Another Sabbath Encounter: Man with Withered Hand

Introduction: Another Sabbath Controversy

0:02 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, June 24th, 1984, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:13 Now I would encourage you to turn with me in your own Bibles to the third chapter of the Gospel according to Mark, as we continue our expositions in this record of the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, we come this morning to the third chapter, which perhaps could better have been placed as the last paragraph of the second chapter, and I would ask you to follow as I read the first six verses.

0:50 Referring to our Lord, Mark writes, And he entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there who had his hand withered. And they watched him. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day, in order that they might accuse him. And he said unto the man that had his hand withered, Stand forth, or arise into the midst.

1:17 And he said 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. And when he had looked, round about him on them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their heart, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth your hand. And he stretched it forth, and his hand was restored.

1:50 And the Pharisees went out, and straightway with the Herodians took counsel against him, how they might destroy him.

2:01 Let us again seek the face of God, asking God, to come by his spirit, and open up this portion of his word.

2:15 Our Father, we have addressed you as the divine instructor, and we do acknowledge that unless you are present to open our eyes, to take away from us our native prejudice and dullness and spiritual blindness, we will never rightly perceive your truth. But how we thank you that you have sent, the Spirit, who has come to bear witness of Christ, as Christ himself is set before us in the Scriptures. Oh, may he do his mighty work this morning, convincing us of sin, of righteousness and of judgment, and giving us such a sight of the Lord Jesus, as will utterly ravish our hearts, and leave us at his feet in worship, adoration, and joyful submission. Hear us and answer our earnest cry. We plead these mercies in his name. Amen.

3:26 Now we have had occasion to note on several Lord's Day mornings that this section that we now conclude in the Gospel of Mark, bounded by Mark, Mark 2, 1, and Mark 3, 6, is a section that we might entitle A Period of Growing or Rising Opposition. Chapter 1 records the wonderful ministry of our Lord and his great popularity throughout Galilee. But the organizing principle of chapter 2, culminating in the statement of chapter 3 and verse 6, is the incidence which, precipitated opposition to our Lord, particularly from the existing and ruling religious class, the scribes and the Pharisees. In the previous incident, verses 23 to 28 of chapter 2, we saw this first Sabbath controversy with the scribes and the Pharisees. And our Lord concluded that section by asserting that these Pharisees, Pharisees neither understood the true nature and purpose of the Sabbath nor the rightful legislator of the Sabbath. And so he said the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath,

4:55 so that the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath. Well, it's obvious that the passage read in your hearing brings us to another Sabbath controversy. And we might entitle this paragraph another, Sabbath encounter with the Pharisees. Now, the record of this incident is found also in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 12, and in Luke, chapter 6.

5:23 And if you carefully read all three of the accounts, you soon come to two very fundamental convictions. First of all, that there are certain common denominators included in all three accounts. But then you very quickly come to the conviction that there are distinct denominators, distinct and often fascinating strokes of individual detail in each of the accounts. Matthew gives details excluded by Luke and Mark, and it's true with Mark and with Luke as well.

5:55 But as I've reminded you periodically in our studies, I am not expounding an attempted harmony of the Gospels in which we bring any incident that is recorded in all three of the Gospels into some harmonious act, and unified statement. But I am attempting to expound the Gospel of Mark. Now, if you do have some interest in seeing a helpful harmonization of the three accounts, I recommend the commentary on the Gospel of Mark by William Hendrickson, pages 113 and 114. He has a most helpful, natural, it's not artificial at all, harmonizing of the three records.

Setting the Stage for the Encounter (Mark 3:1-3)

6:39 But what I'm trying to do here is to say that what we will do this morning, God helping us, is what we've done right along, is to attempt to expound Mark's account of this incident using any insights from Matthew and Luke simply as highlights on the record as it comes to us from the pen of Mark as he is guided by the Holy Spirit. As we come then to this paragraph in which we have another Sabbath encounter with the Pharisees, let us continue, let us consider first of all what I have called setting the stage for the encounter. Setting the stage for the encounter, verses 1 through 3. And he entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there who had his hand withered. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day that they might accuse him. And he said unto the man that had his hand withered, Stand forth. Now in these first three verses, Mark very graphically and powerfully sets before us the stage for this second Sabbath encounter in his own Gospel record.

7:55 And the first thing he does in setting the stage is to remind us of the day on which this encounter took place. It was a Sabbath day in Galilee. We learn that from verse 2 that the Pharisees are watching him to see if he would heal on the Sabbath day. And from the parallel account in Luke 6.6 we read that on a certain Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue. So here our Lord is found in this situation on that particular day. That day, as I have said again and again, which was the gift of God to man, even God's gracious gift to the nation of Israel, in spite of all of the peculiar Mosaic legislations that were laid upon them, but a day that had been turned into an insufferable burden by the legalistic trappings of the teaching of the rabbis, the official teaching of the scribes, and of the Pharisees.

9:05 If ever the statement of our Lord about them was true, it was true with reference to their Sabbath rules, you bind burdens grievous to be borne. And if ever they did it, they did it with respect to the Sabbath. So it is on that particular day that the encounter takes place. Then notice the place in which the encounter occurred.

9:31 In setting the stage we must understand the day, but then secondly the place in which it occurred. We read in verse 1 of chapter 3 in Mark's Gospel that it occurred in a synagogue. He entered again into the synagogue. And once more we have learned from our previous expositions in the Gospel of Mark that it was the pattern of our Lord to go into the synagogues on the Sabbath day and to teach.

10:05 Verse 39 of chapter 1, a summary statement. He went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out demons. And so he is simply following his ordinary pattern. He is not doing an extraordinary thing.

10:24 He is simply going through the pattern of his general behavior in this period of his ministry in Galilee. And as he entered, according to Luke chapter 3, chapter 6 and verse 6, he did what he always did on a Sabbath day in a synagogue. He entered into the teaching role. When the Scriptures were read he was then officially recognized by the leader of the synagogue and he taught the word of the living God.

10:55 Then notice in the third place as the stage is being set for the encounter, not only the day on which it took place, the place in which it occurred, but the people involved in the encounter. No doubt there was an ordinary congregation of regular synagogue worshipers. Though they are not explicitly mentioned, there is nothing in the context of Mark's account, Matthew's or Luke's, to indicate that this was a select group of people gathered in the synagogue on that day. The backdrop was that of an ordinary congregation of synagogue worshipers.

11:35 However, the focus falls upon Jesus, a certain individual, and a group of religious leaders. First of all, Jesus was there. He entered again into the synagogue. And you remember that Mark's great concern, articulated in the first verse of his Gospel, is to tell us good news concerning Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

12:01 And so the attention will be focused upon the character, the words, and the actions of Jesus. You'll remember again from our previous studies that his fame had gone throughout that entire area of Galilee, so that no doubt many of the worshipers who were present were there with a sense of expectancy that Jesus of Nazareth was found in their synagogue on that particular Sabbath day. His fame had spread abroad, that he spoke with authority, and that he even cast out demons with the word of his power. So something of that air of expectancy, no doubt, was going like electric current through the congregation when they saw that Jesus was in that particular synagogue on that given Sabbath day. Then Mark tells us that there was there a man who had his hand withered. Now the verb for withered is the word that is used to describe what happens when plant life loses its life. John 15.6

13:12 Jesus, using the analogy of the vine and the branches, says if a branch is severed from the vine it is cast off and it withers. It's the very word used in Mark's Gospel, chapter 4, with reference to the stony ground hearer who is likened to a plant that has no root system. It springs up, it seems to be full of life, but when the sun arises and consumes its moisture, that plant withers. It loses all of its life.

13:42 It becomes a drooping, lifeless, dry flower. That's the word that is used to describe this man. There was there a man who had his hand withered. And some suggest that the tense of the verb may point to the fact that this was not a congenital disease, but a condition that came upon the man through something subsequent in his life history or perhaps by an accident.

14:11 But the wording tells us that all of the life was gone, not from the whole arm. The Greek is very explicit. It was his hand. Somewhere from the wrist out, all the life had gone out of it.

14:25 Now maybe it hung there, lifeless, like a paralyzed hand. Perhaps it was all shriveled up and gnarled. The muscles going through the process of atrophy. Perhaps the tendons tightened.

14:38 We don't know. But the hand was a lifeless appendage and was no use to the man. There's an interesting tradition from uninspired sources, but a very ancient tradition, that this man had been a stonemason and that he had lost the use of what Luke tells us very perceptively was his right hand. Dr. Luke adds that little stroke.

15:03 It was his right hand. And that he was begging Jesus to be healed so that he might not have to be a beggar for the rest of his days and could return to his trade. Now whether that tradition grew out of the reality or whether it was something introduced, we do not know, but this man is described only by this distinguishing characteristic. He had a withered, a lifeless, probably a shriveled, shrunken right hand.

15:33 So Jesus was there as the stage is being set with reference to the people. Here's the man with the withered hand. But then thirdly, the people involved are this group of religious leaders called the scribes and Pharisees. Mark 3.2 simply says, they watched him. And we learn later on from verse 6 who the they were. And the Pharisees went out. But in Luke's account, chapter 6 in verse 7 of Luke, there is no doubt Luke says the scribes and the Pharisees were watching him.

16:11 Now again, this word for watching him, both as to its meaning and its tense, does not mean they were simply there watching. Like you might sit in the backyard bird watching. You know, just sort of enjoying the birds and looking around. But they were continually watching.

16:32 That is looking with scrutinizing intensity. Watching as people watch in the middle of the night for some intruder that they fear may be coming upon them. It's an intense kind of watching and it points to a continuous activity. They were continually scrutinizing his every move as every word would be a free rendering of the pressure of that bird.

17:02 And notice their reason for watching him. It's very clear. They were watching whether he would heal him that is the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath day. Now here's their intention.

17:16 In order that they might formally bring accusation against him before the authorities. The word for accuse is not a general word for informal accusation where you might say to someone don't accuse me of that. But it's the very word which by its etymology and its general use means to accuse formally before a court or before an assembly. So they had already decided the first opportunity they get they are going to bring a formal indictment against Jesus before the ruling body in Israel.

17:54 And now they are watching him like a hawk spying scrutinizing every action listening for every word and in this incident they have as it were one eye upon Christ and one upon the man with the withered hand for they know from Christ's past patterns that when people were present in synagogues on Sabbath days he cast out demons and healed them by the word of his power. And Jesus was conscious of their motives for Luke 6 8 and Luke 6 8 tells us that he knew their thoughts. So as the Lord Jesus is there in the synagogue in the midst of the general congregation with the attention focused particularly upon the man with the withered hand and the scribes and the Pharisees he is fully conscious of why they are there. Or they may have sat there very piously they may have entered in very enthusiastically into the word of confession in which the congregation would join in the ordinary synagogue worship. They may have appeared very intent when the law was read and when the prophets were read. They may have appeared very interested and wholly absorbed as Jesus preached but he knew their thoughts.

19:14 All of their religious form did not fool him fully knowing the intention of their hearts to trap him with a view to formally indicting him. There were the Pharisees and then the final piece that sets the stage for the encounter is what we might call the focus of the encounter that Jesus himself now gives to this entire situation. And the focus of that encounter is given when Jesus now having finished his formal teaching speaks to the man that had his hand withered and he gives a simple imperative stand forth or as the margin of the 1901 renders it arise in the midst. You can imagine what's happening at this part of the narrative. Here the Pharisees are conscious of the man there with the withered hand because they've come now to see if he would heal him on a Sabbath day. They're very conscious of where he is in the congregation. Oh yes, their eyes may be upon Jesus but they know he's over there.

20:20 They know right where he is. Now Jesus finishes his exposition, his exhortation and he turns in the direction of the man with the withered hand and he says stand up in the midst of the congregation. And suddenly the man stands and one can just see what would have happened. Every head would have been jerked in the direction of the man as he stands there with his withered hand and all of the attention is focused upon him and the air that perhaps had had a little bit of the electricity of excitement and anticipation in terms of Christ's general reputation.

21:02 Now that air literally crackles and sparks with the tenseness of this situation. Perhaps the man had come expecting to be healed. Maybe this is how the Pharisees found out about him in the first place. But surely the scribes and the Pharisees who are sitting there with jaundiced eyes waiting to seize an occasion they feel the force of Jesus saying stand up in the midst.

21:30 And then the congregation in which no doubt there were some true worshippers true Old Testament saints as we would call them whose hearts were taken up with wonder and praise as they had seen the mighty works of Christ and heard of his mighty deeds. They are filled with eager anticipation. The stage is all set for the encounter. Can you see it?

The Major Incidents of the Encounter (Mark 3:4-5)

21:54 Can you feel it? Are you so dull and dense that you can't see and feel that situation? Mark gives it to us in graphic detail. Then in the second place consider the major incidents of this encounter verses 4 and 5.

22:12 Having set the stage for the encounter verses 1 to 3 we now have the major incidents of the encounter verses 4 and 5. Although Matthew records aspects of the encounter in which the Pharisees first address Jesus Mark records that part in which Jesus addresses them. So we have as the major incidents of the encounter first of all the question of Jesus in verse 4. The question of Jesus.

22:45 He said unto them obviously addressing this question to the scribes and Pharisees experts in the law is it lawful on the sabbath day to do good or to do harm to save a life or to kill? Now here he asks a couplet of questions. You experts on the law tell me is it according to the law is it proper in the light of the law to do what is morally commendable to do good or to do what is morally commendable to do good or to do what is morally reprehensible to do what is evil on the sabbath day? You experts tell me which is according to God's law to be a doer of good or a doer of evil on the sabbath? Second question is it according to the law to save a life or to take a life or destroy a life on the sabbath? Tell me you experts in the law. Now what did our Lord mean by those questions?

23:49 Well some suggest that what he was doing was in typical biblical fashion he was showing that there is no moral neutrality in the face of human need. That the absence of doing good when you can do good is evil to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin. That if we do not respond to human life in need it is a commitment to the destruction of human life which is the essence of murder. So some suggest what Jesus is doing is showing them the heart of their wicked mentality.

24:32 They have come to see whether Jesus would heal which would be doing good. Whether Jesus would save that lifeless member of this man's body. Jesus is pressing upon them if I fail to do what is good and to save a life I would then be doing evil and destroying life. And that may have been the intention of his question but in the light of Luke's comment that he knew their thoughts I believe there is something deeper.

25:00 And whether the congregation knew it he reading their thoughts I am convinced they knew it. You know what he was doing? This is what I believe he was doing. He was saying now let me ask you a question you experts in the law.

25:15 You have come here today with evil intentions in your heart. You haven't come here to worship Jehovah. You haven't come here to stand under the judgment and the instruction of his word. I know why you are here.

25:29 You are here to see if I will heal this man that you might formally indict me before the Sanhedrin and kill me. You were here on the Sabbath day doing evil plotting my destruction. You come to sit in judgment on me. I hurl a question into your conscience.

25:51 Is it lawful to do good which my healing of this man will be or to do evil which you are presently indulging in right now? Which is lawful on the Sabbath? Furthermore I intend to restore life to this man's lifeless right hand. You are already plotting to kill me to take my life.

26:13 Now which is the lawful deed on the Sabbath? To save life or to kill? Will you Pharisees be disturbed if I on the Sabbath bring a withered hand back to life while all the while you are plotting not to take my hand off but to take my very life? Oh how our Lord attacked the consciences of these proud and unfeeling religious leaders.

26:40 Now whether the general crowd understood the deeper significance of this question one thing is clear. I could ask the youngest child here who can understand half my words and they know the answer to Jesus' questions. Is it right to do good on the Lord's day or to do bad? Which is right?

26:57 To do good or bad on the Lord's day? To do good. That's right. Is it right to save life or to take life on the Lord's day?

27:06 Which is right? To save life or take life on the Lord's day? To save life. There's a what?

27:13 Five year old? Six now Jason. Oh good I lost that last year. Now you see little children with the most elementary moral consciousness could feel the obvious answer to the question.

27:29 You don't need to be an expert in the law. Inbred moral consciousness that has not been perverted through years of hardness of heart instinctively responds as these children responded. Is it lawful to do good or do evil? To save a life?

27:47 To take a life? The answer is obvious. But now the question of Jesus is followed by Mark's account of the response of the scribes and Pharisees and what was it? Look at the text.

27:59 4b. But they held their peace. And the tense of the verb means they were keeping silent. It's an imperfect.

28:12 It speaks of action in the past that is continuous. In other words they were intransigent. In keeping their jaws shut and saying we're not going to answer. Why not?

28:27 Well it's obvious isn't it? Here is this tense embarrassing self-condemning silence the only response that they give to Jesus. Why? Well for the simple reason if they say why of course it's right and lawful to do good and to save life on the Sabbath.

28:47 What have they done? They've immediately vindicated themselves. They've vindicated Christ healing on the Sabbath and they've got no case. If they say no it's wrong to do good on the Sabbath.

28:58 It's wrong to save life. The entire congregation including the little kids would have risen up and said you crazy Pharisees you're nuts. It's not right to do evil and to kill on the Sabbath. So they saw that Jesus had them between a rock and a hard place.

29:17 His simple question had pinned them between a rock and a hard place. If we say what's obvious to everyone with any sense of moral awareness of course it's right to do good and to save life. We've vindicated Christ and we get him off the hook. If we say otherwise we put ourselves on the hook.

29:37 And so what do they do? They sit there in self-condemning silence. That's their only response. Then the question of Jesus and the response of the Pharisees is followed by the reaction of Jesus to their response.

Jesus' Reaction and the Man's Healing (Mark 3:5b)

29:51 And it's one of the most pathetic passages in all of the word of God. May God help me to try to open it up in your hearing. Verse 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. What is the reaction of Jesus to their response of silence?

30:24 The emphasis falls upon two things. Notice when he had looked the look of Jesus he said unto the man. So you have Jesus' response in terms of a look and of a word. A look and a word.

30:44 Now this word for looking round about on them is a favorite word of Mark's. That particular compound word is found only seven times in the New Testament and six of them are in Mark. It's one of his favorite little verbal strokes. And it does literally mean that he looked round about at all of the Pharisees.

31:06 Like I try to do when I'm preaching. Establish and keep eye contact with all of you. Preach to your eyeballs. Jesus asked the question, Is it right?

31:17 Is it lawful to do good or do evil on the Sabbath? To save life or to kill? And they're silent. And Jesus meets their silence with a look.

31:27 He looks round about at the whole group of the Pharisees. You talk about the air being electric and full of sparks. Now it's full of lightning with the look of the Son of God. And you'll notice what Mark says about that look.

31:48 Notice It was a look that sprang from and was expressive of two inward emotions anger and grief. When he had looked round about on them with anger being grieved for their hardening of heart. The only place in the Gospel records where anger of this kind is attributed to Christ is here in this passage. In Mark 10 and verse 14 a lesser form of indignation is recorded.

32:25 There is another incident in the Gospel where Jesus sternly charges a man. It has a little bit of an overtone of holy irritation. But this is the only place where orge the anger that is the anger of Almighty God in judgment is ever attributed to our Lord. But Mark tells us and here you see the influence of Peter in Mark's life as an eyewitness.

32:54 He noticed that when Jesus looked round about them on that day there was a flash of the holy orge of God in the eye of the Son of God. Nothing less than that very attribute and holy emotion which recorded in Revelation 6, 16 and 17 will cause men to cry out for rocks and mountains to fall upon them. Why? They say hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath that's the word the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of their wrath their orgy is come and who shall be able to stand? And so our Lord's eye reflected holy pure white hot anger but then another emotion out of which it grew was this being grieved at what? At the hardening of their heart. And here we have a word the only place it's used in the New Testament it's used here.

34:06 The general word for grief the ordinary word for sorrow has a prefix which intensifies its significance. Warfield translates it grieved in his own mind and here the Lord Jesus is pictured as expressing wrath in his look a wrath which grows out of an abiding state of grief in the presence of this commodity hardening of the heart and the word for hardening means the petrifying the insensitizing the callousing of the heart. Now again without involving you in the technicalities of grammar but I'm called upon to preach the word of God as best I know how there is a subtle stroke in the change of tenses. The grief over the hardening of the heart was the continuous disposition the anger that came out of that grief flashed for just a moment. The tense for the anger emphasizes its momentary nature the grief was the abiding disposition and as Warfield is so accurately opened up that concept the anger was indeed the reaction to the grief that which causes us pain

35:34 is that which provokes us to anger and as the Lord Jesus felt the pain knowing their hearts seeing the thick layers of callous that could not even be penetrated by a question so simple that a child could answer. He sees such a display of hardness of heart they don't care that a man's got a shriveled hand they could care less that he go home rejoicing back to his work out into society as a testimony of the grace and kindness of God. They're so hard in heart all they care about is their own religious scruples in killing Jesus. That's the only thing that occupies their mind and when Jesus sees that state of hardness of heart it pains him it grieves him within himself and that grief becomes so intense that for a moment he looks round about him and the holy orgy of God flashes from his eye and then we have the word of Jesus his response is not only in his look but in his word and what is his word? A simple imperative directed to the man still standing there through all of this and one can only imagine how he must have felt embarrassment the silence of the scribes and pharisees all the while he stands there. Jesus' question has come

37:01 their silence has been the response and now Jesus deliberately looks around and he sees that look of holy anger in the eye as well as perhaps the pathos and the grief of his heart manifesting itself in his countenance. And now the word of Jesus that said stand forth in the midst now comes to him very simply stretch out the hand stretch out the hand that's what Jesus said to him now what was the response of the man with the withered hand? 5b and he stretched it forth and his hand was restored Mark, Matthew tells us in Matthew 12, 13 it was restored like as the other. Think of this Jesus says stretch out your hand and remember it was a withered hand not a withered arm so it wasn't as though he had to believe God for healing before he could do what he's commanded preachers have made a lot of that but it's a lot of nothing it's a lot of truth taught from the wrong passage it wasn't a withered arm it was a withered hand and he says stretch it out and so with a healthy arm he stretches out the withered hand and the scripture tells us that there before the eyes of everyone in an instant not only did life come back into that hand but all the atrophied muscles swelled to normal size

38:29 all of the tendons that had become tight through lack of use were as flexible it was as whole as the other and remember how healthy that other hand must have been when it was the only hand he had to use an instant after Jesus said stretch it forth if you hadn't noticed whether it was left or right hand as Luke gives that detail he could have put his hands behind his back held them out and said which one was the withered hand and you would examine both of them front, back, sideways and do anything you want and you'd scratch your head and say beats me, can't tell beats me, can't tell it was whole as the other and one can imagine what that poor man must have felt like trying to restrain himself in that situation having known the embarrassment and all of the inconvenience of only one hand for who knows how long it's as whole as the other there's the details of the encounter now what's the results of that encounter what are the results verse 6 and the Pharisees went out and straightway with the Herodians took counsel against him how they might destroy him Mark simply focuses on the outward action but here I want to bring a little

The Results of the Encounter: Pharisees' Rage and Plot (Mark 3:6)

39:57 highlight from Luke Luke tells us that they were filled with senseless rage Luke 6, 11 they were filled with madness that's their response think of it all he's done is heal a man with his word hasn't broken God's law didn't even break one of their hearts a silly rule times when he healed he did something they might call work he put his hand out and laid it on someone uh uh working on the Sabbath there are times when he made spittles put it on the eyes or in the ears or spat upon the tongue there were times when he told people who were healed to do something take up your bed and walk you see according to their rules he was breaking the Sabbath on those instances but what did he do here he just told the man stretch out your hand Jesus didn't even say a word be healed he didn't touch him he didn't command him he healed him by an exercise of his own omnipotent will that was it Jesus willed that man's shriveled hand back to health he didn't break one of their silly rules he certainly didn't break God's law so what does it do to them it fills them with a mad irrational rage that's what Luke tells us that was the response of the Pharisees

41:26 in this encounter filled with madness same word used to describe people filled with the spirit they were filled controlled overpowered dominated with this spirit of madness and then what is the outward action notice what Mark tells us straightway they go out and with the Herodians they take counsel against him how they might destroy him now who these Herodians are we don't know they are mentioned only one other time in the gospel record in a parallel passage from Mark 12 and from Matthew 22 and apart from what we are told in scripture we know nothing for certain and you can read the Bible dictionaries and the other commentators and get all kinds of views but this much seems to be clear whoever they were they do not seem to be a religious sect nor a distinct political party but probably Jews who in some way either out of compromise or out of desire for favors supported the dynasty of Herod the representative ruler of Rome so whoever they were they were Jews who had an affinity for and a supportive attitude toward Rome now if that's all we know that's enough to let us know

42:55 that surely the Pharisees had no natural sympathy with the Herodians the Pharisees who were proud of their Jewishness to the core but on this day it doesn't matter that they join hands with the Herodians as long as someone will help them in their plot to get rid of Jesus they take counsel together how that is in what manner they might destroy him it's a foregone conclusion there's only one thing to do with this Jesus who asks embarrassing questions that even little kids can answer who drives us morally and ethically into a corner between a rock and a hard place and shows us up before the whole crowd only one thing to do with him that's to kill him a Jesus who can validate his claims without even having to say a word just tell a man to stretch out his hand there in public with all those witnesses not done in the corner not done in secret but there before every gathered synagogue worshipper simply says stretch out your hand and it's as whole as the other only one thing we can do with a man like that that's kill him get him out of the way put him to death and so Mark in writing his gospel lets us know very early into that gospel what the end of his gospel is going to record

The Moral Perfections of Our Glorious Savior

44:21 as he will then give us the details of how they carry out the plot originally conceived and hatched after this Sabbath encounter well dear people I've labored to try to set the passage before you in its plain and obvious sense now what in the world does all of this say to us we've looked at the setting for the encounter verses 1 to 3 the major incidents in the encounter verses 4 and 5 the results of the encounter in verse 6 what's the abiding reason the message of this encounter to us well I want to suggest and as I've labored over this matter of the application it took some time to come to this conviction but I trust it is the right one that perhaps the major thrust of the mind of God in this passage is that of giving us a penetrating insight into the contrast between our glorious compassion and the infinite Savior and the proud blind spiritually insensitive scribes and Pharisees notice in this passage what it reveals about our Lord Jesus and that's Mark's great burden and never forget it he starts out by saying good news concerning Jesus Christ God's Son

45:49 and these six verses set forth wonderful news about the only Savior of sinners notice how this passage underscores three of his moral perfections we'll touch upon them just briefly the writer to Hebrews says he is holy, harmless, undefiled separate from sinners he in this passage shines forth brilliantly in his moral perfections first of all the perfection of his unflinching courage his unflinching courage by the time the Pharisees had taken their seats that Sabbath day Luke 6, 8 tells us Jesus knew their thoughts he knew that they were there to see what he would do with reference to this man with a withered hand and he knew that they would take that occasion to try to destroy him they were there in order that they might bring formal indictment against him and having to look those people straight in the eye our Lord did not fail he did not shift the battleground to a new set of circumstances in essence they had thrown down the gauntlet and Jesus picked it up and said I shall rise to the challenge there is something beautiful in this kind of moral courage this kind of unflinching courage

47:17 in the face of open opposition and remember Jesus' courage was exercised as a man who had all the knowledge who had all the natural aversion to rejection and suffering that you and I have he was not some super soul who had no felt need of human acceptance in the hour of his greatest agony he says to three of his own creatures whom he made as the eternal Logos but who is the God-man he felt need for their companionship what could you not watch with me one hour and when people leave him he turns to his own and says will you also go away he felt the pain of rejection he was not some stoic he knew what it was to feel pain at rejection and to have an aversion to physical suffering and pain and yet realizing that this encounter would simply hasten the hour when he would undergo the ultimate rejection and be hung on a cross outside the walls of Jerusalem and feel the deepest pangs of soul Jesus rises to that occasion with unflinching courage thank God for such a savior who set his face like a flint to go to Jerusalem

48:42 without that courage without that moral perfection of unflinching courage you and I would have no savior and the tap roots of that courage are exactly the same in our Lord as they are for us for the scripture tells us in Isaiah 11 that upon Messiah God would place the spirit of the fear of Jehovah and he went into that synagogue that day conscious of the jaundiced eye of Pharisees and scribes conscious of the murderous intentions of their hearts but there was a greater consciousness that held him in his grip and it was the consciousness I am the servant of God of Jehovah and I am under the eye of my father and I must please him I do always the things that please my father and then there is not only the moral perfection of his unflinching courage there is the moral perfection of his unstained anger his unstained anger with us rarely rarely does the fire of anger burn in our breasts but what there is something of the acrid pungent smoke of remaining sin mingled with that fire rarely do we fulfill the biblical injunction

50:10 be angry and sin not most of us can count on one hand the times we've been angry with a pure anger but admire in the Lord Jesus this unstained anger it was the white hot pure acrid smoke of carnality it's the very same anger that will burn in the day of judgment and men will cry hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne and what a conjunction of things the wrath of the lamb the very pure and spotless lamb who in self-giving love laid down his life for sinners will burn with that same pure anger may I say that in a very real sense what we have here is an earnest of the day of judgment the very look of anger that came out at those pharisees was as it were retracted while the door of mercy is still open but when it breaks forth on the day of judgment it will be left loose in an overwhelming flood until it sinks into hell every impenitence every impenitent sinner

51:35 what a blessed savior we have who in the day of mercy restrains his unstained anger but then there is the moral perfection of his unfeigned grief it says that Jesus looked round about him with anger being grieved for their hardness of heart it was unfeigned grief he looks upon their purpose their perversity he looks upon their stubbornness their moral insensitivity their absence of any compassion for the man with the withered hand their dishonesty their cowardice they won't even answer a question that little kids answered in this congregation this morning and yet he looks upon them with unfeigned grief he sees the horrible twisting blinding perverting power of sin in the human heart and it breaks his heart so that someone has said it was wrathful grief and it was grieving anger mingled in the pure and holy soul of the son of God dear people the reason we have a savior is that there is one

53:04 who is so unlike us in his moral perfections if he were not such a savior if on that occasion he had drawn back one millimeter from the boundary of the will of God and you and I would have no savior there would be no perfect righteousness to put to our account there would be no spotless lamb to die so when we admire his moral quality of this undaunted courage we do not admire from a distance like some hero in history we admire the one who alone could be our savior if indeed he possessed unflinching courage and it's his unstained anger that constitutes him able to be our savior it's this very anger that burns against sin and the devil and all that has come by means of those two realities it was in that zeal of holy anger to destroy the prince of darkness that our Lord went to the cross and was willing to lay down his life for the likes of us read Revelation 19 for an exposition of that and thank God it's because he has unfeigned grief

The Mighty Power of Jesus

54:32 in the presence of all the horror of human sin that he continued in his course and held to it until he went to the cross and died for us behold in this passage the moral perfections of the Lord Jesus but also behold his mighty power his mighty power when prophets would heal they would heal in the name of Jehovah God of Israel they would heal when they sought Jehovah they would perform miracles when they cried out as Elijah did upon Mount Carmel the Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob show who is truly God they appealed to the name of Jehovah when apostles healed they healed how? in the name of Jesus not in their own name such as I have give I unto thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk they heal and perform miracles under the authority and in the power of Jehovah and Jehovah Jesus and not so our Lord stretch forth your hand I get the goose bumps every time I meditate on it stretch forth your hand now what's he going to say? he doesn't say a thing and all of a sudden the hand is whole how did it get whole? there was a connection between the unspoken will of Jesus

56:01 and the power to recreate dead selves in a human hand that's omnipotence that's the very one who said and there was light let the fish and the great monsters swim through the seas and they are brought into being oh what a manifestation of the power of Jesus think of this gospel going particularly to Romans with their fascination with the power of their Caesars and their mighty battles and mighty conquests what would their conquest appear in the presence of an incident like this stretch out your hand and mighty omnipotent will makes it whole my friend that's your only hope is a savior of such mighty power because your spiritual impotence is mirrored in that shriveled hand God says you're dead in trespasses and sins God says you're without strength you're without hope and your only hope is not in some stroking of that withered spirit of yours with religious ritual and form and ceremony you need the exercise of the saving will of Jesus upon you

The Horrible Nature of the Human Heart

57:30 and that will never come until you throw yourself upon his mercy as he's offered in the gospel but then I close by pointing you briefly and if I go a few minutes longer than usual dear people I've wrestled with God on the matter and I'm determined to deliver my soul to you this passage reveals some horrible things about the human heart it reveals first of all it's self determined perversity it's self determined perversity surely the question Jesus answered asked them exposed their silly sabbath regulations what should they have done when Jesus said is it lawful to do good on the sabbath or to do evil to save a life or to destroy it oh Jesus of Nazareth you've exposed us we see how stupid we've been what donkeys we've been could we have missed it man was not made for the sabbath and all our regulations the sabbath was made for the good of man and if you promote human good by healing surely that cannot violate the law of the sabbath oh Jesus of Nazareth have mercy on us how ignorant we've been so blind by our rules and regulations

58:57 and rituals Jesus of Nazareth take us in your tutelage and teach us what it is to really know God and really to please God that's what they should have done Jesus' question was a barb to convict them to bring them out into the open the self disclosure of true conviction of sin but what did they do they retraced to defend themselves once anything to them their we can't be shamed before this multitude that knoweth not the law we are the doctors of the law an honest answer to Jesus plain question why we'd be making donkeys of ourselves in front of everyone and we'd rather have a hard and go to hell than lose face and I fear that's the condition of some of you here that horrible self determined perversity of the human heart you'd rather go to hell than lose face

60:25 and own your sin someone has accurately said determined prejudice against truth is only irritated by further evidence determined prejudice against truth is never overcome by evidence it's further irritated men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil what an ugly thing the human heart is but that's your heart if left to itself self determined perversity but then notice its ultimate expression of depravity in this passage what's the ultimate expression of human depravity as it exists in the human heart this passage ends with this plot to kill the son of God away with him crucify him and it's the same story today for ever since the day of our Lord he that was born after the flesh persecutes him that is born after the spirit and as one has said the only argument against holiness which the world can use is violence is violence the only argument against holiness which the world can use is violence and violence and intolerance is the world's testimony to the genuineness of true saintly character

61:51 we can't find fault with this character he hasn't even broken our silly little laws but he exposes us let's get rid of him that's why any holy man or woman the scripture says will suffer with Christ am I speaking to someone today who has all kinds of so called intellectual objections to the gospel all kinds of so called objections no no my friend you're just like the Pharisees your sense of morality is all twisted you can be shocked that a man is healed on the Sabbath day without the putting forth of a hand without the picking up of a bed or the speaking of a word and yet you can plot murder on that very day think of it how morally perverse and insensitive they had become they can plot the murder of the incarnate God and not be shocked and then you see it's frightening internal capacity here in this passage the capacity to become hardened to become hardened to become petrified some of you once had a heart that was like the flesh of that little newborn in the hospital that the Davies had just received as the Lord's gift the flesh of a little newborn that long before it can even recognize what's happening if you twitch that flesh with the lightest little feather from a little sparrow the hand will respond

63:19 the nerve ending so sensitive in that baby flesh some of you once had a heart and a conscience like that the slightest stroke of wrong and you felt the nerve endings of conscience twitching do you know what's happened to your heart it's like the hand of a man who's been a stone mason for 50 years it's developed one layer of callus after another until there are people living today with calluses so thick that you could take a white hot nail and put it in a gas stove and place it on a callus and they wouldn't twitch all feeling is gone and I tell you dear people the thing you ought to fear more than anything else in life is the process of coming to a hardened heart because you read in John 12 of these very people wherefore they could not believe because God had given them up to their hard heart oh as I've prepared and thought of some of you precious young people you can remember the time when you bipped off to mom and dad and your conscience smote you and you came with tears and said mom dad forgive me when you spoke a nasty word the first time you cursed

64:48 the first time you lied and oh how your conscience was like the flesh of little Steven Davies this morning but you're not even out of your teens and you can sin you can have the white hot poker of sin upon sin and conscience no longer twitches where will you be ten years from now if God doesn't arrest you look at these people the incarnate son of God is in their presence in all the plenitude of his moral perfections in all the power upon him as Messiah in all his grace and all they can do is plot to kill him and that's exactly what your heart will come to if it goes on in this present state I hope you leave here fearing a hard heart like hell itself and if you do you go to the one who can not only peel off the callouses but give you a new one for he says I'll take out the heart of stone and I'll give you a heart of flesh oh what can we say what will it take

66:17 for some of you young and old who sank into hell you've sat under preaching for months and years may God have mercy upon you and cause you to run to the Lord Jesus this beautiful Christ whom we've seen this morning this one who in that courage went to the cross for sinners even hard hearted sinners the one who in his holy anger was determined to put away sin on behalf of a great multitude of sinners the one who in his unfeigned grief and pity has died and risen from the dead and now offers himself to any who will have him on his terms oh come to him come to him he's such a gracious savior resist no longer and leave yourself vulnerable to all of the foul of your own heart which can only damn you may God help you to run to Christ and run to him today let us pray

Prayer for Salvation and Deliverance

67:45 oh God our heavenly father we thank you for our blessed Lord Jesus Christ we worship you for all the perfections that shine in him and we thank you that he is all that he is for us and for our salvation may none sit here today plotting how to get rid of him but oh that they may run to him and find life and salvation and deliverance pardon and grace oh holy father may not your word have been preached in vain this morning but may your spirit draw sinners to your son and strengthen the hearts of your people their love for the Lord Jesus hear our cry and write your word upon our hearts and to your name be praise and honor and glory Amen