Law or Blessing?

Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shrivelled hand was there. 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. Jesus said to the man with the shrivelled hand, ‘Stand up in front of everyone.’ 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.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. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. (Mark 3:1-6)

Outrage: Man gets healed!  Jesus of Nazareth in trouble again. But why? This, surely is a good news story! A moment for rejoicing.

So what’s going on in this story? Jesus has gone to worship in the synagogue. He meets a man with a shrivelled hand. Some Pharisees are watching him. Today is the Sabbath – the holy day – the day when work is forbidden. How will Jesus react? The religious leaders are becoming hostile.

It seems they’ve lost their sense of perspective. Sometimes we talk about the spirit of a law and the letter of the law. We can be so intent upon following the letter of the law that we completely lose sight of the spirit behind it – the common sense that lies behind it.

The Pharisees were hoping to be able to accuse Jesus of being a Sabbath breaker, and worthy of death. They knew that Jesus was compassionate – could they trap him?

But Jesus asks a rhetorical question: ‘Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?’ Maybe he didn’t even expect an answer. The fact is, they couldn’t answer. It put them into a dilemma. They didn’t want to appear un-compassionate, and yet the law was the law.

Jesus knew what they were thinking. Superficially, they pretended to be worshiping God – but deep down, they were too concerned about their own authority, and Jesus posed a threat to their position.

But their attempt to catch Jesus “working” on the Sabbath was frustrated. The man himself had done all the action. Jesus only spoke. What could they accuse him of doing. Just imagine the “huff” that they were in.

So what do we learn from this story?

There are advantages of going to worship where Jesus is. Jesus is present whenever we honour him, and his presence brings a blessing. Just as he healed this obedient man, when we come to him humbly in “obedience” we too can be healed of our spiritual ills. When we miss a service with Jesus, we miss a blessing to our soul. What a loss it would have been to this poor man if he had not been in the synagogue that day!

Jesus commanded the man to “stretch out your hand” to receive a great blessing that day from worship. What if that man had not “stretched out his hand”? To get our greatest blessing we must “open up our heart” to the Lord. Imagine what we fail to receive in worship when we fail to “open up our heart.”!

We come to God with humility and expectation – seeking His grace and forgiveness, but also pleading for his mercy and continued blessing for ourselves, our church, our family, and community.

In short, we need to be “stretching out our hand” for Jesus’ blessing in worship. The man went home blessed because he obeyed the Lord. When we come to worship we need to be stretching out our hand to God to receive the blessings that he has for us.