was honouring and pleasing in God’s sight.

So blinded were they to the Messiah, and so bent on destroying Him, that their hearts were hardened and stubborn.

The word “stubborn” that is used to describe these Pharisees has tied to it a meaning of an unwillingness to understand. It speaks to their being unable or unwilling to understand and see the truth for what it is.

The stubbornness of heart that is spoken of here would have had ties back to the Old Testament account of Pharaoh, who hardened his heart and refused to allow the Israelites free from bondage and slavery.

So it was that the Pharisees had hardened hearts.

They as the Pharisees had taken on a spirit of the letter of the law, or a spirit of legalism, and had done away with the true spirit and intent of the law as God had intended.

Christ, in this standoff, was both angered, but also deeply distressed!

It’s interesting to note that the in the original Greek, the tenses of these two emotions are different. The angry look was momentary, but the deep-seated grief was continuous and abiding!!!

But with that angered look, and a heart grieved by their failure to recognise God’s desires in such a situation, Christ proceeds to work a miracle in their presence…

He says to the man: “Stretch out your hand” and as the man lifts his hand, stretching it out in front of him, his hand is completely restored.

Again, Christ works a powerful miracle in their presence, bringing elated joy to a man previously handicapped by this shrivelled hand!

That, dear friends, was the appropriate response!! To have joy over the burden of a person being lifted!!

Now we need to understand that Christ could very well and very easily have said to the man that he should wait until the next day, and meet him in such and such a place, and that he would heal him.

He could even have simply waited until the evening of that same day, when the official Sabbath would have been over, and healed him then. If he had done so, He would have avoided the entire controversy with the Pharisees!!

But Christ is purposeful in the healing of this man. He intended to heal the man in order to show all the people just how they had failed to grasp the love and grace of God, even in the issuing of the commandments to them as a nation!!

What Christ had done was merely that which God had indeed desired to be done on the Sabbath day.

Here was the Sabbath Day requirement - to do good! Caring for people. Healing people.

But as we continue our look at the account in Mark, we notice further the response that this evokes from the Pharisees!

The Plot Thickens (v.6)

While the man was in a state of rejoicing due his hand being completely healed and restored, no doubt the others present there in a state of awe and amazement at having seen this healing, the Pharisees, with hearts hardened and calloused, have their own anger aroused.

But their anger, unlike Christ’s anger, is anything but righteous.

The Pharisees went out, and they began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

So fierce was their anger, and so hardened were their hearts, that they leave in a state of rage intent of finding a way of killing this man Jesus who is going against all they believe about the Sabbath and honouring God on this day!!

But this was an anger that was driven by a dented and bruised pride, more than it was driven by a desire to honour God!!

And so they go out and plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus!!

Were they not here beginning to fulfil what was spoken of in the second Psalm:

Psalm 2:1–2 NIV84

1 Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? 2 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.

Indeed, the plots against God’s anointed One would continue to build until such time as they had the prize which they sought: the crucifixion; the putting to death; ridding themselves once and for all - of this man whom they saw as a menace to them.

But notice who it is that theses Pharisees go out and conspire with - the Herodians!! Who were the Herodians?

They were supporters of Herod and the Herodian dynasty. Herod Antipas was the political leader of that day where they were situated. This was the Herod that had resulted in the execution of John the Baptist.

And Herod was in support of Rome - who was the ruling power of the day!

The irony of this entire situation with the Pharisees, is that the Pharisees were against the Herodian rule of that day!!

In fact, they were awaiting the coming Messiah because they wanted this very Herodian rule along with the Roman rule over them to be removed and abolished. They wanted deliverance from it.

But instead, they go to those who support the government they detest in order to bring about the demise of the very Messiah that they were awaiting!

The Pharisees were so profoundly blinded by their own sinfulness, that they failed to see the Messiah right before their eyes - the very one who had come to fulfil the prophecies of the Old Testament.

In a bizarre irony, those who knew the law and the prophets best were those who failed to recognise the One who was coming in fulfilment of their law and prophets!!!

And so they join hands with the Herodians. The Herodians would have been considered unclean by the Pharisees. And yet, because they had a common enemy, they were prepared to engage with those who were unclean.

The Pharisees were upset that Jesus had broken the Sabbath laws by healing - doing good - on a Sabbath day. They on the other hand found it fitting to plot to kill this man Jesus which itself went against the law, and not only that, but to join hands with those who they saw as and enemy in order to do it.

So wicked is the sinfulness of the human heart that time after time it will justify its own sin while pointing out the so-called sin in others, even if that sin is no sin at all.

Application

How do we apply this to our lives?

Are our hearts sometimes hardened as those of the Pharisees were?

We need to be cautious that our hearts are humbled and pure before the Saviour. Very often if we’re offended in life, our hearts become hard. We become angered at people for wrongs committed against us, and even when there is opportunity for reconciliation, our hearts remain hardened and unwilling to forgive.

This certainly grieves our Father!!

But there is a further way in which our hearts remain hardened, and that is when we lack faith in our heavenly Father! Do we trust in Him implicitly? Are we spending time with our Father, learning from Him, and learning to understand His ways?

For even those who are His disciples can experience a hardness of heart in the sense that we fail to grasp God’s ways.

The disciples of Jesus were those who had such a hardness of heart. In Mark 6:52, we read that the disciples had hearts that were hardened so that they could not understand the words of Christ concerning the leaven of the Pharisees.

We need to pray dear friends that the softening work of Christ in our hearts will continue, and that we will continue have hearts that are growing in understanding and insight into the love of Christ!

That leads us to a further responsibilty...

It is our responsibility to serve one another in love!!!!

Those words from Galatians 5:13 - serve one another in love!

Let us not miss the wood from the trees here. There are many lessons to be learnt, but let us not lose sight of the fact that we are required and should be compelled by the Spirit of Christ to serve one another in love!

Our lives are not our own, we were bought with a price, and so we serve God - primarily through serving others!! Are we doing this? Or are our lives filled with self-serving motives?

Do we find it a joy to sacrifice our comforts and comfortable positions in life in order to do good to other people, and so fulfil the law of Christ?!

1 John 3:11–16 NIV84

11 This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. 16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

Conclusion

The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Gospel according to Mark A Question of Life and Death (3:1–6)

Common to each of the five stories in 2:1–3:6 is the showcasing of Jesus’ authority: to forgive sins (2:1–12), to eat with sinners and tax collectors (2:13–17), to dispense with fasting (2:18–22), to supersede the Sabbath (2:23–28), and to heal on the Sabbath (3:1–6). Parallel to the authority of Jesus is the opposition of the authorities, which begins with silent accusation (2:6–7), intensifies to questioning (2:16; 2:24), and concludes with a plot against his life (3:2, 6).

Bibliography

1. Spurgeon, C. H. (1886). Jesus Angry with Hard Hearts. In The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons (Vol. 32, p. 182). London: Passmore & Alabaster.

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