One brief incident in the day of Jesus\u2019 early ministry reveals so much about Him to our jaded eyes.\u00a0 Everything we see, we like.<\/p>\n
The story is found in Mark 3:1-6.<\/p>\n
And He entered again into a synagogue (in Capernaum); and a man was there with a withered hand. And they were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, in order that they have accuse Him.<\/em><\/p>\n And He said to the man with the withered hand, \u2018Rise and come forward!\u2019 And He said to them, \u2018Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm? to save a life or to kill?\u2019 But they kept silent.<\/em><\/p>\n And after looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, \u2018Stretch out your hand.\u2019 And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. And the Pharisees went out and immediately began taking counsel with the Herodians (their enemies) against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.<\/em><\/p>\n I love that story.\u00a0 It\u2019s a brief encounter that tells us a world of things about our Savior\u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1) Jesus loved to worship<\/strong>\u00a0and was always happy to meet those who came to worship. Worshiping was a huge part of His life, both as the giver of worship and from time to time as the Object.\u00a0 He encouraged His people to get serious about worship.<\/p>\n 2) Jesus could be counted on to react toward the needy with compassion.<\/strong><\/p>\n Even the enemies knew Jesus could never pass up a needy individual.\u00a0 If He came upon a blind man, He healed him.\u00a0 If He crossed a diseased woman in His path, He made her whole.\u00a0 When He happened upon a funeral procession, He raised the dead.\u00a0 Therefore, the Pharisees in setting a trap for Jesus, put a man with a deformity in HIs midst on the Sabbath day.<\/p>\n He walked right into the trap\u2013with His eyes wide open.<\/p>\n 3) Jesus made Himself vulnerable in order to bless people.<\/strong><\/p>\n As the saying goes, the Lord did not come in on a load of turnips yesterday.\u00a0 He knew full well what was going on and yet, in order to help the man and rebuke the self-righteous and declare His own identity, He played their game.\u00a0 He had work to do and He did it.<\/p>\n 4) Jesus loved to challenge people\u2019s shallow thinking.<\/strong><\/p>\n Before healing the man, Jesus asked the Pharisees to apply reason to their opposition: Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm?\u00a0 They knew if they answered, He had them. So they kept silent.<\/p>\n Then, He asked, \u201cIs it lawful to save a life on the Sabbath or to kill?\u201d\u00a0 Once again, they kept silent, because to be consistent, they would have had to declare themselves on the side of doing harm and even killing on the Sabbath.<\/p>\n I love that Jesus is logical.\u00a0 Over and over, He asked people to apply logic to what they were doing.\u00a0 To one group, He said, \u201cWhat does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?\u201d (Matthew 16:26).\u00a0 To some who were accusing Him of working through the power of the devil, Jesus said, \u201cThen Satan is self-destructing and you surely will not want to oppose that!\u201d (Matthew 12:25-29).<\/p>\n 5) Jesus\u2019s anger was sharpest toward religious people with hard hearts.<\/strong><\/p>\n The carnal mind wants to think that if our Lord preached to the maximum security ward at the local prison He would have lowered the boom.\u00a0 Instead, with the \u201csinners and tax-collectors,\u201d He was unusually gentle.\u00a0 The group caught in the crosshairs of His righteous indignation were the religious leaders who were using their powers to cripple people and increase the burdens of the oppressed.<\/p>\n The harshest sermon we have from Jesus is the 23rd chapter of Matthew.\u00a0 This scathing message was delivered to the Pharisees, the most conservative in the nation, righteous laymen dedicated to returning the nation to obedience to God\u2019s laws.\u00a0 But forgetting their original purpose and forsaking the very people they intended to help, they had become bigots, self-righteous, and tyrannical.<\/p>\n 6) The Lord Jesus did not mind asking people to do what they could not do in order to grow them.<\/strong><\/p>\n That\u2019s why He asked the man to stretch forth the withered arm.<\/p>\n Jesus is always asking you and me to stretch that part of our lives\u2013our faith, our hope, our love, our vision\u2013that needs to grow most.<\/p>\n 7) If the best measure of a man is the behavior of his enemies toward Him, then Jesus was incredibly righteous and thus a threat to the hypocritcal bigshots.<\/strong><\/p>\n I suspect\u2013but no not know enough of the subject to state categorically\u2013that the best way to size up a candidate for a position is to find out what his enemies and detractors say about him.\u00a0 (Sometimes when I\u2019m counseling search committees, I tell them to keep running references until they find someone who doesn\u2019t like the individual. They\u2019re out there, and you\u2019re not through until you find them. Then, analyze what they say. Often that tells you more than any of the friends will say.)<\/p>\n I\u2019m so happy to be a follower of this wonderful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What a privilege to be His disciple.\u00a0 He loves the lowly, goes out of His way to help the needy, and takes no guff from the bullies.\u00a0 I want to be that way also.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One brief incident in the day of Jesus\u2019 early ministry reveals so much about Him to our jaded eyes.\u00a0 Everything we see, we like. The story is found in Mark 3:1-6. And He entered again into a synagogue (in Capernaum); … Continue reading