HEARTS OF STONE
Opening Prayer
Loving Father, help me bring my straggling thoughts in focus, so when I am with You, I can hear Your voice and obey Your will.
Read MARK 3:1–6
Jesus Heals on the Sabbath
3 Another time Jesus 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.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
‘Here might I stay and sing, / no story so divine; / never was love, dear King, / never was grief like Thine.’1
Think Further
This concise account needs to be read in the light of the story of the man let down through the roof.2 On both occasions the authority of Jesus’ teaching is demonstrated through His power of healing. We read very little about the man with the shriveled hand or Jesus’ interaction with him, though we can be sure that He was attentive to the man’s needs. In telling the story, Mark focuses on the Pharisees and their hearts of stone.3 The excessive argumentation of the Pharisees is mind-numbing. For example, back then the Rabbinic regulations about the Sabbath were: ‘… two persons may carry something which one might have removed quite easily. It was also permissible to carry something in an unusual way, eg., with the foot or mouth. Or an object could be passed along the street from one person to another so long as no one carries it more than the statutory radius of 4 cubits from the Sabbath place’.4 Ministering to the sick was permitted, but only if it was an emergency. Breaking these regulations was punishable by death.
Jesus is angry – and not just because they want to trap Him. Mark adds that He is grieved by their perverse refusal to listen to God (5). So, calling the man out into full view, He challenges the Pharisees on their understanding of the Sabbath, then heals the man’s hand. God’s command for the Sabbath: Do good. Save life.
Don’t miss the irony. The Pharisees who refuse to listen also refuse to see what is taking place before their very eyes. The very people who are so scrupulous about keeping the Sabbath now go out on the Sabbath and plot to kill the Lord of the Sabbath. And here they join their cause with none other than the friends of Herod.
Apply
Lord Jesus Christ, keep me from being set in my ways. I pray that my eyes and my ears may always be open to the amazing things You are doing.
Closing prayer
Dear Father, help me to live in a rhythm of work and rest that is glorifying to You.
1 S Crossman 1624–84 2 Mark 2:1–12 3 Ezek 36:26 4 E Lohse, in G Kittel, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol 7, Eerdmans, 2014, p14,15
Book and Author Intros
Extras
Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.
© 2024 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.
Encounter with God is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.