Consider these questions as you dwell on Mark 3:1-12.

1. Why were the Pharisees upset about Jesus potentially healing the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath? What did Jesus emphasize about the purpose of the Sabbath?

2. How did Jesus respond to the Pharisees' question about whether it was lawful to do good or harm on the Sabbath? What emotions did Jesus exhibit in this situation, and why?

3. In what way does this passage encourage us to shift our focus from rule-keeping to caring for people's well-being? How can we apply this principle in our interactions with others, both within and outside our communities?

Transcript:

As we watch the story of Jesus here in the Gospel of Mark continue unfold, we get to an interesting story where the Pharisees are trying to trap Jesus. He enters a synagogue on the Sabbath and there's a man there with a withered hand. And are the Pharisees concerned about this man and Jesus being able to heal him? No, they're concerned about catching Jesus doing this work of healing on the Sabbath day. Now, we have sort of had the idea of Jesus and the Sabbath introduced to us already in the Gospel of Mark, because Jesus and his disciples were picking grain, remember?

So, Jesus has already addressed this. And now Jesus knows what they're doing. So, he asks this man with the withered hand to come to him. And he knows what the Pharisees are thinking. He knows what's in their heart.

Imagine living your life in such a way that you are more concerned with what Jesus is going to do on the Sabbath than having this man's hand restored. Who knows what effect this could have on him? Maybe he could go back to work, maybe he's been like this his entire life and he's never been able to do particular jobs. Who knows? But their concern isn't for the man.

Their concern is for catching Jesus in some sort of rule breaking. But what has Jesus established that you need to do certain things on the Sabbath, and that Sabbath is for rest? And we talked about how Sabbath rest ultimately points to our eternal rest, that there was this struggle in the Old Testament that the people of God were going into the Promised Land, but they would not find ultimate rest, would they? And so, there's this idea that there's this longing for rest. And so, the Sabbath isn't about do this, do that.

And yes, you are supposed to keep the Sabbath. But that wasn't the point. That wasn't the point. The point was finding ultimate rest was pointing to the kingdom of God and restoring people as just as they would be restored in God's kingdom one day. And so here the point is that Jesus is saying the point of the Sabbath is to restore, why wouldn't I restore this man's hand on the Sabbath?

Why wouldn't I do something good for him? And so, he asks the Pharisees, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill? And they're silent. Now, are they silent because Jesus has them backed into a corner? Are they silent because they're just waiting to see?

They've got their scheming fingers out and they're ready to pounce on Him? We don't know. But Jesus looked around them with anger. Look around at them with anger. He was upset.

He grieved their hardness of heart that they couldn't love this man. And so, what does Jesus do? He has the man stretch out his hand and his hand is restored. And what do we see, we see that the Pharisees go out and immediately there's that word again. They held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

Now the Herodians were people. They were not a religious sect. They were a group of people who were faithful to the Roman government. They were not having in mind things the way that most of the Jews were thinking about things. The Pharisees were not necessarily Roman loyalists.

In fact, they weren't at all. But they are willing to go against Jesus to the point where they're going to team up with the Herodians not only to get rid of him, but to destroy him. And so this doesn't stop Jesus, though. We see here, as we look through this passage and finish up, that Jesus does all this healing and he's becoming more and more popular and there's so many people around him. He's got to go into a boat so he's not crushed.

And there's unclean spirits that are coming out of the people as he is healing, and they know that he's the Son of God. Again, here is this proof that Jesus is who he says he is. There's proof that Jesus has authority because he has authority over the demons. But what does Jesus do here? We're back again to the messianic secret, and he strictly ordered them not to make him known.

So, what do we do with this passage, these twelve verses today? Well, we need to remember that we need to have our hearts in a place where God would want them to be. Look at how upset Jesus is, because these men aren't concerned about others, they're more concerned about their rules. And I think we've all been guilty of that. I think we've always been way more concerned about some sort of rule keeping than we are people.

Now, this doesn't mean we just permit anything and everything becomes lawlessness, that we can permit any sin. That's not the point. The point is when there is not something that is morally reprehensible, when there is not something that is against God's law, because healing on the Sabbath wasn't against God's law. It's important that we remember to have our hearts in the right place, that we care about people, that we care about their good. And so instead of looking at people and wondering if what they're doing is right or wrong, we need to look at them and want to work with them to do our best to restore them.

We're not going to heal anyone, but how much good can we do in our lives and in our communities if we were looking at people the way Jesus looked at them, if we were looking to them to see how we could help them? So, may we have our eyes open today looking for people that we can help, people that we can proclaim the gospel to, that they might hear and believe, that we might be able to help? Restore them, just as Jesus is ultimately looking forward to the restoration that we will have and the eternal rest that we will have in him. May we be able to point people to that, knowing that Jesus saves and he restores our souls.