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October 9th

The bible reading today is in Matthew 12:1-21, Mark 3, Luke 6.

“Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, “so that they might accuse him”. And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to the Pharisees, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “ Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.”

‭‭Mark‬ ‭3:1-6‬

Jesus was back in Capernaum, His home between mission trips. And it’s the Sabbath. And Jesus was there in the synagogue along with some scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem. Oh, and there was a man there with a withered hand.

Because we know the end of this account, Jesus proved that He was at synagogue to worship. The national Jewish leaders from Jerusalem were not.

They were there to sit in the chief seats of recognition and judge Jesus for whatever He said or did so that they might accuse him. The religious leaders watched Jesus closely. But it wasn't in love...it was an investigation with hate at the core.

Jesus saw the man with the withered hand at synagogue. And he reached out to him to help him. Jesus knew that the hypocrites in the chief seats would accuse him of breaking the Sabbath if he helped the crippled man. But Jesus helped him anyway. And then Jesus publicly exposed the self-righteous loveless heart and soul of the Pharisees.

Those guys were used to “doing the exposing”. Today, God was doing it to them.

But instead of humbly confessing their sins and repenting of their wickedness, they left synagogue with one mind...to destroy Jesus.

And then we read about the righteous, selfless anger of Jesus toward these Pharisees. Later Jesus would call them “the blind”...the blind leading the blind.” They were choosing their man-made traditions over God the Son...and then teaching God’s people to do the same.

This is one of the few places where Jesus is described as having anger. It was righteous. He was angry at the hardness of their hearts.

Did you notice how Jesus commanded the man with a withered hand to “stretch out his hand”? It was paralyzed forevermore. Jesus was commanding the man to do something impossible for him to do.

Which meant that “God” would have to enable the man to do such a thing. The God who commanded it would be the God who enables it. Halleluiah!!!

Friends, when Jesus commands us to do something that seems impossible for us to accomplish, let us remember the man with the withered hand...God Himself will enable “us” to obey.

So let’s go for it. Stretch out that hand of faith in Him! “O Lord enable us to trust You...Your voice of the Spirit...Your word in the Bible...especially when Your assignments seem so out of our reach...so out of our comfort zones. Thanks, Jesus...

Wow...another live illustration of how much better Jesus is.

Lord, You don't just tell us what to do...You empower us to do it! No other god does that!

Have a great day.