Slices
Prepare
As you read this passage, imagine you are there in the synagogue. Feel the tension in the air.
Bible passage
Jesus heals on the Sabbath
3 Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shrivelled 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 shrivelled 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.
Explore
A couple I knew thought that a bookstall in church would help people grow and encourage the local Christian bookshop. However, some church members were worried about selling things on Sunday, so they had to let people choose a book and then collect the money on another day in the week. The bookstall did not last long.
The Sabbath controversies that have been around for a while come to the surface now. This gives critics of Jesus an excuse for beginning to plot against him (vs 2,6). They watch closely when the man with the deformed hand enters the synagogue (vs 1,2). Had he wanted to avoid a confrontation, Jesus could have asked the man to come back after sunset, when the Sabbath was over (it wasn’t an emergency). Instead he makes a point of drawing attention to the healing by asking him to stand up in front of everyone (v 3). He heals on the Sabbath in the synagogue (v 5). Like the prophets (eg Micah 6:8), Jesus emphasises that God wants practical mercy and love rather than empty legalism.
The battle lines are drawn now. Jesus came proclaiming and demonstrating with authority the coming of God’s kingdom. Sadly, the opposition is being led by the very people who claim to observe God’s laws.
Respond
How has accompanying Jesus on the road for the last two weeks challenged you as he proclaimed the arrival of God’s kingdom?
Deeper Bible study
‘Here might I stay and sing, / no story so divine; / never was love, dear King, / never was grief like thine.’1
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 shrivelled 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 casuistry of the Pharisees is mind-numbing. For example, 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 carried 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 was angry – and not just because they wanted to trap him. Mark adds that he was grieved by their perverse refusal to listen to God (v 5). So, calling the man out into full view, he challenged the Pharisees on their understanding of the Sabbath, then healed the man’s hand. God’s command for the Sabbath: Do good. Save life.
Don’t miss the irony. The Pharisees who refused to listen also refused to see what was taking place before their very eyes. The very people who were scrupulous about keeping the Sabbath went out on the Sabbath and plotted to kill the Lord of the Sabbath. And here they joined cause with none other than the friends of Herod.
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.
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
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Exodus 15,16; Psalm 15
Pray for Scripture Union
This week, all of the Scripture Union prayers relate to this article.
Pray for churches to be mindful that children and young people who aren’t from a church will be starting further back in their understanding of scripture and we need to start from their baseline (an issue that Paul had – read Acts 17:16–34 noting verses 19 and 20).
