I’m glad Jesus has a whole
lot of patience mixed in with his persistence. He’s doing his level-best to get
an important point across. Again. On the heels of MARK 2:23-28, even when he
knows they’re gunning for him, Jesus poses a question – appealing to the hearts
of his accusers – yet the answer he seeks and the one in which he hopes, it is
met with… silence.
Shriveled hand. Crippled
hand. Withered hand. Paralyzed, deformed, diseased, congenital. No matter the
description which could be any of these – the man with a physical challenge happened
to be at the synagogue when Jesus made an appearance.
For the conspiracy
theorists, was it a set-up? Certainly, as Gene from the study group stated,
"They’re testing Jesus. He has a pattern going against the established rule.”
Their thoughts could have
been along the lines of… “It’s the Sabbath. We all know the rules against
working. Oooouuuu, let’s see what kind-hearted Jesus will do. He’ll spot this
guy with the bad hand and wanna heal him. Then we’ve got him. Let's try this
again!"
DID YOU KNOW…?
The gospel according to
the Hebrews – a gospel which is lost except for a few fragments – tells us the
man was a stone mason. His livelihood was in his hands. Through it all,
he was ashamed to beg and believed Jesus could help him. [i]
Regardless of the ill
intention of others, Jesus wants to pierce the hardened hearts in this meeting
place to gain greater understanding of what God wants in all of our lives.
Jesus sees the man who
needs his help and asks him to stand where everyone can see him. Then a
question is asked with clear-cut extremes being used. Depending on the
translation,… “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to
save life or to kill?”
Good versus evil; saving a
life versus killing someone.
Absolute silence. Not a
word. In this instance, silence kills. And Jesus seethes at these people who
are so afraid of losing their power, their control, the way it’s always been
done.
Before moving into the
other verses in this section, I posed several questions to the study group –
“Is anger wrong?” “Is it a sin?” “Can anger be a good thing and if so, how?” As
we discussed the possibilities, it was clear that anger can be used in wrong,
selfish, hurtful ways, but in contrast, it can also be used constructively, for
solutions.
While some Biblical texts
have Jesus solely angry and furious, I find it interesting in the NIV where
Jesus looks in anger (at those who are silent) while also being deeply
distressed. Quite a mix of emotions.
“ ‘Deeply distressed’ was
a phrase from the Greek sullupoumenos,
found only here in the New Testament, which means ‘grieving with someone.’ ” [ii] Jesus’ heart breaks while
the hearts of his accusers remain hardened. They are more entrenched in ritual,
strict obedience and correct performance than attending to a person in need.
Those who were out to get
Jesus wanted him to physically touch this man and heal him.
What better opportunity
for Jesus to turn the “game” on its head? All Jesus does is say, “Stretch out
your hand.” And the man stretches out his hand and finds it restored. “The
passive – was restored – may indicate
Jesus in fact did not do anything that could be considered work.” [iii]
Can you imagine the
sputtering, the kvetching, the boiling anger of these accusers? This is where
high irony comes.
Two vastly different political
parties – the Herodians [a secular group which took its name from Herod Antipas
(son of Herod the Great)] [iv] and the Pharisees –
normally enemies, being opposed on almost all issues – come together to plot
how they might kill Jesus.
Where Jesus is about life,
they want to snuff out this amazing, divine light. “Saving life versus killing
someone.” “Good versus Evil.” And they plot to murder Jesus on… the Sabbath.
Now who is breaking God’s
law?
NEXT…
Coming from far and wide;
“Son” or “son”; then there were twelve
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