Message for THE LORD'S DAY MORNING, April 22,2018 Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolina by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister Message 12 in Making A Difference Sermon Series from the Gospel of Mark Jesus Heals The Man With A Withered Hand Mark 3:1-6 (NKJV) As we continue with our series of messages from the Gospel of Mark, please turn with me in your Bibles to Mark chapter three. And let's read verses 1-6. MARK 3:1-6 (NKJV) 1 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. ***************************** I n t r o d u c t i o n If you have been with us throughout this series from the Gospel of Mark you have no doubt come to realize that Jesus' ministry was surrounded with controversy. Everything Jesus said...everything Jesus did or failed to do was scrutinized and dissected by the Jewish religious leaders. During His ministry there was hardly a place Jesus went but what the scribes and Pharisees didn't show up to argue and debate with Him. In today's text we see it happen yet again.
In our scripture we find JESUS once again in the synagogue on the Sabbath Day. In all likelihood, this is the same Sabbath day the Pharisees had confronted Jesus about His disciples plucking grain on the Sabbath as they made their way through a field. The Pharisees have followed Jesus to the synagogue. They aren't there to worship. They aren't there to pray. They aren't there to study the ancient scriptures. They are there to trap Jesus...to discredit Jesus...to destroy Jesus' ministry. In this passage we are going to see three different types of hearts on display. As we study these verses I want to ask you to search your own heart to see which of the three types of hearts best describes you. First of all, I would have you to notice... I. The HARD HEARTS of The Pharisees (vs. 1,2) 1 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. 1. We are told in verse 1 that there was a man in the synagogue that day who had a withered hand. That means the man's hand was paralyzed; his hand could not perform the functions for which God created the hand. According to ancient Christian tradition this man was a stonemason who had injured his hand in an accident on the job. So at one time this hand was fully functional and useful; and now the hand was disabled. 2. Now why was this man at the synagogue that day. Some believe he was there because he came seeking to be healed by Jesus. But most Bible scholars believe the Pharisees had either invited or brought this man to the synagogue as bait to trap Jesus in something unlawful. The latter seems to be the most likely reason he was there. The Pharisees were using this man's disability to trap Jesus.
3. That certainly seems to be the intent because look again at what Mark says in verse 2... v. 2 So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. 4. Why did the Pharisees hate Jesus so much? They didn't hate Him because He healed people. They didn't hate Him because He made lame people walk or blind people to see. They didn't hate Him because He cleansed lepers or because He cast out demons or because He raised dead people back to life again. 5. It was what Jesus said that caused them to hate Him, not what He did. He claimed to be the Son of God who had come down from heaven. And the fact that Jesus performed miracles only gave more validity to Jesus' claim that He truly was who He said He was. 6. The bottom line is this: They hated JESUS because their hearts were hardened by their own self-righteousness and pride. They hated Jesus because His light shined light on their darkness. Jesus exposed their self-righteousness. He exposed their pride. He exposed their false teachings of salvation by good works and good morals. They hated Him because they thought highly of themselves and they wanted other people to think highly of them as well. JESUS was the genuine; they were the counterfeit. JESUS was the real deal, they were the cheap imitation. He didn't pay any attention to their rules and regulations. He ignored their religious traditions. He didn't stroke their fur or pat them on the back or praise them for their outward display of religiosity. He called them hypocrites and serpents and a generation of vipers and fools and blind guides and white-washed tombs full of dead men's bones.
Jesus condemned their religious show-boating and spiritual grand-standing. He even warned the Jewish people not to act like them...pray like them...or act like them. Jesus even went so far as to say, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:20 NKJV) 6. This is why the Pharisees would stoop so low as to use a handicap man to trap Jesus. They cared nothing about the man's condition. They had no compassion for the situation he was in. He was nothing more than bait to lure Jesus into their trap. 7. Jesus knew exactly what they were doing, and so He calls for the man with the withered hand to step forward. And then before He does anything, Jesus asked the Pharisees a very simple question: v. 4 Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill? Notice their response: But they kept silent. They didn't answer Jesus because they knew any answer they might give would contradict their own teachings, so they kept silent. 8. In verse 5 Mark says, And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts... The original Greek word Mark uses here for hardness is the word porosis. Porosis was the name for a type of marble that was used in the ancient world. Jesus knew the hearts of the Pharisees were as hard and as unyielding as marble. The word porosis also referred to something covered with a callus. The hearts of the Pharisees were covered with a spiritual callus.
9. To show you just how hard-hearted the Pharisees were look at their response after Jesus healed this man with the withered hand. v. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him. 10. Now this is very interesting. Normally the Pharisees and Herodians hated each other. The Herodians were secular Jews who supported the government of Herod the King. They liked the changes the Romans had brought to Israel. The Pharisees didn't like the Herodians. The Herodians weren't spiritual enough. So why did the Pharisees solicit the help of the Herodians? It was because they had a common enemy...jesus! The Herodians believed Jesus posed a threat to over-throw the Roman government. And the Pharisees believed Jesus posed a threat to their religious rule over the Jewish people. And so these two strange bed-fellows plotted how they could get rid of JESUS. Both groups wanted Jesus dead! From the HARD-HEARTED PHARISEES, let's now turn our thoughts to II. The HOLY HEART of The Savior 1. What a sharp contrast we see when we compare the Savior's actions with those of the Pharisees'. 2. Let me point out three ways Jesus revealed His HOLY HEART in this passage.
First of all we see the holiness in Jesus' heart by... (A) His COMMAND (v.3) 3 And He said to the man who had the withered hand, Step forward. What Jesus was about to do for this man was not done in secret or off in a corner. Jesus was not doing anything wrong. He wasn't breaking any commandment of God. He wasn't about to do something sinful. And so He commanded the man with a withered hand to come down front and center in the synagogue. Jesus wanted everyone there to see the awesome power of God at work. What Jesus was about to do would bring glory and honor to His Heavenly Father. And so He commanded the man to step forward. Secondly, we see the holiness in Jesus heart by... (B) HIS CONFRONTATION (v.4) 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. Jesus is confronting the hypocrisy of the Pharisees by asking them these two simple questions: Is it lawful to do good or to do evil on the Sabbath day? And Is it lawful to save a life or to take a life on the Sabbath day? Today we would say those were loaded questions. With those two questions Jesus was letting the Pharisees know that He knew the evil in their hearts. You see, Jesus wanted to do good... to save life on the Sabbath by healing the man with the withered hand. But the Pharisees wanted to do evil, they wanted to kill on the Sabbath, meaning they wanted to kill Jesus.
Do you see the hypocrisy? Do you see the wickedness in their legalistic false religion? On the one hand, the Pharisees prided themselves on being the guardians and defenders of the Law of Moses...and yet on the other hand they inwardly desired to break the sixth commandment, You shall not murder. (Exodus 20:13) The man with the withered hand did not have a lifethreatening injury. This was not a medical emergency. Jesus could easily have postponed this healing until the next day, or even for two or three days, if He wanted to. But He chose to heal this man on the Sabbath to demonstrate to the Pharisees that He is LORD OF THE SABBATH and that He is not governed by their cold, heartless religious rules. Thirdly, we see the holiness in Jesus heart by... (C) His COMPASSION (v.5b) v. 5b He said to the man, Stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. Even though the Pharisees had invited or brought this man to the synagogue to trap Jesus, Jesus still had great compassion on the man. As we have seen in Jesus' previous miracles, there was no fanfare or theatrics or drama in the way Jesus performed this miracle. He simply commanded the man to stretch out his hand and instantly his hand was made whole just like his other hand. But while the man no longer had a withered hand, the Pharisees still had their cold, hardened, withered hearts.
We have looked at THE HARD HEARTS OF THE PHARISEES and THE HOLY HEART OF THE SAVIOR. Thirdly, let's look at... III. The HUMBLE HEART of The Afflicted Man (v. 5) 1. The man with the withered hand knew the Pharisees didn't care about his deformed, paralyzed hand. He knew that he was nothing more than a pawn in this little game the Pharisees were playing with Jesus, and that he was being used to trap Jesus. 2. But don't you know in his heart he truly hoped that Jesus would heal him? Don't you know in his heart he had faith that if anyone could ever heal his hand and make it whole again it was JESUS. 3. Jesus commanded him to step forward. And although Mark doesn't mention the man's actions, it is implied that he humbly obeyed what Jesus commanded him to do and he came down to the front of the synagogue. And then in verse 5 when Jesus commanded him to stretch out your hand...this was something this man had likely been unable to do for quite some time, perhaps many years...and yet he humbly obeyed Jesus' command and stretched out his hand. And Jesus made his hand whole again just like the other hand. **********************************************************************************
C O N C L U S I O N A HARD HEART...A HOLY HEART...AND A HUMBLE HEART...which of those three best describes the condition of your heart? If you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your LORD and SAVIOR you need to understand that every time you reject Jesus, every time you refuse to surrender your life to Him, your heart just gets harder and harder, and if you reject Jesus long enough your heart may become so hard that you could risk going out of this life without ever being saved. Or perhaps you are a Christian, but there are still certain sins you have never truly repented of and forsaken, it is very possible your heart has become hardened and callused toward spiritual things. Have you lost your hunger for the word of God. Have you lost your desire to spend time with the LORD in prayer? Have you become resistant to the preaching of God's word? Have you become more worldly and materialistic? Have you grown slack in your spiritual commitments? Are you no longer grieved by the sin in your life? There is only one way to overcome a hard-heart and that is to come to Jesus with a humble heart, like that man afflicted with the withered hand. Jesus commanded the man with the withered hand to step forward and stretch out his hand. If you are outside of Christ that is what Jesus is asking you to do. He is asking you to step forward and stretch out your hand, realizing that He is the only one who can save your soul...he is the only one who can forgive your sins...he is the only one who can cleanse you and make you whole. If you are already a Christian but your life is withered by the crushing blow of sin and you have lost the spiritual power you once had, Jesus invites you to come to Him with a humble heart confessing your sins and out of His compassionate grace and mercy He will make you whole again.
GIVE THEM ALL TO JESUS Are you tired of chasing pretty rainbows? Are you tired of spinning round and round? Wrap up all those shattered dreams of your life And at the feet of Jesus, lay them down. Give them all, give them all, give them all to Jesus Your shattered dreams, wounded hearts, and broken toys. Give them all, give them all, give them all to Jesus And He will turn your sorrows into joy.