[Mark 3:2] 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.”
From almost the very beginning of Mark’s
gospel, Jesus was followed by crowds for His miracles and teaching, while the
religious elite and politicians viewed Him with suspicion. Jesus asks the crowd
and Pharisees if the Sabbath was ordained by God as a day to do good, which is to heal or save a life,
or to do evil, which in this case is plotting to kill Him? This pre-empted the
public objection that the Pharisees were sure to raise.
Two points come to mind as I reflect on this
passage in Mark:
·
I’ve always thought that Jesus asks the man to do two very
different things:
1.
What he can
do, which is stand
up. He is not lame, he just has a withered hand. But he must stand in front of everyone,
with all eyes on him, to perhaps suffer public embarrassment. But the man might
also be standing for the hope that Jesus will heal him, although Mark does not
tell us of a request.
2.
What he
can’t do, which is to stretch out his hand to Jesus. Although there is no
mention of “faith,” it took faith for this man to try to stretch out that
withered hand towards Jesus. Now the healing can be done, because Jesus told
him to stand up and he obeyed. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that “only those who
believe, obey, … and only those who obey, believe.”[1]
Following Jesus is obeying Him, even (especially) when it seems difficult.
·
I also see two interesting contrasting points about anger:
1.
The anger of
God heals. When Jesus gets angry, He is
healing (the lame, the sick, the lepers), or cleansing (the temple for
worship), or grieving over the sinfulness of people.
2.
The anger of
humanity kills. Mark tells us that the Pharisees (who don’t want to lose their religious
power) team up with the Herodians (who don’t want to lose their political
power) to plot to kill Jesus. The human response is the same as Cain’s when his
offering to God was not acceptable[2].
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