Giving Someone a Hand

“For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother, and My sister, and mother” (Mark 3:35).

This is the final verse of Mark 3. There’s a lot that happens in this chapter. The conclusion says something really important for us.

Jesus made this statement after He got word that Mary, His mother, and the rest of His family had come to get Him. Earlier in Mark 3 it is reported that these relatives attempted to “seize Him, for they were saying, ‘He is out of His mind’” (Mark 3:20).

This chapter of Mark starts with a man responding to the will of the Lord. That is, he did what the Son of God asked him to do. We could say that this man became a brother of Jesus right then and there.

Imagine coming to church one day and you become the center of attention. This is exactly what happened to the man we read about in Mark 3.

This guy had a bad and “withered” hand. He may have lived with this condition for years due to disease. And in those times any physical malady was counted as on outgrowth of a spiritual condition.

We read about this prevalent attitude in Luke 1 in the story about Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. She was an older woman past the age of child bearing when God at last answered the prayers of her and her husband, the priest Zacharias.

Her conception was such a surprise that the text of the gospel seems to indicate that she hardly moved about for fear of losing the baby. For five months, she hid herself. She did, however, praise God for the reality and how it changed everyone’s opinion of her.

Read what Elizabeth said in her thanksgiving: “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

Just Showing Up

Being barren felt like a curse to Elizabeth. And this man in Mark 3 similarly felt as if he was under a curse.

Perhaps this guy sat alone, even away from his family. Some surely thought that he bore some contagion in his body, for Luke 6 indicates that it was his right hand that was afflicted.

No doubt he was uncomfortable, but still he wanted to be there for the meeting with God’s people. So he came that day. We could say that he just decided to get up and go to church.

Jesus was in attendance, showing up as was His practice on Sabbath days. The Son was not one to stay away from the synagogue – even when those who ran the place would have preferred that He not be there.

Word traveled fast about Jesus. He was the Healer. And He made things happen on the Sabbath, the day when things were not supposed to be made to happen.

Word traveled fast about Jesus. He was the Healer. And He made things happen on the Sabbath, the day when things were not supposed to be made to happen. Share on X

Such strange rules had become entrenched related to this special day God set aside for rest and peace. I think it was a business arrangement that led to these regulations. Maybe the real issue was the fact that Jesus did His healings for free. His “no service charge” ministry was hurting the cash flow.

Think about the woman with the issue of blood who was healed by touching the hem of the Savior’s cloak. It was said that she had spent “all that she had” in an effort to stop bleeding that had left her an outcast and unclean for 12 years (see Mark 5:25-34).

We all know how city or county citations work. They are a great source of income because the fact of the matter is that we are all sinners prone to falter. It is why speed traps and red light cameras go up. These things used to put points on your driving record and drive up your insurance cost. Now, drivers get caught on tape and are mailed a bill.

Cigarette taxes are another example. First, the surgeon general’s warning was slapped on a pack of Marlboros. When that didn’t stop people from lighting up, governments started pinching pennies, nickels, dimes, and dollars from those who just can’t quit.

Sabbath violations pushed people to pay. The offense required that a sin offering be presented at the Temple.

Once it became clear to the religious leaders that there was profit to be made, I think they manufactured and modified the rules. More and more things were categorized as violations that required offerings. And because the Temple administrators and inspectors had to approve all things offered, this created another point of purchase opportunity. Officially licensed pigeons and doves were readily available, at a price, for those in need of them.

No wonder Jesus went ballistic on the whole operation with whip of small cords (see John 2). The place truly had become a den of robbers.

Stand and Stretch

Anyway, back to our unfortunate synagogue attendee and his infirmity.

Jesus saw him and bid him to stand. Note how the action of faith operates in this scene.

The man may have already viewed himself as on outcast. Just getting to his feet was a point of trust in the Savior.

The atmosphere in the room was quite charged, as our text indicates. The leaders and Jesus were in something of a stare down I think. Was this Nazarene going to do one of His works on the day when no work was to be done?

Of course, He was. Read the end of Mark 2. There, Jesus declared Himself to be the Lord of the Sabbath.

“Stretch out your hand,” Jesus commanded. The man obeyed and his hand was new – born again we could say.

This act of compassion didn’t play well with the religious leaders. “The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy Him” (Mark 3:6).

Did this hinder the Son? Not at all. Great crowds were attracted to Him. Things got so crazy that He had to have a boat at the ready to make His getaway.

From among the group following Him, Jesus selected 12 men as His Apostles. This ragtag gang spent the next month and years hearing His Word and learning His way and being prepared for the ministry they would gain by the filling of the Holy Spirit.

Battle lines in the Son’s confrontation with the world, the flesh of men, and the devil were taking shape. The demons squealed as they were dealt with, they made so much incoherent noise about “the Holy One” that He had to silence them.

Unforgiveable Blasphemy

Speaking of demons, the Jewish leaders said they were Jesus’ partners in crime. They crafted this accusation directed at the Sabbath-violating Healer.

Jesus had to answer this charge, for it was a blasphemy of the worst type. To believe that the miracles of the Savior were orchestrated by Hell was to misrepresent the Holy Spirit and refuse Him.

This, Jesus declared, was unforgivable. Without the Holy Spirit, repentance is impossible. It is this Person of God who effectively opens a human heart. To deny and to resist the Spirit is to miss out on the one and only path to eternal life.

Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:3 that “…Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” This is the baptism from Heaven. The Holy Spirit fire brings the burning that cleanses from unrighteousness and seals us together with Christ.

By the Spirit, the fullness of the real Holy Family is brought together. This Family includes all of us who have to come to believe that He is our Savior and Lord. The Word is spoken. The call to repentance is sent out. Those who respond with faith are made One with Him and with each other.

This is our great witness.

Let’s end with these words from the Lord:

“The glory that You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one even as We are One, I in them and You in Me, that they may become perfectly One, so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them even as You loved Me” (John 17:22-23).