The Miracles of
Jesus
“Jesus Heals the Man With The Withered Hand”
(Matt 12:9-14, Mk. 3:1-6, Lk. 6:6-11)
As we have noted in the previous lesson in the time of Jesus, the Sabbath had
become a tyranny with hundreds of rules and regulations which laid out in detail what a
man might or might not do. The original Ten Commandments of God had been delineated into
613 laws; 248 positive (thou
shalt’s) and 365 negative (thou
shalt not’s). Jesus “discriminates between the
spiritual principles of rest and the worship and service of God for which the day was
dedicated, and the useless junk of endless hair- splitting distinctions and prohibitions
of the Rabbis.” [J.W.
Shepard. “The Christ of the Gospel.” (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1939) p.
161]
“Now when He had departed from there, He went
into their synagogue. (10) And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And
they asked Him, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" ——that
they might accuse Him. (11) Then He said to them, "What man is there among you who
has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift
it out? (12) "Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is
lawful to do good on the Sabbath." (13) Then He said to the man, "Stretch out
your hand." And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. (14)
Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.
“Now it happened on another Sabbath, also, that
He entered the synagogue and taught. And a man was there whose right hand was withered.
(7) So the scribes and Pharisees watched Him closely, whether He would heal on the
Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against Him. (8) But He knew their thoughts,
and said to the man who had the withered hand, "Arise and stand here."
And he arose and stood. (9) Then Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one thing: Is it
lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?" (10) And
when He had looked around at them all, He said to the man, "Stretch out your
hand." And he did so, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. (11) But they
were filled with rage, and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.”
“And He entered the synagogue again, and a man
was there who had a withered hand. (2) So they watched Him closely, whether He
would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. (3) And He said to the man
who had the withered hand, "Step forward." (4) 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. (5) 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. (6) Then the Pharisees
went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy
Him.”
Another Sabbath controversy arose when Jesus went into the local synagogue and was
teaching. The synagogue service was different from what we are use to in the church. The
services there were always characterized by a certain amount of informality. After the
prayers were said and scripture had been read; then came an explanation of the scripture
or sermon. No particular person had responsibility for speaking, any Rabbi or
distinguished visitor could upon the invitation of the president or ruler of the synagogue
deliver the message. After the message there was a time for discussion and argumentation.
It is highly probable that it is part of the service that the miracle occurs.
In the congregation on this particular Sabbath was a man with a withered hand.
Since the Pharisees and scribe were there hoping that Jesus would heal the man so they
could accuse him, some have suggested that the scribes and Pharisees arranged for the man to be in the
synagogue.
The term “withered” is (exerammenen
– Mark 3:1) in the original the word designates a condition of recent
origins. The passive verb seems to indicate that the man was born with this handicap, but
that it was later caused by some accident or injury. [The Complete Biblical Library. Mark.
p. 69]
According
to extra-biblical sources (The Gospel of Hebrews)
the man states that he is a stone mason, and
he asks Jesus to heal him that he could resume working, which lend credibility that this
man hand could have been the result of an injury.
Luke is
the only writer to point out it was the man’s right hand. In the Jewish mind, the
right hand was a symbol of power and strength. It was used for greetings and to bestow
blessing. The right hand was the “clean hand” meaning a good Jew always ate with
his right hand. The left hand was used for bodily functions. With apologies to all you who
may be left handed, the left hand was considered the “unclean hand.” Since this
man's right hand was withered, he was handicapped physically and psychologically.
“And when He had looked around at them with
anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts…”
Jesus felt
compassion for the man with the withered hand. But he was angered by the heartlessness and
lack of compassion exhibited by the scribes and Pharisees.
One of the
reasons that we have difficulty seeing Jesus being angry is because we associate anger
with sinfulness. The truth is that anyone can get angry. The old as well as
the young can be angry. The rich as well as the poor get angry. Everyone has the capacity
for anger. In Psalms we are told to “flee from anger”
but the Apostle Paul says, “Be angry and sin
not…” (Eph. 4:26). Jesus was angry but it was not sin because the motive behind His anger was right.
What made God (Jesus) angry?
1. When he saw the right
being trampled under foot. (Isa 5:20-25)
2. When he saw God law being desecrated. (Ex 32:19-20)
3. When he saw God house being turned into a den of thieves. (Cleansing of the Temple)
In Matthew
(12:11) he gives an illustration about a sheep in a pit that shows that doing good on the
Sabbath is all right.
This
brings up an interesting problem, by the time of the New Testament, there was such a
perversion of human value, and animals were more valuable than people.
Isn’t it also true in our society, with its concern for “animal rights? We save
spotted owl eggs but abort millions of babies each year.
I
don’t know if this man just caught Jesus’ eye or if he did plead for mercy and
healing as historical references suggest. But it is certain that Jesus was aware of the
man’s need as well as the scheme to accuse Him (Mark 3:2). Jesus could have healed
privately to avoid this conflict but Jesus chose to face this issue head on.
He called
for the man to step forward and by doing so determined to do everything openly.
Jesus looked at his audience and was angered by their hardness of heart, he asked the
question, "Is it lawful
on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they kept
silent.”(Mark 6:4) He allowed that question to sink in. He is asking, “What was the Sabbath for, to make men miserable
or to be a blessing?” The opponents
of Jesus had no answer (Mark emphasizes that they were silent). Jesus then
sensing their utter frustration, challenged them by looking directly at them (Mark 6:5),
commanded the man to stretch out his life-less hand and when he did so he was healed.
The
Pharisees were so concerned with obeying the letter of the law they had long since
forgotten the spirit of the law.
The miraculous healing was like a
giant exclamation point which said that Jesus was indeed the LORD of the Sabbath.
I don’t believe that Pharisees had any sense of guilt but they were very
sensitive to shame and Jesus had shamed them publicly. The effect of the miracle was
immediate for the Pharisees were “filled with rage” (Luke 6:11) which implies a senseless
rage.
Although literally he does not lift so much as a finger to work and does not break
the Sabbath, the leaders are enraged anyway and they get together with the Herodians (Mark
3:6) on the Sabbath to plot the murder of some one who has just done a good deed.
What does this tell us about
keeping the Sabbath Today?
In the
Old Testament, for Jesus and his disciples and for Jewish people today, the Sabbath was Saturday (actually Friday at sundown
until Saturday at sundown).
Some groups like the Seventh-Day
Adventist and the Seventh-Day Baptist, believe that Christians should observe Saturday as our day of worship. But for
more than 2000 years, almost all Christians have observed Sunday, not Saturday, as the
Lord’s Day. Which brings us to another problem - some Christians treat Sunday as a
Christian Sabbath? While some Christians believe Sunday is the Christian Sabbath, this is
nowhere taught in the Word of God. Oddly enough those who claim that we should observe a
strict Sabbath on Sunday are really contradicting themselves. The important thing is that
we set aside time for rest and worship.
“So don’t put
up with anyone pressuring you in details of diet, worship services, or holy days. All
those things are mere shadows cast before what is to come; the substance is Christ” (The Message)
Some
might then conclude, “if you aren’t keeping Saturday as the Sabbath, can we just
ignore observing the Sabbath?” Not at all!
people think.
But
everyone should observe the Sabbath principle
which is that everyone need to take at least one day out of seven and devote it to worship and rest.
Billy Graham is credited with
having once said “Jesus tells us it is OK to help your ox
out of the ditch on the Sabbath. But, if your ox gets in the ditch every Sabbath, you need
to either get rid of the ox or fill up the ditch”