The Man with the Withered Hand (Mark 3:1-6)
This event is so fascinating and instructive! We see here Jesus teaching on the Sabbath. The Pharisees are also among them, watching to see whether He would heal on the Sabbath. Jesus, knowing their thoughts, asked a man with a withered hand to come forward. He then asked the crowd whether “it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or destroy it?”
Such a question! The Pharisees were there to harm, He was there to save and to rescue the poor and needy, just as commanded throughout the law and the prophets. They did not care about the poor, the brokenhearted, the bruised reeds, and the dimly burning wicks.
Jesus “looked around at them with anger, grieved at the hardness of their hearts.” Notice that His anger (the only verse that identified Jesus as angry, to my knowledge) was because of their hardened hearts. His anger was pure and righteous. He was not motivated by it, as we see clearly in the Gospel of John (e.g., John 5:30). He only did what the Father was doing.
Then this extraordinary thing occurred. Jesus violated the very laws of nature right before their eyes. Not to impress them, mind you, but from pure compassion from the Father for this broken man.
Was there ever a man anything like this man? He breaks the laws of nature at His command. There are many “healers,” but only One who does this – the Almighty One. He made the world and reigned over it.
Then, unbelievably, the Jewish leaders’ response to this most incredible event was not to fall on their faces and praise God for such mercy, grace, and power demonstrated before them. No, instead, they went out and conferred as to how they might destroy Him. They were proving their own evil even in the face of the reality of God before their eyes!
This is the majesty of the One whom we serve! How solid is the ground we stand on! The truth is that those who truly follow Him will see the laws of nature broken daily before their eyes. He builds their faith in secret and hides these things from those with hardened hearts (Matthew 11:25-27).
Let us come to Him. He is able for all things. He has conquered the darkness for us through His death so that we might overcome all things through Him. How blessed are those who hope only in Jesus Christ and Him crucified! Nothing will be impossible for them through Him and His great love.
