{"id":10305,"date":"2023-03-23T10:19:06","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T00:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/?p=10305"},"modified":"2023-03-24T09:21:18","modified_gmt":"2023-03-23T23:21:18","slug":"refusing-to-accept","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/2023\/03\/23\/refusing-to-accept\/","title":{"rendered":"Refusing to Accept"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark 3:1-6\u00a01<\/sup>Again he entered the synagogue. And a man was there having a withered hand. <\/i>2\u00a0<\/sup>And they watched him to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath, in order that they might accuse him. <\/i>3\u00a0<\/sup>And he said to the man with the withered hand, \u201cCome into the middle.\u201d <\/i>4\u00a0<\/sup>And he said to them, \u201cIs it permitted on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?\u201d But they were silent. <\/i>5\u00a0<\/sup>And he looking around at them with anger, grieving at their hardness of heart, he said to the man, \u201cStretch out your hand.\u201d He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. <\/i>6 <\/sup>And\u00a0after leaving, the Pharisees immediately went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.<\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mark gives several important indicators about the setting of the next story. The time is significant. It is a new week, but this event takes place again on a Sabbath. The place is another synagogue in an unknown city. The implication is that Jesus frequented these places of worship and taught the gathered people. The Jewish leaders could find no fault in his teaching. The controversy centers on their interpretation of the sacredness of the Sabbath day. The need behind this event is the presence of a man with a withered hand. Many things could have caused this, such as an injury, stroke, or form of palsy. The subjects and pronouns are not clear in verse 1, but the context clearly indicates that Jesus is the focus. Verse 2 almost sounds as if the Jews had set a trap by bringing this man into the synagogue. They wanted to find a way of accusing Jesus of breaking the Sabbath and thus, discredit him before the people. So far, they had been unsuccessful in their efforts.<\/p>\n

Jesus took the bait, not to raise an issue with the Jewish leaders but out of compassion for the man. Jesus had come to bring healing and salvation. As the Son of God, that was his character, who he was, and how he acted–even towards the Pharisees. The question he asked them should have been simple to answer. It was their opportunity to express faith.\u00a0Why did they not answer? In answering the question, they knew they would trap themselves.\u00a0Of course, it is better to do good on the Sabbath and to save a life. By their silence, they were essentially saying that their interpretation of the Sabbath was more important than the life of someone. They are more concerned about their customs than about their brother.<\/p>\n

Jesus’ response in verse 5 is a sad commentary on the spiritual condition of the Pharisees. He looked around at them, implying he saw each one. None of them was willing to budge. Angry<\/em>\u00a0(org\u0113s<\/em>)\u00a0is a strong word that also hints at frustration.\u00a0Grieved<\/em> (syllypoumenos<\/em>) is another strong word of emotion. It basically means to suffer with someone or to feel sympathy. Jesus’ grief was not simply because the Pharisees were causing him problems and hindering his ministry but a sadness because they refused to believe. Jesus was both angry and sorry for the stupidity of these people who would not open their hearts to the power of God’s kingdom.<\/p>\n

Even after watching Jesus heal the man’s hand, proof of his power and authority, they refused to believe. Their hearts became even harder as the\u00a0immediately<\/em> got together with the Herodians to figure out how to get rid of Jesus. It is surprising that supporters of the house of Herod (Herod Antipas controlled Galilee at this time) would join with a staunch pious group like the Pharisees, but they had the same enemy. The Herodians would not have wanted any political issues to arise in Galilee that would threaten the Herodian dynasty and cause instability. Jesus’ power and authority may have been viewed as a threat to the power and authority of Herod. Verse 6 is the first hint of impending conflict with the use of the word\u00a0destroy<\/em>. They were already trying to figure out how to kill Jesus.<\/p>\n

This story highlights the challenge of caring more about our customs and culture than about the ways of Jesus. When the ways of our culture conflict with Jesus, which do we give up first? Mark’s Gospel challenges us to recognize Jesus’ authority. How will we respond to him? Two examples have appeared thus far: the\u00a0positive response of faith by those who are open to Jesus, and the negative response of hatred, hardness of heart, and rejection by the religious leaders who should have known better.<\/p>\n

For older posts, click\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark 3:1-6\u00a01Again he entered the synagogue. And a man was there having a withered hand. 2\u00a0And they watched him to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath, in order that they might accuse him. 3\u00a0And he said to the man with the withered hand, \u201cCome into the middle.\u201d 4\u00a0And he said to them, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotions","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10305"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10315,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10305\/revisions\/10315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/acky4.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}