Chapter # 3 Paragraph # 1 Study # 2
September 10, 2019
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(104)
1901 ASV
1 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there who had his hand withered.
2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.
3 And he saith unto the man that had his hand withered,
Stand forth.
4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful on the sabbath day to do good, or to do harm? to save a life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their heart, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he stretched it forth; and his hand was restored.
6 And the Pharisees went out, and straightway with the Herodians took counsel against him, how they might destroy him.
- I. Synagogue and Sabbath, Front and Center [See Notes (101)].
- A. The synagogue was fundamental to the grip Israel's apostate leadership had on "the people" (John 9:21-23).
- B. The Sabbath was the timing of the coming together of Judea as a controlled "synagogue" by the leadership.
- II. The Setting on This Sabbath.
- A. The man with the "withered" hand.
- 1. The long perspective: Exodus 15:26; Deuteronomy 7:15.
- a. Not only was this "promise" not being fulfilled because of its "condition", the people had obituated themselves to its absence of fulfillment, and kept right on going to synagogue.
- 1) If God made a promise, and it is not being fulfilled, it is significantly dangerous in the long run to refuse to deal with the facts.
- a) God has not "failed to keep His word".
- b) It could be that the conditions of the promise have not been met by those to whom the promise was made.
- c) It could be that there are extenuating circumstances respecting God's plans that affect the timing of the fulfillment (John 9:2-3/Luke 1:5-7).
- d) "Dealing with the facts" means considering the reality/possibilities in "faith".
- i. "Faith" is an attitude of heart/mind that affects choices and behaviors and associated attitudes.
- ii. "Unbelief" is also such an attitude.
- e) The "danger" is that the typical response is "accusatory" (by oneself and others -- "...who sinned...?) and "slippage" at the "faith" level sets one up for difficult disciplinary consequences (Luke 1:18-20 compared with 1:38 and 45).
- 2) The continued attendance to the synagogue is an indication of "hopeless and mindless subjection to the 'typical reactions' " .
- a) Jesus did not ask the man for "faith" (long since destroyed culturally and, perhaps, personally).
- b) Mark's point is "faith in Jesus as 'Lord of the Sabbath' ", but it is not required for this "healing".
- i. Mark recorded this event to argue for Jesus' identity as "The Son of The Man" Who has the authority to forgive and to determine "Sabbatical Rest Issues".
- ii. But, Mark had no intention at all of making the man like unto the paralytic and his friends: "faith" by the recipient is not in the picture; only "faith" by the readers of the record.
- b. The people had been conditioned by their plight to long for Messiah and were observing the sabbath as instructed as an attendant part of that longing.
- 1) Levi was a different person in that he had "junked religion" pretty much altogether (an attitude entirely consistent with not experiencing "forgiveness", only despair).
- 2) The "masses" were not consistent...they were going to "play at religion" no matter how inconsistent it was for them.
- 2. The immediate perspective.
- a. Jesus' reputation had exploded because He was not "discriminatory" in His healings and exorcisms.
- b. The man whose hand was withered was there (though we are not told the reason -- he may not have even known that Jesus would be there on that day).
- c. The "they" of 3:2 clearly, at least, included the Pharisees of 3:6.
- B. The "watchers".
- 1. The term is only used in the New Testament to signify careful scrutiny with all senses alert (like a deer hunter in the half-hour before dawn).
- 2. At issue: Will we have an opportunity to take Him into court with some hope of destroying Him?
- III. The Main Issue: What Is God Really Like?
- A. Because Jesus is fully aware of what is going on, He addresses the man with the withered hand.
- 1. The present tense of "He says" is the historical narrative tense when focus is at issue.
- a. It is apparent that the Pharisees are focused upon the man with the withered hand and upon Jesus to see what He will do (this, Mark tells us).
- b. And Mark's use of the present tense indicates that he wants his readers to be just as focused, but with a different goal ("they" to accuse Him, "we" to learn of Him).
- 2. He "says" to him: "Arise into the [our] midst".
- a. What was a "hidden" focus is now an obvious one.
- b. Jesus is deliberately provoking the situation because it is the sabbath and He is in the synagogue.
- B. Then Jesus asks the key question.
- 1. He "says" to them...
- 2. "Is it lawful on the sabbaths to do good or to do harm?"
- a. At issue is the root in the divine nature that has come up with the demand for the observance of the sabbath.
- 1) He has already declared to them that the divine intention regarding the sabbath is "for" man.
- a) Isaiah 58:13 is clear that the divine intention is that man observe the sabbaths.
- b) But it is also clear that the constraint is upon man to cease for one day, in each week, from the pursuits of his own desires and plans.
- c) Jesus declared that this was not a way for God to restrict men from addressing important "necessities" just to "prove" their submission to Him; rather, it was a way to enhance man's "faith" in God's abundant provision, to develop some discipline in him for restraint of his baser impulses, and to provide "rest" for him because it is a most fundamental "need" at least at the physical level.
- 2) He simultaneously declared that the divine intention was not to turn man into a slave of the sabbath.
- a) It is wickedness for men to be subjected to "loss" for the sake of "rules". The exaltation of the "rules" over man's highest and best "good" is the heart of the Luciferian accusation that God is "not as good as you think He is"; an accusation, made without those specific words in Genesis 3:4, and exposed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:56. It is when "creatures" think of God as simply an arbitrary tyrant feasting upon His control over them that they rebel against His commands.
- b) Jesus was contending with "demonic doctrine": He entered "synagogues" led by "children of the devil" (John 8:44) and dominated by the presence of demons as we have already seen in Mark 1:23-27.
- b. "Lawful" simply defines the nature of the Law Giver.
- 1) Is "doing good" ever "unlawful"?
- 2) Is "doing damage" sometimes "lawful"?
- 3. What about "to save a soul" and "to kill"?
- a. Clearly Luke 13:15 and 14:5 establish accepted activities on the sabbath that require labor. If it is legitimate to do this "work" on the sabbath for an "ox" (1 Corinthians 9:9), about which God cares very little if at all, surely it is also legitimate to do this for a man.
- b. Just as clearly, the Pharisees were well aware of the history of the Maccabean period when the nation decided that, if attacked on the sabbath, it was legitimate to fight (and kill). To deny this decision was to deny the legitimacy of the Feast of Dedication, something these Pharisees were loath to do.