Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. (Mark 3:1-6 ESV)
No, I am not repeating myself. As we compare Mark's account to what we have seen in Luke, we get a better sense of the emotional intensity Jesus showed on this occasion. His words indicate that He saw the Pharisees inaction not merely as a "sin of omission", but as killing. And He was Angry, and grieved over their hard-hearted self-righteousness - angry that they had no compassion; grieved that they were so arrogantly stuck on being right that they could not see Him as the truth, or the truth about themselves. How would Jesus respond to my heart, my motives, my words, today?
No comments:
Post a Comment