Mark 3 commentary

MARK 3 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Jesus Heals on the Sabbath
1 Another time Jesus went into the synagogue,
and a man with a shriveled hand was there.
CLARKE, "A man there which had a withered hand - See this explained on
Mat_12:10 (note), etc., and on Luk_6:6, Luk_6:10 (note).
GILL, "And he entered again into the synagogue,.... Perhaps in Capernaum,
where he had before cast out the unclean spirit; but not on the same day, nor on that
day he had had the debate with the Pharisees, about his disciples plucking the ears of
corn on the sabbath day; but on another sabbath, perhaps the next; see Luk_6:6.
And there was a man there which had a withered hand; who came there
either for a cure, knowing Christ to be in the synagogue, or for the sake of worship;
See Gill on Mat_12:10.
HENRY, "Here, as before, we have our Lord Jesus busy at work in the synagogue
first, and then by the sea side; to teach us that his presence should not be confined
either to the one or to the other, but, wherever any are gathered together in his name,
whether in the synagogue or any where else, there is he in the midst of them. In
every place where he records his name, he will meet his people, and bless them; it is
his will that men pray every where. Now here we have some account of what he did.
I. When he entered again into the synagogue, he improved the opportunity he had
there, of doing good, and having, no doubt, preached a sermon there, he wrought a
miracle for the confirmation of it, or at least for the confirmation of this truth - that it
is lawful to do good on the sabbath day. We had the narrative, Mat_12:9.
1. The patient's case was piteous; he had a withered hand, by which he was
disabled to work for his living; and those that are so, are the most proper objects of
charity; let those be helped that cannot help themselves.
2. The spectators were very unkind, both to the patient and to the Physician;
instead of interceding for a poor neighbour, they did what they could to hinder his
cure: for they intimated that if Christ cured him now on the sabbath day, they would
accuse him as a Sabbath breaker. It had been very unreasonable, if they should have
opposed a physician or surgeon in helping any poor body in misery, by ordinary
methods; but much more absurd was it to oppose him that cured without any labour,
but by a word's speaking.
JAMIESON, "Mar_3:1-12. The healing of a withered hand on the Sabbath day,
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and retirement of Jesus to avoid danger. ( = Mat_12:9-21; Luk_6:6-11).
See on Mat_12:9-21.
SBC, "Note:—
I. The meaning of the withered hand. It was a word picture of that infirmity—
whatever it may be—which destroys a man’s power of doing anything well in this
world of ours. There was a man there who had a withered hand. That right hand, as
St. Luke describes it, robbed of its nourishment, hanging helplessly in a sling, was a
picture of whatever deprives a man of the power of holy work, and renders him an
incumbrance, if not a mischief, in God’s great kingdom. (1) The bigotry of the
Pharisees rendered them useless in the great kingdom of God and destroyed their
power of serving Christ. (2) Prejudices wither up some of the energies of men. (3)
Past inconsistences often wither up the power of service. (4) Easily besetting sins will
paralyse the usefulness of any man who does not with earnestness, faith, and prayer,
wage war against them. (5) The fear of man is another of the silent withering
influences which restrain usefulness, and quench our zeal.
II. The healing of the withered hand. Christ came into this world not merely to set
man free from the bondage of sin, but to emancipate all his faculties for holy service,
to strengthen all his powers, to summon him to work while it is day. He cried in
words which are preserved by three Evangelists, "Stretch forth thine hand," and
immediately that hand which had no power in itself, which no human skill could
heal, felt at once that a Divine energy was given to it. Divine strength was perfected in
its weakness, and it was made whole even as the other. There are three lessons of
practical value which we may learn from this narrative: (1) We may gather Christ’s
willingness to heal, as He is ever seeking us; His eye is always scanning our necessity;
He knows our imperfections and shortcomings as no other can do, and He is able and
willing to remove all that hampers and impedes the freedom of our spiritual life. (2)
We may learn the way in which we are to make use of Divine strength. When the man
willed to stretch forth his hand God willed in him; the communication of Divine
strength was granted to him at the very moment when he determined to obey the will
of Christ. This is just a type of what takes place whenever a sinner tries to seize and
appropriate God’s promises or God’s strength. (4) Here is the great rule by which, at
all times, we may overcome our listlessness and uselessness in God’s service. It is by
our own vigorous effort to overcome the withering up of our faculties that we shall
test the worth of Divine promises. Let us stretch forth our hands, let us try to serve
our Master; and let us work while it is day, for the night cometh.
H. R. Reynolds, Notes of the Christian Life, p. 207.
Mark 3:1-5
Note:—
I. Christ’s detection of human incompleteness. He instantly discovered that there was
a man in the synagogue with a withered hand.
II. Jesus Christ’s power over partial disease. The man had only a withered hand. In
some cases Christ used to heal thoroughly diseased men; in this case the disease was
local; yet in both instances His power was the same.
III. Christ’s inability to heal the obstinacy of His enemies.
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IV. Christ’s moral indignation overcoming all outward obstacles. He was indignant
with the men who valued the sacredness of a day above the sacredness of a human
life.
Parker, City Temple, 1871, p. 68.
COFFMAN, "COFFMAN, "The continuation of Jesus' ministry is detailed in
this chapter which recounts the healing of a man on the sabbath in the
synagogue (Mark 3:1-6), healings at the seashore with demons confessing him
(Mark 3:7-12), appointment of the Twelve (Mark 3:13-19), teachings regarding
"an eternal sin" (Mark 3:20-30), and the incident of his mother and brethren
seeking him (Mark 3:31-35).
And he entered again into the synagogue; and they saw 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. (Mark 3:1-2)
A feature of this healing was the anticipation of it by the Pharisees, who had
evidently been sent from Jerusalem for the purpose of spying on Jesus with a
view to destroying him. The purpose of the hierarchy to kill Christ had already
been formed earlier (John 5:18) on their decision that Christ was a sabbath-
breaker and a blasphemer. Their alleged evidence, however, was unsatisfactory,
even to them; therefore the search was continued in the hope of uncovering what
would have been, in their eyes, a better charge. Their hatred of the Lord and
their presence at the performance of this wonder emphasize the authenticity of
the deed.
BENSON, "Mark 3:1-5. He entered again into the synagogue — Luke says, On
another sabbath. The synagogue seems not to have been at Capernaum, but in
some city which lay in his way as he went through Galilee. And there was a man
which had a withered hand — His hand was not only withered, but contracted,
as appears from Mark 3:5. See the notes on Matthew 12:10-13. And they — The
scribes and Pharisees, watched him — These men, being ever unfriendly to the
Saviour, carefully attended to every thing he said and did, with an expectation of
finding some matter of blame in him, by which they might blast his reputation
with the people. Their pride, anger, and shame, after being so often put to
silence, began now to ripen into malice. Luke observes, He knew their thoughts,
their malicious designs. We may therefore see, in this instance, the greatness of
our blessed Lord’s courage, who resolutely performed the benevolent action he
had undertaken, notwithstanding he knew it would expose him to the fiercest
resentment of these wicked men. And said to the man, Rise up, and stand forth in
the midst. He ordered him to stand forth and show himself to the congregation,
that the sight of his distress might move them to pity him; and that they might be
the more sensibly struck with the miracle, when they observed the wasted hand
restored to perfect soundness in an instant. Then Jesus said, Is it lawful to do
good, &c. — That he might expose the malice and superstition of these scribes
and Pharisees, he appealed to the dictates of their own minds, whether it was not
more lawful to do good on the sabbath days, than to do evil; to save life, than to
kill. He meant, more lawful for him to save men’s lives, than for them to plot his
death without the least provocation. But it is justly observed here by Dr.
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Campbell, that in the style of Scripture, the mere negation of any thing is often
expressed by the affirmation of the contrary. Thus, Luke 14:26, not to love, or
even to love less, is called, to hate; Matthew 11:25. not to reveal, is to hide; and
here, not to do good, when we can, is to do evil; not to save, is to kill. From this,
and many other passages of the New Testament, it may be justly deduced, as a
standing principle of Christian ethics, that not to do the good which we have the
opportunity and power to do, is, in a certain degree, the same as to do the
contrary evil; and not to prevent mischief, when we can, the same as to commit
it. Thus, also, Dr. Whitby: “Hence, it seems to follow, that he who doth not do
good to his neighbour when he can, doth evil to him; it being a want of charity,
and therefore evil, to neglect any opportunity of doing good, or showing kindness
to any man in misery; and that not to preserve his life when it is in danger, is to
transgress that precept which saith, Thou shalt not kill.” Our Lord’s words
contained a severe, but just rebuke, which in the present circumstances must
have been sensibly felt. Yet these men, pretending not to understand his
meaning, held their peace — Being confounded, though not convinced, therefore
he answered them with an argument which the dulness of stupidity could not
possibly overlook, nor the peevishness of cavilling gainsay: What man that shall
have one sheep, &c. — See on Matthew 12:11. Having uttered these convincing
arguments and cutting reproofs, he looked round about on them, (Luke, on them
all,) with anger, grieved at the hardness of their hearts — Showing at once his
indignation at their wickedness, and his grief for their impenitence. See on
Matthew as above. He knew his arguments did not prevail with them, because
they were resisting the convictions of their own minds; and was both angry at
their obstinacy, and grieved on account of the consequences of it; showing these
just affections of his righteous spirit by his looks, that if possible an impression
might be made either on them or on the spectators. He might in this, likewise,
propose to teach us the just regulation of the passions and affections of our
nature, which are not sinful in themselves, otherwise he who was without sin
could not have been subject to them. The evil of them lies in their being excited
by wrong objects, or by right objects in an improper degree. Thus Dr. Whitby:
“Hence we learn that anger is not always sinful; this passion being found in him
in whom was no sin. But then it must be noted, that anger is not properly defined
by philosophers, ορεξις αντιλυπησεως, a desire of revenge, or, of causing grief, to
him who hath provoked or hath grieved us; for this desire of revenge is always
evil; and though our Saviour was angry with the Pharisees for the hardness of
their hearts, yet had he no desire to revenge this sin upon them, but had a great
compassion for them, and desire to remove this evil.” Mr. Scott, who quotes a
part of the above note properly adds, “Our Lord’s anger was not only not sinful,
but it was a holy indignation, a perfectly right state of heart, and the want of it
would have been a sinful defect. It would show a want of filial respect and
affection for a son to hear, without emotion, his father’s character unjustly
aspersed. Would it not, then, be a want of due reverence for God, to hear his
name blasphemed, without feeling and expressing an indignant disapprobation?
Vengeance belongs to the ruler exclusively; and he may grieve at the necessity
imposed on him of thus expressing his disapprobation of crimes; but it is his
duty. Eli ought to have shown anger as well as grief when informed of the vile
conduct of his sons; and to have expressed it by severe coercive measures. Thus
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parents and masters, as well as magistrates, may sin, in not feeling and
expressing just displeasure against those under their care: and anger is only
sinful when it springs from selfishness and malevolence; when causeless, or
above the cause; and when expressed by unhallowed words and actions.”
BI 1-3, "And there was a man there which had a withered hand.
The withered hand
I. What the withered hand may be said to symbolize.
1. It represents capacity for work. By the hand the toiling millions earn their
bread.
2. The hand stands as the symbol of fellowship. This is what our custom of
shaking hands expresses.
3. There is one more thing symbolized by the hand-generosity. By the hand we
convey our gifts.
II. The causes of the hand’s withering.
1. The first suggestion is that, like some forms of blindness and certain
deformities, it is sometimes a sad, inexplicable inheritance, possessed from birth.
2. The hand would become withered, I should think, if you fastened tight
ligatures or bandages round the arm so as to impede the free circulation of blood.
Our narrowness may cause the same result.
3. And then, perhaps, another cause may be cited-disuse of the hand, if long
continued. Nature’s gifts are cancelled, if not made use of.
III. The means of healing.
1. The man is made to “stand forth.” The healthful effects which flow to a man
when he is drawn out of the solitude of a self-shrouded life, and constrained by
force of circumstances to come into contact with other human beings: We need to
be stored up with all sorts of social agencies.
2. There is another thing in this narrative-obedience to Christ. His obedience
evidenced his faith. (W. S. Houghton.)
The withered hand
I. The meaning of the withered hand. The disease was not like the palsy, a type of
universal inaction; it was not like some consuming fever, a type of the way in which
sin and vice pervert all the faculties of the soul; but there was a vivid picture of that
infirmity which destroys a man’s power of doing anything well in this world of ours.
The hand of man is one of those noble physical features which distinguish him from
the brute. “The hand” is but another name for human skill, power, and usefulness,
and for She studied adaptation of means to ends.
1. The bigotry of these Pharisees rendered them useless in the great kingdom of
God, and destroyed their power of serving Christ. Christ did not keep the Sabbath
in their way, and that was enough for their malice. That man with a “withered
hand” was an apt picture of the way in which their bigotry had incapacitated
them for any holy service. Bigotry ties up men’s hands still.
2. Prejudices wither up some of the energies of men. By prejudices I mean
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opinions taken up without sufficient reasons, and maintained with obstinacy;
opinions that rest on feelings rather than on facts. There are many men-and
professing Christians, too-who are so full of obstinate prejudices that they
invariably find fault with every good work that has to be done, and with every
possible way of doing it; but who very seldom do anything themselves. Their
hand is withered.
3. Past inconsistencies often wither up the power of service. It is a mournful truth
that if a man has once forfeited his character for integrity, or Christian prudence,
he may have repented; but still his power for service is crippled.
4. Easily-besetting sins will paralyze the usefulness of any man who does not with
earnestness wage war against them. Let a man yield himself indolently to the
slavery of an evil habit, idle talk, vain thoughts, he will soon find that his hand is
withered, that his power of serving God is gone. Indolence, fear of man,
ungoverned temper, paralyze our energies.
II. The healing of the withered hand. Christ came into this world not mainly to set
men free from the bondage of sin, but to emancipate all his faculties for holy service.
There are three lessons we may learn from this narrative.
1. We may gather Christ’s willingness to heal us.
2. The way in which we are to make use of Divine strength. When the man willed
to stretch forth his hand, God willed in him; the communication of Divine
strength was granted to him at the very moment when he determined to obey the
command of Christ. If we will we may make the Divine strength our own. Verily
while we “work out salvation with fear and trembling,” God is working “within us
both to will and do of His good pleasure.”
3. Here is the great rule by which at all times, through the help of God’s grace, we
may overcome our listlessness and uselessness in His service. It is by our own
vigorous effort to overcome the withering up of our faculties that we shall test the
worth of Divine promises. (H. R. Reynolds, B. A.)
Restoring of the man with the withered hand
I. the scene of this miracle.
“He went into their synagogue.” We often find our Saviour in the synagogue.
1. To show respect for Divine institutions. Places of worship may be despised by
some, but not by Christ who came to do His Father’s will.
2. To secure the great objects of His own mission. He appeared as a Divine
Teacher, and frequented the synagogue in order to make known the glad tidings
of His kingdom.
II. The person on whom this miracle was wrought. We are first shown-
1. The nature of his complaint. He was not affected in his whole body, but in one
of his members.
2. Something similar to this was occasionally inflicted as a Divine judgment.
Jeroboam (1Ki_13:1-34).
3. This case may be regarded as a representation of man’s spiritual condition. By
sin the powers of his soul have been paralyzed.
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III. The dispute by which this miracle was preceded.
1. The question proposed-“Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?”
2. The conclusive reply-“What man shall there be among you, etc.” Interest is a
very decisive casuist, and removes men’s scruples in a moment. It is always
soonest consulted and most readily obeyed.
3. The verdict pronounced-“The Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
IV. The manner in which the miracle was performed.
1. An authoritative mandate-“Stretch forth thine hand.”
2. An instant compliance.
3. A gratifying result-“And it was restored whole, like the other.” (Expository
Outlines.)
Withered hands
If there were no withered hearts there would be no withered hands-make the
fountain clear, and the stream will be pure. (Dr. Parker.)
The human side of a miracle
No great stretch of imagination is needed to see in this narrative a picture of man’s
spiritual state. The gospel of Jesus not merely tells us what we ought to be, but gives
the power by which we actually become that which it requires. There have been many
teaching gospels, but this is the only transforming gospel. But the strength of grace is
bestowed upon conditions, and these seem to be set forth in the text, “Stretch forth
thine hand.” By the command of the text three conditions were demanded.
I. It is easy to see that there was faith required. His faith had much to encourage it;
yet he would perhaps feel something of that diffidence which makes it hard to realize
as possible to oneself the blessings which have come to others. His faith would also
be somewhat severely tested by the manner in which the Saviour dealt with him.
Moreover, it appears that there was no outward act on the part of our Lord. It was
merely by a word that the invisible power was communicated. This faith was
indispensable. It was a condition invariably demanded. Without it Jesus wrought no
miracles. Unbelief hinders His merciful designs. Faith is the mysterious moral force
which thrusts out the hand of humanity to take the gift Divine.
II. The faith of this man was accompanied by obedience. The commands, “Stand
forth,” “Stretch forth thine hand,” were by no means easy to obey. But undaunted he
obeyed, and in the very act of obedience he found the blessing that he craved. This
obedience was the fruit of his faith, and the faith which does not produce obedience
is of little worth. Saving faith is always obedient faith.
III. It seems evident that there was needed in the case of this man a strong
resolution. This may appear from what has been already said. Still more if we
consider the act which was required of him. But he found that the law of Christ is,
Obey, and thou hast the power. (S. S. Bosward.)
Analogies of faith
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You say, “I have no faith.” We answer, “Believe, and faith is yours.” Does it seem a
paradox. But paradoxes are often great truths, and are only hard to us because they
come to us from a higher region, where our poor logic is of small account. But how
many analogies there are of this paradox of faith even in the lower spheres of life!
How often is the ability to perform an act, not merely revealed, but actually
developed or even created by the very effort to accomplish it! How many works exist
today as monuments of genius which never would have existed if their authors had
waited till they had the necessary power. So it is in the matter of salvation. You can
never have it till you take it. You will never have the gift of faith until you believe.
Your will is all God waits for. He speaks by His prophet thus: “Hear, ye deaf, that ye
may hear; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.” And by His incarnate Son He says to
every impotent soul, “Stretch forth thine hand!” (S. S. Bosward.)
Stretch forth thine hand
I. Christ sometimes enjoins what seems to be impossible.
II. Faith is shown in doing what He commands, even when it seems to be impossible.
III. Where there is the “obedience of faith,” power will be granted. (A. F. Muir, M.
A.)
Divine kindness amid human opposition
The destructive effects of sin are abundantly seen in this life. It destroys men’s
mental eyesight, making them blind to their own best interests. Notice here-
I. The Divine Healer seeking opportunity to do good.
1. The pathway of filial obedience is the pathway of useful service. Jesus went to
the synagogue because there He was sure to meet with human needs. He went to
do good as well as to get good. These two things are identical at the root.
2. The comprehensiveness of God’s purpose puts to shame the selfish narrowness
of man’s. No place or day can be too sacred for giving free play to the love of God.
II. The Divine Healer disciplining the faith of the distressed. The measure of our
present strength is not the limit of what we can do. Divine help supplements human
endeavour.
III. The Divine Healer provoking the hostility of the proud.
1. It is possible for man’s will to resist Divine influence.
2. The choicest blessing can he perverted into the direst curse.
3. Contact with Jesus makes men either better or worse. The ice that is not
melted by the midsummer sun is greatly hardened thereby.
IV. The Divine Healer doing good, heedless of his own interests. Come what may,
Jesus Christ must do good. It was the natural forth-putting of His inexhaustible love.
It is as natural for Christ to show unmerited kindness as for the sun to shed its light,
the rose to diffuse its fragrance. (D. Davies, M. A.)
A withered hand
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We may behold our own weakness in this emblem, which represents that total
inability of doing good to which sin has reduced mankind. A withered hand, in the
sight of God, and in the eyes of faith, is-
(1) a covetous wretch, who bestows on the poor little or no alms at all;
(2) a lukewarm and negligent Christian, who performs no good works;
(3) a magistrate or person in authority, who takes no care to maintain order
and justice;
(4) a great man who abandons the innocent when oppressed. None but Thou,
O Lord, can heal this withered hand, because its indisposition proceeds from
the heart, and Thou alone canst apply Thy healing and almighty hand to that.
(Quesnel.)
Publicity
There is no public action which the world is not ready to scan; there is no action so
private which the evil spirits are not witnesses of. I will endeavour so to live, as
knowing that I am ever in the eyes of mine enemies. (Bishop Hall.)
The good eye and the evil eye
“They watched Him.” And He watched them. But with what different eyes! The evil
eye, like the eye of the serpent, confuses with distress, overcomes by pain; and a good
eye, like the eye of man fronting the wild beast of the forest, subdues. But the evil eye
makes us a prey; the good eye subdues the beast of prey itself. If we can but gaze
calmly on the angry face of the world, we have already half tamed that great foe.
Christ went on His daily course surrounded with evil eyes. He did indeed face the
angry world. Men quailed before Him, multitudes hushed, and enemies whose
tongue was arrogantly loud, were silenced. But think not that courage can be exerted
even by the best without frequent anguish. To be watched by the unkind, even if we
can maintain our composure and good will, inflicts a pang; and to be watched in time
of festive and unsuspicious pleasure by the enemy, instead of being permitted to
utter all with unusual freedom through the presence of kind sympathy-this is indeed
distressing. (T. T. Lynch.)
“To save life or to kill?”
The man was not in danger of his life, and he would have survived undoubtedly had
no cure been wrought. But that question implied, that not to give health and
strength, not to restore the vital power when the restoration lies within your reach, is
equivalent to taking it away. To leave a good deed undone is hardly less sinful than
doing a bad one. (H. M. Luckock, D. D.)
The sin of neglecting to do good
In God’s account there is no difference, in regard of simple unlawfulness, between
not doing good to the body or life of our neighbour, in the case of necessity, and
doing hurt unto them: he that doth not good to the body and life of his neighbour
(when his necessity requireth, and when it is in his power) is truly said to do hurt
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unto them, at least indirectly and by consequence. The rich glutton, e.g., in not
relieving poor Lazarus, may be truly said to have murdered him. The reason of which
is, because both these, as well the not doing of good to our neighbour’s body and life,
as the doing of hurt to them, are forbidden in the sixth commandment, as degrees of
murder; therefore he that doth not good, he that shows not mercy to his neighbour’s
body in case of necessity, is truly said to do hurt, and to show cruelty against it. How
deceived, then, are those who think it enough if they do no harm to others, if they do
not wrong or oppress them, though they take no trouble to relieve or help them. Let
us clearly understand this: that not to save life is to destroy it, though not directly, yet
indirectly and by consequence. They are both degrees of murder, though the latter is
a higher degree than the former. Let this move us not only to forbear hurting our
neighbour, but also to make conscience of doing good to him. (G. Petter.)
Christ and the Sabbath
They watched Him with an evil eye. Not to understand but to bring accusation
against Him.
I. The world watched the Saviour; the world watches the Saviour’s disciples. “No
man liveth to himself.” The eye of the world is always on the Church, on every
disciple, just as it was on the Church’s and the disciples’ Lord. What a lesson of
circumspection this should read!
II. The Saviour did good on the Sabbath day; it is the duty of his disciples to do good.
Did men expect that He would be held within the stone walls of Jewish
ceremonialism? (J. B. Lister.)
Good lawfully done on the Sabbath: or, love the over-ruling law
At other times the defence of the Lord was based on the nature of the works which
He had performed. He held and taught that “it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath
day.” Nay, He went farther, and maintained that there is a class of duties which we
not only may, but must perform on that day. It was ordained at first for the benefit of
man, and, therefore, it was never intended that it should operate to his detriment.
Whenever, therefore, an injury would be inflicted on a fellow man by our refusing to
labour for his assistance on the Sabbath, we are bound to exert ourselves, even on
that day, for his relief. Nay, more; in the case of the lower animals, when an
emergency shall arise like that which a fire or a flood creates, or when a necessity
exists like that which requires that they shall be regularly fed, the higher law of
benevolence comes in and suspends, for the moment, the lower law of rest. There are
thus degrees of obligation in moral duties. As a general rule children are bound to
obey their parents; but when that obedience would interfere with their duty to God,
the stronger obligation comes in and requires them to do what is right in the sight of
God. In chemistry you may have a substance which, yielding to the law of gravitation,
falls to the bottom of the vase; but when you introduce another ingredient, you shall
see the particles, whose weight formerly held them down, rising in obedience to the
mightier principle of affinity, and combining to produce a new result. Precisely so the
new principle of love operates in the interpretation of law. All law is for the good of
man and the glory of God; and when the highest welfare of the individual creates a
necessity, love is to seek to meet that emergency, even though in doing so it may
seem to be violating the Sabbath. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
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The power of the human hand
The hand of a man is one of those noble physical features which distinguish him from
the brute. “The hand” is but another name for human skill, power, and usefulness,
and for the studied adaptation of means to ends. By his hand, as the servant of his
intellect and his heart, man is put on a physical level with, if not far above, all other
living beings, in respect of his power to defend himself against the formidable
creatures who are furnished by nature with ponderous and deadly weapons, both of
attack and resistance. By the aid of this wonderful instrument, he can cover his
nakedness, he can build for himself a home, and make the whole world do his
bidding; he can subdue it unto himself, and fill it with the trophies of his mastery.
The houses, the roads, the bridges, the fleets, the palaces, the temples, the pyramids,
of earth, have all been wrought by the little hands of men. The agriculture and
industry by which the whole habitable face of our globe has been fashioned into “the
great bright useful thing it is,” have been file work of man’s hand. While the working
man’s hand is his sole capital, the hand of man is constantly used as the symbol of
power and the type of developed and practical wisdom. The hand commits thought to
paper, and imagination to marble and to canvas. Literature, science, and art are as
dependent on its service, as are the toils of the labourer, or the fabric of the artizan. If
manual toil is economized by machinery, still man’s hand is essential for the
construction of the machine, and for its subsequent control, so that the hand is the
symbol and the instrument of all the arts of human life. We can, therefore, scarcely
refrain from the thought that that “withered hand” in the synagogue was a type of
uselessness and feebleness; and that “right hand,” as St. Luke describes it, robbed of
its nourishment, hanging helplessly in a sling, was a picture of whatever deprives a
man of the power of holy work, and renders him an encumbrance, if not a mischief,
in God’s great kingdom. (H. R. Reynolds, B. A.)
BURKITT, "The former part of this chapter reports to us a miraculous cure
wrought by Christ upon a man who had a withered hand. The place where he
wrought it, was the synagogue; the time when, was the sabbath-day; the manner
how, was by speaking a word; the persons before whom, were the envious and
malicious Pharisees. These men were always cavilling at our Saviour's doctrine,
and slandering his miracles; yet our Saviour goes on with his work before their
faces, without either interruption or discouragement.
Learn thence, That the unjust censures and malicious cavils of wicked men
against us for well-doing, must not discourage us from doing our duty either
towards God, or towards our neighbour. Though the Pharisees watched our
Saviour, and when their envy and malice could find no occasion of quarrel, they
could invent and make one; yet such was our Lord's courage and resolution, that
he bids the man which had the withered hand, stand forth: to show that he was
resolved to heal him, notwithstanding their malicious purpose to accuse him for
it as a breaker of the sabbath. Opposition met with in doing our duty, must not
discourage us from doing good, if we will follow the example of our blessed
Redeemer.
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PULPIT, "Mark 3:1-6
Parallel passages: Matthew 12:9-14; Luke 6:6-11.—
The man with the withered hand.
I. THE NATURE OF THE DISEASE. It was a case of severe paralysis of the
hand—the right hand, as St. Luke, with a physician's accuracy, informs us. The
sinews were shrunken, and the hand shrivelled and dried up. And yet we owe to
St. Mark's great particularity in narration and minuteness of detail a piece of
information that one might rather have expected from the professional skill of
"the beloved physician," Luke. St. Luke, as well as St. Matthew, uses an
adjective ( ξηρὰ, equivalent to dry) to describe, in a general way, the state of the
diseased member; but St. Mark employs the participle of the perfect passive
( ἐξηραμμένην, equivalent to having been dried up), which furnishes a hint as to
the origin of the ailment. While from the expression of the former two evangelists
we might conclude that the ailment was congenital—that the man was born with
it; we are enabled, by the term made use of in the Gospel before us, to correct
that conclusion, and to trace this defect of the hand as the result of disease or of
accident.
II. VARIETY OF DISEASES. The multitude of "ills that flesh is heir to" is truly
wonderful; the variety of diseases that afflict poor frail humanity is astonishing.
Whatever be the place of our abode, or wherever we travel, we find our fellow-
creatures subject to weakness, pains, physical defects, wasting all sense, pining
sickness, and bodily ailments, too many and too various to enumerate. No
continent, no island, no zone of earth, is exempt. The greatest salubrity of
climate, though it may somewhat diminish the number, does not do away with
cases of the kind. Though our lot be cast amid the mildness of Southern climes,
or under the clear bright sky of Eastern lands; though our dwelling-place be—
"Far from the winters of the West,
By every breeze and season blest;"
still we find ourselves within the reach of those infirmities that seem the common
of man. We cannot read far in the Gospels, or trace the ministry of our Lord to
much length, until we find him surrounded by and ministering to whole troops of
invalids and impotent folk.
III. SOURCE OF ALL DISEASES. If there were no sin there would be no
sorrow, and if there were no sin there would be no sickness. The effects of sin
12

extend to both body and soul. Sin has brought disease as well as death into the
world, as we read, "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and
so death hath passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." As death has thus
passed upon all men, so disease, more or less aggravated, at one time or other,
has become the lot of all; for what are pain and disease and sickness but
forerunners, remote it may be, of death, and forfeitures of sin? The original
punitive sentence was not Moth tumath," Thou shalt be put to death," that is,
immediately or instantaneously; but Moth tamuth, "Thou shalt die," namely, by
a process now commenced, and, though slow, yet sure; for sin has planted the
germ of death in the system. It is as though, simultaneously with the breath of
life, the process of decay and death began, part after part wasting away in
consequence of disease or in the so-called course of nature, till the vital spark at
last becomes extinct, and "the dust returns to the earth as it was." A heathen
poet preserves the remnant of an old tradition, which, like many of the traditions
of heathenism, is evidently a dispersed and distorted ray from the light of
revelation. He tells us that a crowd of wasting diseases invaded this earth's
inhabitants in consequence of crime; while a Christian poet speaks of that lazar-
house which sin has erected on our earth, "wherein are laid numbers of all
diseased, all maladies,.. and where dire are the tossings, deep the groans." But
for transgression manhood would have remained in all its original health and
vigor and perfection, like "Adam, the goodliest man of men since born his sons;"
and womanhood would have retained all the primitive grace and loveliness and
beauty that bloomed in "the fairest of her daughters, Eve."
IV. TIME AND PLACE OF THE CURE. The time was the sabbath day; and this
was one of the seven miracles which our Lord performed on the sabbath. Of
these St. Mark records three—the cure of the demoniac at Capernaum, the cure
of fever in the case of Peter's mother-in-law, and the cure of the withered hand;
the former two recorded in the first chapter of this Gospel, and the last in the
passage under consideration. Two more of the sabbath-day miracles are
recorded by St. Luke—the cure of the woman afflicted with the spirit of
infirmity, and also of the man who had the disease of dropsy; the former in the
thirteenth and the latter in the fourteenth chapter of St. Luke's Gospel. Besides
these, two more are recorded by St. John—the recovery of the impotent man at
the pool of Bethesda, and the restoration of sight to the man born blind; the
former in the fifth and the latter in the ninth chapter of St. John's Gospel. Our
Lord had vindicated his disciples for plucking the cars of corn on the sabbath; he
had now to vindicate himself for the miracle of healing, which he was about to
perform also on the sabbath. The place where he was going to perform this
miracle was the synagogue.
V. PERSONS PRESENT AT THE PERFORMANCE OF THE CURE, This is a
most important item in the narrative, and a most important element in the
transaction. There was a multitude present, and that multitude consisted of foes
as well as friends. It could not, therefore, be said that the thing was done in a
corner, or that it was done only in the presence of friends, with whom collusion
or connivance might possibly be suspected. The persons, then, in whose presence
13

this cure was effected were the worshippers on that sabbath day in the
synagogue—a goodly number, no doubt, comprehending not only those who
assembled ordinarily for the sabbath service, but many more drawn together by
the rumors about the great Miracle-worker and in expectation of some
manifestation of his wonder-working power. But besides these ordinary
worshippers and these curiosity-mongers, as perhaps we may designate them,
there were others—the scribes and Pharisees, as we learn from St. Luke—whose
motive was malignancy, and whose business on that occasion was espionage.
They kept watching our Lord closely and intently ( παρετήρουν) to see if he
should heal on the sabbath; not in admiration of his wondrous power, nor in
gratitude for his marvellous goodness, but in order to find some ground of
accusation against him.
VI. OBJECTION TO THE PERFORMANCE OF THE CURE ON THE
SABBATH. In pursuance of their plan, they anticipated our Lord, as we learn
from St. Matthew, with the question, "Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?"
Our Lord, in reply, as we are informed in the same Gospel, appealed to their
feelings of humanity and to the exercise of mercy which men usually extend even
to a dumb animal—a sheep, which, if it fall into a pit on the sabbath, is laid hold
of and lifted out. The superiority of a man to a sheep justifies a still greater
exercise of mercy, even on the sabbath. But to their captious and ensnaring
question he made further answer, replying, as was his wont, by a counter-
question, "Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath day, or to do evil? to save life, or
to kill?" The alternative here is between doing good and doing evil, or, putting
an extreme case, between saving a life and destroying it ( ἀπολέσαι in St. Luke).
We may observe, in passing, that the received text, which reads τι in this passage
of St. Luke's Gospel, admits one or other of the two following renderings,
according to the punctuation: either
VII. MODE OF PREPARATION FOR THE CURE. He commanded the man
who had his hand withered to stand forth. This was a somewhat trying ordeal for
that poor disabled man. Standing forward, he became the gazing-stock of all
eyes. He thereby made himself and his peculiar defect conspicuous. He thus
practically confessed his helplessness and eagerness for relief. There he stood, an
object of heartless curiosity to some, an object of contempt to others; the
scrutinizing looks of some, the scowling glances of others, were fixed upon him.
Few like to be thus looked out of countenance. Besides, in addition to all this, he
was publicly expressing confidence in the ability of the Physician, and so
exposing himself to like condemnation. And then there was the contingency of
failure. What of that? The man must have had some, yea, much, moral courage
to brave all this. Thus it is with all who will come to Christ with earnestness of
spirit and manfully confess him. False shame must be laid aside. The scowl of
enemies, perhaps the sneer of friends, the scorn of the world, may be calculated
on and contemned; much must be done and dared in this direction. Yet the true
confessor will not shrink from all this, and more. His spirit is—
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"I'm not ashamed to own my Lord
Or to defend his cause,
Maintain the glory of his cross,
And honor all his laws."
VIII. OUR LORD'S LOOK WHEN PROCEEDING TO PERFORM THE
CURE. The man was now standing forth in the midst, with the eyes of all present
fastened on him. Our Lord, before actually speaking the word of healing power,
looked round upon the persons present—upon all of them, as St. Luke informs
us. There was deep meaning in that look. The expression of that look needed an
interpreter, and so St. Mark tells us that the feelings which that intent and
earnest look into every man's thee gave expression to were twofold—there was
anger and there was grief at the same time. This at, get was righteous
indignation; as the apostle says, "Be angry and sin not." This anger was
incurred by the wicked malevolence which the Saviour, in his omniscience, read
in the dark hearts of those dark-visaged men; for, as St. Luke reminds us, "he
knew their thoughts," or rather their reasonings. But there was grief as well.
1. Though the compound verb συλλυπούμενος is interpreted by some as identical
with the simple form, yet the prepositional element cannot be thus overlooked,
but must add somewhat to the meaning of the whole.
2. This additional significancy, however., may be variously understood. The
preposition σύν may mean
IX. THE CURE PERFORMED. "Stretch forth thy hand!" is the command; and
as the aorist imperative, used here, generally denotes a speedy execution of the
order given, like o phrase, "Have it done!" the command amounted to "Stretch
forth thy hand at once!" How unreasonable this command, at the first blush of
the matter, appears! Many a time the attempt had been made, but in vain; many
a time before he had tried to stretch it out, but that withered hand had refused
obedience to the volitions of the will. Was not the Saviour's command, then,
strange and unnatural in bidding him extend a hand that had long lost the
proper power of motion; a hand crippled and contracted in every joint,
shrunken and shrivelled in every part—in a word, completely lifeless and
motionless? And yet this man did not cavil nor question; he did not doubt nor
delay. Soon as the mandate came he made the effort; soon as the command was
uttered, hard as it must have seemed, he essayed compliance; and no sooner is
compliance attempted than the cure is effected, Divine, power accompanying the
command, or rather both acting with simultaneous effect. Thus his word was a
15

word of power, as we read, "He sent his word and healed them." And now the
tendons are unbound, the nerves act, the muscles are suppled, the vital fluid
flows once more along the reopened channel. Thus it was brought back again to
what it once was; in power, appearance, and use it was restored to its original
condition, whole and sound.
X. CONSEQUENT ON THE CURE WAS AN UNNATURAL, COALITION.
The enemies were filled with folly, wicked and senseless folly ( ἀνοίας), but not
madness, as it is generally understood, for that would properly be μανίας. They
felt humiliated in the presence of so many people. Their pride was humbled, for
they were silenced; their logic was shown to be shallow, for with them "to do or
not to do"—that was the question; but our Lord showed them that" to do good
or not to do good, while not to do good was tantamount to doing evil," was in
reality the question; and so they were put to shame. They were disappointed,
moreover, for they were deprived of any ground whereon to found an
accusation, because, in the mode of effecting the cure, there had been no touch,
no contact of any kind, no external means used—nothing but a word, so that
even the letter of the Law had been in no way infringed. In their desperation
they communed one with another, held a council, or, as St. Mark informs us
more explicitly, "took or made counsel with the Herodians." Misfortune,
according to an old saw, brings men into acquaintance with strange associates,
and never more so than on this occasion. In theology the Herodians, as far as
they held any theological opinions, fraternized with the Sadducees, the
latitudinarians of that day; in politics they were adherents of Herod Antipas, and
so advocates of the Roman domination. To both these the Pharisees were
diametrically opposed. Yet now they enter into an unholy alliance with those who
were at once their political opponents and religious antagonists. Nor was this the
only time that extremes met and leagued themselves against Christ and his cause.
Herod and Pilate mutually sacrificed their feelings of hostility, and confederated
against the Lord and his Anointed. It has been thought strange that Luke, who
from his acquaintance with Manaen, the foster-brother of Herod the Tetrarch,
had special facilities for knowledge of the Herods, their family relations, and
friends, omits this alliance of the Herodians with the Pharisees; while it has been
surmised that, from that very acquaintance, sprang a delicacy of feeling that
made the evangelist loth to record their hostility to Christ.
XI. LESSONS TO BE LEARNT FROM THIS SECTION.
1. The first lesson we learn here is the multitude of witnesses that are watching
the movements of the disciples of Christ; for as it was with the Master so is it
with ourselves. The eye of God is upon us, according to the language of ancient
piety, "Thou God seest us;" the eyes of angels are upon us to aid us with their
blessed and beneficent ministries; the eyes of good men are upon us to cheer us
onward and help us forward; the eyes of bad men are upon us to mark our
halting and take advantage of our errors; the eyes of Satan and his servants—
evil angels as well as evil men—are upon us to entrap us by their machinations
and gloat over our fall. How vigilant, then, must we be, watching and praying
16

that we fall not into, nor succumb to, temptation!
2. In every case of spiritual withering we know the Physician to whom we must
apply. Has our faith been withering, or has it lost aught of its freshness? we pray
him to help our unbelief and increase our faith. Has our love been withering and
languishing? we must seek from him a renewal of the love of our espousals, and
meditate on him till in our hearts there is rekindled a flame of heavenly love to
him who first loved us. Is our zeal for the Divine glory, or our activity in the
Divine service, withering and decaying? then we must seek grace to repent and
do our first works, stretching out at Christ's command the withered hand to
Christian work, whether it be the resumption of neglected duty, or the rendering
of needful help, or relieving the wants of the indigent, or wiping away the tears
of the sorrowing, or usefulness of whatever kind in our day and generation, or
honest endeavors to leave the world better than we found it.
3. It is well worthy of notice that if we are doing no good we are doing evil; nay,
if we are doing nothing, we are doing evil; still more, if we are not engaged at
least in helping to save, we are guilty of abetting, if not actually causing
destruction. Let us, then, be "not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving
the Lord."
4. The mercifulness of the Saviour is an encouragement to faith and obedience.
With his anger against sin was mingled grief for sinners' hardness of heart.
Many a tear he shed for perishing souls in the days of his flesh. He dropped a
tear at the grave of a beloved friend—only dropped a silent tear ( ἐδάκρυσεν);
but over the impenitent inhabitants of a doomed city his eyes brimmed over with
tears and he wept aloud, for we there read ἔκλαυσεν. In this restoration of the
withered hand we have evidence of the Saviour's gracious disposition, a warrant
to take him at his word, and a guarantee that when he gives a precept he will
grant power for its performance.
5. Divine power was here displayed in human weakness. The sinner has a
warrant to believe, and in responding to that warrant he realizes Divine help; in
his willingness to obey he experiences Divine power; in his earnest entreating
Christ for strength to believe, he is actually and already exercising a reliance on
Christ for salvation. Divine power harmonized with the faith of this afflicted
man, and the Saviour's strength made itself manifest in his obedience. And yet
faith lays claim to no inherent power; it is, on the contrary, human weakness
laying hold of Divine strength. Its potency is derived entirely from that on which
it rests; believing the Word of God, trusting in the Son of God, relying on aid
from the Spirit of God, it surmounts every obstacle, overcomes every difficulty,
and triumphs over every enemy. It is a principle that develops most wonderful
potencies for good; in its exercise we cress the borderland that lies between the
humanly impossible and heavenly possibilities; for "what is the victory that
overcometh the world? Even our faith."—J.J.G.
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2 Some of them were looking for a reason to
accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see
if he would heal him on the Sabbath.
CLARKE, "They watched him - Παρετηρουν αυτον, they maliciously watched
him. See on Luk_14:1 (note).
GILL, "And they watched him,.... The ruler of the synagogue, and the principal
men in it; particularly the Scribes and Pharisees, who followed him wherever he
went; they observed him diligently, and kept their eyes upon him; this lame man
being in the synagogue, to see
whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; which, knowing his readiness
to do good, they might expect he would:
that they might accuse him; as they had accused his disciples before, of the
violation of the sabbath: according to the Evangelist Matthew, they put a question to
him, whether it was lawful to heal on the sabbath day? with this view, that they
might, one way or another, have something to accuse him of, either to the people, or
to the sanhedrim; See Gill on Mat_12:10.
HENRY, "3. Christ dealt very fairly with the spectators, and dealt with them first,
if possible to prevent the offence.
(1.) He laboured to convince their judgment. He bade the man stand forth (Mar_
3:3), that by the sight of him they might be moved with compassion toward him, and
might not, for shame, account his cure a crime. And then he appeals to their own
consciences; though the thing speaks itself, yet he is pleased to speak it; “Is it lawful
to do good on the sabbath days, as I design to do, or to do evil, as you design to do?
Whether is better, to save life or to kill?” What fairer question could be put? And yet,
because they saw it would turn against them, they held their peace. Note, Those are
obstinate indeed in their infidelity, who, when they can say nothing against a truth,
will say nothing to it; and, when they cannot resist, yet will not yield.
JAMIESON, "
BARCLAY, "THE CLASH OF IDEAS (Mark 3:1-6)
3:1-6 Jesus went into the synagogue again; and there was a man there who had a
hand which had withered; and they were watching him closely to see if he would
heal him on the Sabbath day, so that, if he did, they might be able to formulate a
charge against him. He said to the man who had the withered hand, "Stand up
and come out in to the middle of the congregation." He said to them, "Is it lawful
18

to do good on the Sabbath day? Or to do evil? To save a life? Or to kill it?" But
they remained silent. He looked round on them with anger, for he was grieved at
the obtuseness of their hearts. He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand!" He
stretched it out; and his hand was restored. The Pharisees immediately went out
and began to concoct a plot with Herod's entourage against Jesus, with a view to
killing him.
This is a crucial incident in the life of Jesus. It was already clear that he and the
orthodox leaders of the Jews were quite at variance. For him to go back into the
synagogue at all was a brave thing to do. It was the act of a man who refused to
seek safety and who was determined to look a dangerous situation in the face. In
the synagogue there was a deputation from the Sanhedrin. No one could miss
them, for, in the synagogue, the front seats were the seats of honour and they
were sitting there. It was the duty of the Sanhedrin to deal with anyone who was
likely to mislead the people and seduce them from the right way; and that is
precisely what this deputation conceived of themselves as doing. The last thing
they were there to do was to worship and to learn; they were there to scrutinize
Jesus' every action.
In the synagogue there was a man with a paralysed hand. The Greek word
means that he had not been born that way but that some illness had taken the
strength from him. The gospel according to the Hebrews, a gospel which is lost
except for a few fragments, tells us that the man was a stone mason and that he
besought Jesus to help him, for his livelihood was in his hands and he was
ashamed to beg. If Jesus had been a cautious, prudent person he would have
conveniently arranged not to see the man, for he knew that to heal him was
asking for trouble.
It was the Sabbath day; all work was forbidden and to heal was to work. The
Jewish law was definite and detailed about this. Medical attention could be given
only if a life was in danger. To take some examples--a woman in childbirth might
be helped on the Sabbath; an infection of the throat might be treated; if a wall
fell on anyone, enough might be cleared away to see whether he was dead or
alive; if he was alive he might be helped, if he was dead the body must be left
until the next day. A fracture could not be attended to. Cold water might not be
poured on a sprained hand or foot. A cut finger might be bandaged with a plain
bandage but not with ointment. That is to say, at the most an injury could be
kept from getting worse; it must not be made better.
It is extraordinarily difficult for us to grasp this. The best way in which we can
see the strict orthodox view of the Sabbath is to remember that a strict Jew
would not even defend his life on the Sabbath. In the wars of the Maccabees,
when resistance broke out, some of the Jewish rebels took refuge in caves. The
Syrian soldiers pursued them. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us that they
gave them the chance to surrender and they would not, so "they fought against
them on the Sabbath day, and they burned them as they were in caves, without
resistance and without so much as stopping up the entrances of the caves. They
refused to defend themselves on that day because they were not willing to break
in upon the honour they owed to the Sabbath, even in such distress; for our law
19

requires that we rest on that day." When Pompey, the Roman general, was
besieging Jerusalem, the defenders took refuge in the Temple precincts. Pompey
proceeded to build a mound which would overtop them and from which he might
bombard them. He, knew the beliefs of the Jews and he built on the Sabbath day,
and the Jews lifted not one hand to defend themselves or to hinder the building,
although they knew that by their Sabbath inactivity they were signing their own
death warrant. The Romans, who had compulsory military service, had in the
end to exempt the Jews from army service because no strict Jew would fight on
the Sabbath. The orthodox Jewish attitude to the Sabbath was completely rigid
and unbending.
Jesus knew that. This man's life was not in the least danger. Physically he would
be no worse off if he were left until to-morrow. For Jesus this was a test case, and
he met it fairly and squarely. He told the man to rise and to come out of his place
and stand where everyone could see him. There were probably two reasons for
that. Very likely Jesus wished to make one last effort to waken sympathy for the
stricken man by showing everyone his wretchedness. Quite certainly Jesus
wished to take the step he was going to take in such a way that no one could
possibly fail to see it.
He asked the experts in the law two questions. Is it lawful to do good or to do evil
on the Sabbath day? He put them in a dilemma. They were bound to admit that
it was lawful to do good; and it was a good thing he proposed to do. They were
bound to deny that it was lawful to do evil; and, yet, surely it was an evil thing to
leave a man in wretchedness when it was possible to help him. Then he asked, Is
it lawful to save a life or to kill it? Here he was driving the thing home. He was
taking steps to save this wretched man's life; they were thinking out methods of
killing himself. On any reckoning it was surely a better thing to be thinking
about helping a man than it was to be thinking of killing a man. No wonder they
had nothing to say!
Then Jesus with a word of power healed the man; and the Pharisees went out
and tried to hatch a plot with the Herodians to kill him. This shows the lengths to
which the Pharisees would go. No Pharisee would normally have anything to do
with a Gentile or a man who did not keep the law; such people were unclean. The
Herodians were the court entourage of Herod; they were continually coming into
contact with Romans. For all normal purposes the Pharisees would have
considered them unclean; but now they were prepared to enter into what was for
them an unholy alliance. In their hearts there was a hate which would stop at
nothing.
This passage is fundamental because it shows the clash of two ideas of religion.
(i) To the Pharisee religion was ritual; it meant obeying certain rules and
regulations. Jesus broke these regulations and they were genuinely convinced
that he was a bad man. It is like the man who believes that religion consists in
going to church, reading the Bible, saying grace at meals, having family worship,
and carrying out all the external acts which are looked on as religious, and who
yet never put himself out to do anything for anyone, who has no sense of
20

sympathy, no desire to sacrifice, who is serene in his rigid orthodoxy, and deaf to
the call of need and blind to the tears of the world.
(ii) To Jesus religion was service. It was love of God and love of men. Ritual was
irrelevant compared with love in action.
"Our Friend, our Brother, and our Lord,
What may Thy service be?
Nor name, nor form, nor ritual word,
But simply following Thee."
To Jesus the most important thing in the world was not the correct performance
of a ritual, but the spontaneous answer to the cry of human need.
3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand,
“Stand up in front of everyone.”
GILL, "And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand,.... After
he had reasoned with them from the lesser to the greater, upon their own principles
and practices, in relieving and taking out a sheep fallen into a ditch, on a sabbath day,
Mat_12:10, and knowing "their thoughts", as Luke says, Luk_6:8, their reasonings
and designs; and as the Persic version here, from thence "understanding their
conspiracy", turns himself to the lame man, and bids him
stand forth: or, as in Luke, "rise up and stand forth in the midst", Luk_6:8. He bid
him rise up from his seat, and stand forth in the midst of the synagogue: this he said,
partly to raise the attention of the people to the following miracle; and partly to move
commiseration upon the sight of the object; and to aggravate the hard heartedness of
the Pharisees; as also, that it might be manifest to all, that the man's hand was really
withered; and that there was no fraud in the following cure.
HENRY, "(1.) He laboured to convince their judgment. He bade the man stand
forth (Mar_3:3), that by the sight of him they might be moved with compassion
toward him, and might not, for shame, account his cure a crime. And then he appeals
to their own consciences; though the thing speaks itself, yet he is pleased to speak it;
“Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, as I design to do, or to do evil, as you
design to do? Whether is better, to save life or to kill?” What fairer question could be
put? And yet, because they saw it would turn against them, they held their peace.
Note, Those are obstinate indeed in their infidelity, who, when they can say nothing
against a truth, will say nothing to it; and, when they cannot resist, yet will not yield.
COFFMAN, "Stand forth ... Christ accepted the challenge of his enemies. He
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would indeed heal the man on the sabbath day; but first, he would contrast his
own act of saving mercy with their act, also performed on the sabbath day, of
killing the Saviour of the world, that being their only purpose, which objective
they pursued constantly, on sabbath days as well as all other days. But, if the
Pharisees were blind to the inconsistency which accepted their own murderous
actions as "lawful" sabbath day conduct, while at the same time condemning
such an act as Jesus would do as "unlawful" on the sabbath, the people were not
so blind and could easily see the difference.
To save a life, or to kill ... Christ was about to "save a life" from pain, inability,
and frustration. The Pharisees were present for the purpose of killing Jesus. The
contrast was dramatic, and there could have been no better example of opposite
purposes of Satan and Christ than that which precipitated the stark, ugly
incident here. The Pharisees themselves were speechless when Jesus called
attention to it.
But they held their peace ... What THEY were doing was satanic and malignant;
and they were stunned into silence by Jesus' obvious reference to their evil
employment on the sabbath.
4 Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on
the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life
or to kill?” But they remained silent.
BARNES, "Mar_3:4
Or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? - It seems to have been a maxim with the
Jews that not to do good when we have an opportunity is to do evil; not to save life is
to kill or to be guilty of murder. If a man has an opportunity of saving a man’s life
when he is in danger, and does not do it, he is evidently guilty of his death. On this
principle our Saviour puts this question to the Jews - whether it was better for him,
having the power to heal this man, to do it, or to suffer him to remain in this
suffering condition; and he illustrates it by an example, showing that in a manner of
much less importance - that respecting their cattle - they would do on the Sabbath
just as “he” would if he should heal this man. The same remark may apply to all
opportunities of doing good. “The ability to do good imposes an obligation to do it”
(Cotton Mather) He that has the means of feeding the hungry, and clothing the
naked, and instructing the ignorant, and sending the gospel to the destitute, and that
does it not, is guilty, for he is practically doing evil; he is suffering evils to exist which
he might remove. So the wicked will be condemned in the day of judgment because
“they did it not,” Mat_25:45. If this is true, what an obligation rests upon the rich to
do good!
Mar_3:5
With anger - With a severe and stern countenance; with indignation at their
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hypocrisy and hardness of heart. This was not, however, a spiteful or revengeful
passion; it was caused by excessive “grief” at their state: “being grieved for the
hardness of their hearts.” It was not hatred of the “men” whose hearts were so hard;
it was hatred of the sin which they exhibited, joined with the extreme grief that
neither his teaching nor the law of God, nor any means which could be used,
overcame their confirmed wickedness. Such anger is not unlawful, Eph_4:26.
However, in this instance, our Lord has taught us that anger is never lawful except
when it is tempered with grief or compassion for those who have offended.
Hardness of their hearts - The heart, figuratively the seat of feeling or
affection, is said to be tender when it is easily affected by the sufferings of others - by
our own sin and danger - by the love and commands of God; when we are easily made
to feel on the great subjects pertaining to our interest, Eze_11:19-20. It is hard when
nothing moves it; when a man is alike insensible to the sufferings of others, to the
dangers of his own condition, and to the commands, the love, and the threatenings of
God. It is most tender in youth, or when we have committed fewest crimes. It is made
hard by indulgence in sin, by long resisting the offers of salvation, or by opposing any
great and affecting appeals which God may make to us by his Spirit or providence, by
affliction, or by a revival of religion. Hence, it is that the most favorable period for
securing an interest in Christ, or for becoming a Christian, is in youth the first, the
tenderest, and the best days of life. Nay, in the days of childhood, in the Sabbath-
school, God may be found, and the soul prepared to die.
CLARKE, "To do good - or - evil? to save life, or to kill? - It was a maxim
with the Jews, as it should be with all men, that he who neglected to preserve life
when it was in his power, was to be reputed a murderer. Every principle of sound
justice requires that he should be considered in this light. But, if this be the case, how
many murderers are there against whom there is no law but the law of God!
To kill - but instead of αποκτειναι, several MSS. and versions have απολεσαι to
destroy. Wetstein and Griesbach quote Theophylact for this reading; but it is not in
my copy. Paris edit. 1635.
GILL, "And he saith unto them,.... Either to the whole multitude, to all the
assembly in the synagogue; and so the Persic version renders it, "again he said to the
multitude"; or rather, to the Scribes and Pharisees, who were watching him, and had
put a question to him, which he answers by another:
is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil, to save life, or to
kill? The Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions read, or "to destroy", as
in Luk_6:9, To do evil, kill, or destroy, are not lawful at any time; and to do good,
and to save life, must be right at all times: our Lord has a particular view to the
Scribes and Pharisees, and the question is put home to their own consciences; whose
hearts and thoughts, designs and views, were all open to Christ; and who were now
watching to do evil to him, and even to destroy and take away his life: for the
violation of the sabbath was death by the law, and this was what they sought to
accuse him of: now he puts the question to them, and makes them judges which must
appear most right and just in the sight of God and men, for him to heal this poor man
of his withered hand, though on the sabbath day; which would be doing a good and
beneficent action to him, whereby his life would be saved, and preserved with
comfort and usefulness, and he would be in a capacity of getting his livelihood; or for
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them to cherish an evil intention against him, to seek to bring mischief on him; and
not only destroy his character and usefulness as much as in them lay, but even take
away his very life also: he leaves it with them to consider of which was most
agreeable to the law of God, the nature of a sabbath, and the good of mankind;
but they held their peace; or "were silent", not being able to return an answer,
but what must have been in his favour, and to their own confusion, and therefore
chose to say nothing.
5 He looked around at them in anger and,
deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said
to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He
stretched it out, and his hand was completely
restored.
BARNES, "With anger - With a severe and stern countenance; with indignation
at their hypocrisy and hardness of heart. This was not, however, a spiteful or
revengeful passion; it was caused by excessive “grief” at their state: “being grieved for
the hardness of their hearts.” It was not hatred of the “men” whose hearts were so
hard; it was hatred of the sin which they exhibited, joined with the extreme grief that
neither his teaching nor the law of God, nor any means which could be used,
overcame their confirmed wickedness. Such anger is not unlawful, Eph_4:26.
However, in this instance, our Lord has taught us that anger is never lawful except
when it is tempered with grief or compassion for those who have offended.
Hardness of their hearts - The heart, figuratively the seat of feeling or
affection, is said to be tender when it is easily affected by the sufferings of others - by
our own sin and danger - by the love and commands of God; when we are easily made
to feel on the great subjects pertaining to our interest, Eze_11:19-20. It is hard when
nothing moves it; when a man is alike insensible to the sufferings of others, to the
dangers of his own condition, and to the commands, the love, and the threatenings of
God. It is most tender in youth, or when we have committed fewest crimes. It is made
hard by indulgence in sin, by long resisting the offers of salvation, or by opposing any
great and affecting appeals which God may make to us by his Spirit or providence, by
affliction, or by a revival of religion. Hence, it is that the most favorable period for
securing an interest in Christ, or for becoming a Christian, is in youth the first, the
tenderest, and the best days of life. Nay, in the days of childhood, in the Sabbath-
school, God may be found, and the soul prepared to die.
CLARKE, "With anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts -
These words are not found in any of the other evangelists. For πωρωσει hardness, or
rather callousness, the Codex Bezae, and four of the Itala, read νεκρωσει, deadness;
the Vulgate and some of the Itala, caecitate, blindness. Join all these together, and
they will scarcely express the fullness of this people’s wretchedness. By a long
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resistance to the grace and Spirit of God, their hearts had become callous; they were
past feeling. By a long opposition to the light of God, they became dark in their
understanding, were blinded by the deceitfulness of sin, and thus were past seeing.
By a long continuance in the practice of every evil work, they were cut off from all
union with God, the fountain of spiritual life; and, becoming dead in trespasses and
sins, they were incapable of any resurrection but through a miraculous power of God.
With anger. What was the anger which our Lord felt? That which proceeded from
excessive grief, which was occasioned by their obstinate stupidity and blindness:
therefore it was no uneasy passion, but an excess of generous grief.
Whole as the other - This is omitted by the best MSS. and versions.
Grotius, Mill, and Bengel approve of the omission, and Griesbach leaves it out of
the text.
GILL, "And when he had looked round about on them,.... In the several
parts of the synagogue; for there were many of them on every side of him; which he
might do, to observe their countenances, which might justly fall, upon such a close
question put to them, and what answer they would return to him: and his look upon
them was
with anger, with a stern countenance, which showed indignation at them, though
without sin, or any desire of revenge, for the evil they were meditating against him;
for at the same time he had pity and compassion for them,
being grieved for the hardness of their hearts: or "the blindness of their
hearts", as the Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions render it; being troubled
in his human soul, both at their inhumanity and cruelty to a miserable object, whose
cure, in their opinion, would have been a breach of the sabbath; and to himself,
having a malicious design against him, should he perform it; and at their stupidity
and ignorance of the law of God, the nature and design of the sabbath, and of their
duty to God, and their fellow creatures: wherefore as one not to be intimidated by
their evil designs against him, or prevented thereby from doing good,
he saith unto the man, stretch forth thine hand; that is, the lame one; and
such power went along with his words, as at once effected a cure:
and he stretched it out, and his hand was restored whole as the other.
This last clause, "whole as the other", is not in the Vulgate Latin, nor in the Syriac,
Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions; and may be added from Mat_12:13; see the
note there; since it is wanting in the Alexandrian copy, and in Beza's most ancient
copy, and in others.
HENRY, "(2.) When they rebelled against the light, he lamented their
stubbornness (Mar_3:5); He looked round about on them with anger, being grieved
for the hardness of their hearts. The sin he had an eye to, was, the hardness of their
hearts, their insensibleness of the evidence of his miracles, and their inflexible
resolution to persist in unbelief. We hear what is said amiss, and see what is done
amiss; but Christ looks at the root of bitterness in the heart, the blindness and
hardness of that. Observe, [1.] How he was provoked by the sin; he looked round
upon them; for they were so many, and had so placed themselves, that they
surrounded him: and he looked with anger; his anger, it is probable, appeared in his
countenance; his anger was, like God's, without the least perturbation to himself, but
25

not without great provocation from us. Note, The sin of sinners is very displeasing to
Jesus Christ; and the way to be angry, and not to sin, is it be angry, as Christ was, at
nothing but sin. Let hard-hearted sinners tremble to think of the anger with which he
will look round upon them shortly, when the great day of his wrath comes. [2.] How
he pitied the sinners; he was grieved for the hardness of their hearts; as God was
grieved forty years for the hardness of the hearts of their fathers in the wilderness.
Note, It is a great grief to our Lord Jesus, to see sinners bent upon their own ruin,
and obstinately set against the methods of their conviction and recovery, for he
would not that any should perish. This is a good reason why the hardness of our own
hearts and of the hearts of others, should be a grief to us.
4. Christ dealt very kindly with the patient; he bade him stretch forth his hand, and
it was immediately restored. Now, (1.) Christ has hereby taught us to go on with
resolution in the way of our duty, how violent soever the opposition is, that we meet
with in it. We must deny ourselves sometimes in our ease, pleasure, and convenience,
rather than give offence even to those who causelessly take it; but we must not deny
ourselves the satisfaction of serving God, and doing good, though offence may
unjustly be taken at it. None could be more tender of giving offence than Christ; yet,
rather than send this poor man away uncured, he would venture offending all the
scribes and Pharisees that compassed him about. (2.) He hath hereby given us a
specimen of the cures wrought by his grace upon poor souls; our hands are
spiritually withered, the powers of our souls weakened by sin, and disabled for that
which is good. The great healing day is the sabbath, and the healing place the
synagogue; the healing power is that of Christ. The gospel command is like this
recorded here; and the command is rational and just; though our hands are withered,
and we cannot of ourselves stretch them forth, we must attempt it, must, as well as
we can, lift them up to God in prayer, lay hold on Christ and eternal life, and employ
them in good works; and if we do our endeavour, power goes along with the word of
Christ, he effects the cure. Though our hands be withered, yet, if we will not offer to
stretch them out, it is our own fault that we are not healed; but if we do, and are
healed, Christ and his power and grace must have all the glory.
CALVIN, "Mark 3:5.And when he had looked around upon them with
indignation To convince us that this was a just and holy anger, Mark explains
the reason of it to be, that he was grieved on account of the blindness of their
hearts. First, then, Christ is grieved, because men who have been instructed in
the Law of God are so grossly blind; but as it was malice that blinded them, his
grief is accompanied by indignation. This is the true moderation of zeal, to be
distressed about the destruction of wicked men, and, at the same time, to be filled
with wrath at their ungodliness. Again, as this passage assures us, that Christ
was not free from human passions, we infer from it, that the passions themselves
are not sinful, provided there be no excess. In consequence of the corruption of
our nature, we do not preserve moderation; and our anger, even when it rests on
proper grounds, is never free from sin. With Christ the case was different; for
not only did his nature retain its original purity, but he was a perfect pattern of
righteousness. We ought therefore to implore from heaven the Spirit of God to
correct our excesses.
PULPIT, "When he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved
( συλλυπούμενος)—the word has a touch of "condolence" in it—at the hardening
of their heart. All this is very characteristic of St. Mark, who is careful to notice
26

the visible expression of our Lord's feelings in his looks. The account is evidently
from an eye-witness, or from one who had it from an eye-witness. He looked
round about on them with anger. He was indignant at their blindness of heart,
and their unbelief, which led them to attack the miracles of mercy wrought by
him on the sabbath day as though they were a violation of the law of the sabbath.
We see hero how plainly there were in Christ the passions and affections
common to the human nature, only restrained and subordinated to reason. Hero
is the difference between the anger of fallen man and the anger of the sinless
One. With fallen man, auger is the desire of retaliating, of punishing those by
whom you consider yourself unjustly treated. Hence, in other men, anger springs
from self-love; in Christ it sprang from the love of God. He loved God above all
things; hence he was distressed and irritated on account of the wrongs done to
God by sins and sinners. So that his anger was a righteous zeal for the honour of
God; and hence it was mingled with grief, because, in their blindness and
obstinacy, they would not acknowledge him to be the Messiah, but
misrepresented his kindnesses wrought on the sick on the sabbath day, and
found fault with them as evil. Thus our Lord, by showing grief and sorrow,
makes it plain that his anger did not spring from the desire of revenge. He was
indeed angry at the sin, while he grieved over and with the sinners, as those
whom he loved, and for whose sake he came into the world that he might redeem
and save them. Stretch forth thy hand. And he stretched it forth: and his hand
was restored. The words "whole as the other" ( ὑγιὴς ὡς ἡ ἄλλη) are not found
in the best uncials. They were probably inserted from St. Matthew. In this
instance our Lord performed no outward act. "He spake, and it was done." The
Divine power wrought the miracle concurrently with the act of faith on the part
of the man in obeying the command.
JOHN MACDUFF, ""Being grieved for the hardness of their hearts."—Mar_
3:5.
On this one occasion only is the expression used with reference to Jesus—(what
intensity of emotion does it denote, spoken of a sinless nature!)—"He looked
round on them with anger!" Never did He grieve for Himself. His intensest
sorrows were reserved for those who were tampering with their own souls, and
dishonoring His God. The continual spectacle of moral evil, thrust on the gaze of
spotless purity, made His earthly history one consecutive history of grief, one
perpetual "cross and passion."
In the tears shed at the grave of Bethany, sympathy, doubtless, for the world's
myriad mourners, had its own share (the bereaved could not part with so
precious a tribute in their hours of sadness), but a far more impressive cause was
one undiscerned by the weeping sisters and sorrowing crowd—His knowledge of
the deep and obdurate impenitence of those who were about to gaze on the
mightiest of miracles, only to "despise, and wonder, and perish." "Jesus
wept!"—but His profoundest anguish was over resisted grace, abused privileges,
scorned mercy. It was the Divine Craftsman mourning over His shattered
handiwork—the Almighty Creator weeping over His ruined world—God, the
God-man, "grieving" over the Temple of the soul, a humiliating wreck of what
once was made "after His own image!"
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Can we sympathize in any respect with such exalted tears? Do we mourn for sin,
our own sin—the deep insult which it inflicts on God—the ruinous consequences
it entails on ourselves? Do we grieve at sin in others? Do we know anything of
"vexing our souls," like righteous Lot, "from day to day," with the world's
"unlawful deeds,"—the stupid hardness and obduracy of the depraved heart,
which resists alike the appliances of wrath and love, judgment and mercy? Ah! it
is easy, in general terms, to condemn vice, and to utter harsh, severe, and cutting
denunciations on the guilty: it is easy to pass uncharitable comments on the
inconsistencies or follies of others; but to "grieve" as our Lord did, is a different
thing; to mourn over the hardness of heart, and yet to have the burning desire to
teach it better things—to hate, as He did, the sin, but, like Him also, to love the
sinner!
Reader! look specially to your own spirit. In one respect, the example of Jesus
falls short of your case. He had no sin of His own to mourn over. He could only
commiserate others. Your intensest grief must begin with yourself. Like the
watchful Levite of old, be a guardian at the temple-gates of your own soul.
Whatever be your besetting iniquity, your constitutional bias to sin, seek to
guard it with wakeful vigilance. Grieve at the thought of incurring one passing
shadow of displeasure from so kind and compassionate a Savior. Let this be a
holy preservative in your every hour of temptation, "How can I do this great
wickedness, and sin against God?"
Grieve for a perishing world—a groaning creation fettered and chained in
unwilling "subjection to vanity." Do what you can, by effort, by prayer to hasten
on the hour of jubilee when its ashy robes of sin and sorrow shall be laid aside,
and, attired in the "beauties of holiness," it shall exult in "the glorious liberty of
the sons of God!"
SIMEON, "THE MAN WITH THE WITHERED HAND
Mark 3:5-7. And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being
grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth
thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the
other. And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the
Herodians against him, how they might destroy him. But Jesus withdrew himself
with his Disciples to the sea.
THE exercise of benevolence is, in itself, calculated to excite universal
admiration; but it is far from producing that effect on those who are blinded by
prejudice or passion. They whose conduct is reproved by it will rather take
occasion from it to vent their spleen the more. This our Lord uniformly
experienced from the Pharisees. A remarkable instance of it is recorded in the
text. Let us,
I. Consider the circumstances of the miracle—
The Pharisees, observing our Lord’s intention to heal a man who had a withered
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hand, questioned his right to do so on the Sabbath-day—
[Wishing to accuse him of inconsistency, or a contempt of the law, they asked
him whether it was lawful to heal on the sabbath-day [Note: Matthew 12:10.]?
Our Lord shewed them, that it was [Note: Matthew 12:11-12.]. He then asked
them, Whether, while they condemned him for doing so benevolent an action on
the Sabbath, they were more justified in indulging murderous purposes against
him on the Sabbath [Note: ver. 4. This seems the true import of this question.]?
They, unable to answer except to their own confusion, “held their peace.”
Though convinced of their unreasonableness and impiety, they would not confess
it.]
Our Lord beheld their obstinacy with indignation and grief—
[Meek as our Lord was, he was susceptible of anger; yet that anger was not like
the passion that too often agitates us. It was perfectly just and righteous. Sin was
the object against which it was directed; and, while he was angry with the sin, he
mourned over the sinner. Hereafter indeed his anger will be unmixed with any
pity; but now it is, as ours also should ever be, tempered with compassion
towards the offending person.]
Not intimidated by their malice, he proceeded to heal the withered hand—
[He bade the man stand forth in the midst of all. Surely such a pitiable object
should have engaged all to interest themselves with Christ in his behalf. He then
ordered him to stretch forth his hand. The man, notwithstanding he knew his
inability to do it of himself, attempted to obey, and, in the attempt, received an
instantaneous and perfect cure.]
Having thus more than ever exasperated his enemies, Jesus retired from their
rage—
[One would have thought that all should have adored the author of such a
benefit: but, instead of this, the Pharisees were “filled with madness [Note: Luke
6:11.].” Alas! what wickedness is there in the human heart! They joined
immediately with the Herodians in a conspiracy against his life [Note: The
Herodians and Pharisees differed so widely both in their political and religious
sentiments, that they hated each other exceedingly. But what enemies will not
unite against Jesus? Luke 23:12.]: but our Lord’s hour was not yet come; he
withdrew therefore from their power, and thus defeated, for the present at least,
their efforts against him.]
Having thus touched upon the principal incidents in the miracle, we shall
proceed to,
II. Deduce from it some practical observations—
My first observation refers to our blessed Lord who wrought the miracle—
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[Did our Lord in defiance of the rage of the surrounding Pharisees discharge his
office boldly, yet, when he saw their murderous designs, withdraw himself? Then
it may be observed, that, though we are never to decline any duty through the
fear of man, yet are we at liberty to avoid the storms which we cannot allay.
Nothing is more clear than the duty of dismissing from our hearts altogether the
fear of man. “Fear not man who can only kill the body; but fear him who can
destroy both body and soul in hell [Note: Luke 12:4-5. Isaiah 51:7-8; Isaiah
51:12-13.] — — — Indeed so obvious is this duty, that it commends itself even to
the most prejudiced and embittered mind [Note: Acts 4:19; Acts 5:29.] — — —
Not life itself is to be of any value in our eyes in comparison of a faithful
adherence to this principle: we must be ready to lay down our lives for Christ’s
sake, if ever we would be approved of him in the day of judgment [Note:
Matthew 10:38-39.] — — —
But this does not forbid our prudently withdrawing from scenes of danger,
provided we can do it without making any compromise of our fidelity to God.
The seventy whom our Lord sent out to preach his Gospel, were told, that, “if
they were persecuted in one city, they should flee to another [Note: Matthew
10:23.].” And St. Paul, when the Jews of Damascus watched the gates night and
day in order to destroy him, was let down by the wall in a basket, in order that
he might escape their murderous rage [Note: Acts 9:23-25.]. On many occasions
our Lord himself withdrew from those who sought his life. And when Paul would
have gone into the theatre at Ephesus, the Disciples kept him from his purpose,
because they knew that he would instantly be put to death by his blood-thirsty
enemies [Note: Acts 19:30-31.]. The truth is, that life is a talent to be improved
for God, and is not to be carelessly thrown away. We must be willing to sacrifice
it, if called to do so in the providence of God. Neither a fiery furnace, nor a den
of lions must so intimidate us, as to cause any violation of our integrity. But if,
consistently with fidelity to God, we may preserve life, our duty is rather to
preserve it for God, than to throw it away by a needless exposure of it to dangers
which we cannot withstand.]
My next observation relates to him in whom the miracle was wrought—
[Did the man with the withered hand, in compliance with the Lord’s command,
stretch out his hand, and in that act experience the healing of it? Then we,
however desperate am condition be, should endeavour to execute the commands
of God, and in that act expect his blessing on our souls.
Doubtless we are in ourselves as impotent as the man with the withered hand.
But are we therefore at liberty to sit still without making any effort to save
ourselves? If that man who laboured under a natural infirmity had refused to
make the effort which our Lord enjoined, he had in all probability lost the cure
which, in making the attempt, he obtained. How much more then shall we be left
to rue our folly, if we, whose impotence is only of a moral nature, decline using
the means which God has ordained! It is our duty to repent: it is our duty to
believe in Christ: it is our duty to surrender up ourselves unreservedly to God.
And if, when called to these exertions, we excuse ourselves by saying that we are
30

not able, we shall provoke Almighty God to withhold from us the blessings which
we so greatly need, and which he is ever ready to bestow upon us. He has told us,
that “his Spirit shall help our infirmities.” But how will he help us? Not by
moving us without any co-operation on our part, but by taking hold of the
opposite end of a burthen, and bearing it together with us [Note: Romans 8:26.
συναντιλαμβάνεται.]. Very remarkable is that answer which Jehovah gave to his
people of old. The Church prayed, “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the
Lord.” The Lord answered, “Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem.” “Awake,
awake, put on thy strength, O Zion [Note: Isaiah 51:9; Isaiah 51:17; Isaiah
52:1.]” God does not need our efforts; but he requires them; and when they are
put forth in obedience to his commands, and in dependence on his grace, he will
“perfect his own strength in our weakness.”
I call upon you all then to repent of sin, to flee to Christ for refuge from the guilt
and power of it, and to consecrate yourselves unreservedly to him. I readily
acknowledge, that you are not of yourselves sufficient for these things: but “the
grace of Christ is, and shall be, sufficient for you,” if, in dependence on his
promised aid, you will address yourselves to these all-important duties. “Be
workers together with God;” and he will never suffer you to work in vain. I
grant, you are asleep; I grant, you are dead: but I say with confidence, “Awake
thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light [Note:
Ephesians 5:14.].”]
My last observation is, that if, like this man, you have experienced the mighty
working of Christ’s power, you must, throughout the whole remainder of your
lives, shew yourselves living monuments of his power and grace.
[Wherever he went, he was a witness for Christ. And such must you be. You
must let it be seen that he both does and will renew the powers of a withered
soul, and infuse into it such energies as shall bear the stamp and character of
divinity upon them. And one such witness, if he provoke hostility in some, will
afford the greatest possible encouragement to others. The Sabbath-day is now
the time that our Lord especially selects for the communication of his blessings to
the souls of men. But the generality are content with an attendance on outward
ordinances, without expecting any peculiar blessing from them. Let it however
be seen in you that “his word is quick and powerful,” and, that to those who
receive it aright, it “is the power of God to their salvation.”]
COFFMAN, "Looked ... on them with anger ... This is one of the places in which
it is asserted that "Matthew corrected" Mark! It is alleged that this was
considered by Matthew to have been too harsh a statement of the Lord's
emotion, "anger" for some undisclosed reason being considered by critics as
"unbecoming" to Jesus. Regardless of the scholarship of those advocating such a
view, it is founded, apparently, in ignorance of the fact that Matthew was just as
precise in his assignment of this emotion to Jesus as was Mark. The vituperative
passages of Matthew 23 are a far more impressive account of Jesus' anger than
Mark's casual reference to it here. Furthermore, Jesus was quoted by Matthew
as saying, "The King was wroth; and he sent his armies, and destroyed those
murderers, and burned their city!" (Matthew 22:7), the king, of course, standing
31

for God himself, making it impossible for Matthew to have considered Mark's
attribution of anger to Jesus as anything inappropriate. Therefore, the conceit
that Matthew corrected Mark in this particular is rejected.
And his hand was restored ... Barclay is at great pains to show that Jesus
actually violated God's sabbath by this miracle, He said, "On the sabbath day all
work was forbidden, and to heal was to work."[1] But as Dummelow accurately
observed, "Only malice could call healing by a word, without labor or medicine,
a breach of the sabbath."[2] It is nothing short of outrageous how "Christian"
scholars are so determined to make Jesus a sabbath breaker. Not even the
Pharisees, in the last analysis, used that charge as the basis of demanding
Christ's crucifixion (John 19:7). However, the liberal scholars have an axe to
grind by their inaccurate portrayal of Jesus as a sabbath-breaker. Barclay
explained his conclusions on this as follows:
To the Pharisees religion was ritual; it meant obeying certain rules and laws and
regulations. Jesus broke these regulations and they were genuinely convinced
that he was a bad man. It is like the man who believes that religion consists in
going to church, reading the Bible, saying grace at meals, even having family
worship, and carrying on all the external acts which are looked upon as
religious, and who yet never put himself out to do anything for anyone in his life,
who has no sense of sympathy, no desire to sacrifice, who is serene in his rigid
orthodoxy, and deaf to the call of need and blind to the tears of the world.[3]
Barclay's slander of equating his caricature of the church-going Christian with
the murderous Pharisees of Jesus' day is criminal. It may be a fact that such
unfeeling Christians exist; but it is the conviction of this author that such a
phenomenon is rare, atypical, and extraordinary. The great hindrance to true
Christianity does not come from Christians like those of Barclay's caricature,
there being an insufficient number of them to make any difference at all. The
great hindrance comes from insinuations, like this, which imply that Bible study,
church attendance and family worship are "secondary" to "helping people" and
are in no sense part of Jesus' true religion. He even went so far as to say, "To
Jesus, religion was SERVICE."[4] Jesus' religion INCLUDED service, but mere
humanism is as far from true Christianity as Shintoism. Christ's testimony
regarding the law of Moses that he did not come to destroy but to fulfill would be
violated by any view that he deliberately broke God's sabbath law. Of course, the
Pharisaical additions and improvisations regarding the sacred law were no part
of God's true law and were righteously flouted by Christ, but break God's
sabbath he did not.
Therefore, let Christians beware of all interpretations that would make a sinner
out of the Saviour himself.
[1] William Barclay, The Gospel of Mark (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press,
1956), p. 62.
[2] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan
Company, 1937), p. 667.
32

Mark 3 commentary

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Mark 3 commentary