THE MAN WITH THE WITHERED HAND
MARK 3:1 6
Read Mark 3:1 6 then Read Matthew 12:11 12
As we look at this story of the man with the shriveled hand, Jesus had just entered the city of Capernaum. He’d been run out of His hometown of Nazareth. The great religious leaders of that town had taken Him up to the brow of the hill and would have killed Him if He hadn’t exerted His power and walked through the crowd.
So now he comes to Capernaum, which is a city where thousands of people are assembled, many who had come to see Him. At this time in history the city was inhabited by thousands of people, and now with the arrival of Jesus it was so crowded that He couldn’t eat, couldn’t rest...the people would just fill the streets, especially after the Sabbath
They were coming from Jerusalem, from all over Judea, from Tyre and Sidon, from all over to bring their sick, lame, deaf, blind, crippled and diseased. And they would wait for days just to see Him.
This particular incident, like so many others took place on the Sabbath...when the activities of Jews were very limited. So Jesus comes in to the synagogue...and He’s not a welcomed guest...they don’t want Him there. The priests, the religious rulers are not happy that He’s there because He had a way of upsetting their order of events.
He upset their religion, He upset everything that was going on because the moment He walks in the people realize He’s not just another ordinary man....He’s not just another good teacher. There’s something radically different about this young Nazarene.
He’s the one who does that (snap of fingers) and blinded eyes open....this is the one who speaks and the dead come to life...this is the one that touches the tongue of the dumb and the man can speak...this is the one that instantly heals the open sores of leper by the power of Almighty God. Hallelujah!! This is the Sea walker...the blind man healer...the leper cleansing man from Galilee!! This is the one!!! And He’s still the One!!!!
There’s a man there who’s got a withered, shriveled up hand...shriveled in the Greek means atrophied...wasted away or withered. The hand in Jewish idiom covered all the way up to the elbow...and this hand had shriveled up to where it was unusable...about half the size of the other...just a dead piece of flesh.
And they’re all standing around there staring at him...wondering what He would do. Remember it’s the Sabbath and He’s not supposed to heal on the Sabbath.
But let me tell you, besides being a physical handicap, that old withered, shriveled up hand is a type of mankind. Man, in spite of our education, ability, talents, all our 6,000 years of development...we’re still a withered creation because of the fall.
We are shriveled in our soul...in our heart...in our mind...in our spirit... But we don’t like to admit that. But when Jesus looks at these people there in the synagogue, He knows their mind...He reads their thoughts...He knows their hearts.
And before He addresses that man with the shriveled hand He looks around at those religious men with anger...and this was visible anger. He grew extremely angry. The Greek indicated the type of anger that would make your face almost whiten.
Contrary to Hollywood’s versions, Jesus was an emotional person...and He expressed those emotions frequently. He got sad, tired, weary, joyful, hopeful, impatient...and His impatience was often aimed at His disciples, because of their lack of learning or faith.
He didn’t sin in His anger, but nonetheless He was fired up. Anger is not wrong if it’s kept in check. And at times not to be angry is wrong. And one of the problems we have in the Christian world today is that nothing angers us anymore. At least not the right things.
We see evil...we see people going to hell by the millions...we see Satan wreaking havoc all around us and we sit idly by. We’ve become so desensitized to sin that it’s no wonder we’re in the pitiful condition we’re in as a nation and as a world. We need to get angry!
He did it then just like He’s doing it right now...Jesus knows your thoughts this very moment. Jesus looked at them and said, "You’ve got your old laws that say if such and such happens it’s a sin...But then he said, "I tell you that if you think it in your heart, you’ve already done it." (Adultery...murder...etc)
He knows your mind...He knows your heart. He knew their thoughts, and He asked the question (Matthew 12) that is the question that is paramount today in society. "Is not a man better than a sheep?"
Jesus said, "You would pick up a lamb that’s fallen into a hole on the Sabbath would you not? Moses law makes allowance for that. If an ox falls in the ditch you’ll get it out on the Sabbath. Isn’t a man worth more than a sheep? That’s the battle raging today in this secular world.
And Jesus, in essence, said "You hypocrites...you deranged hypocrites...you’d get a sheep out of a hole but you’d let that man with the withered hand go through life like that." And isn’t that where our society is at? Placing more importance on an animal than on human beings?
Remember the spotted owl out in Washington State and out in Oregon? Or the stupid little rodent in California that farmers couldn’t kill regardless of the damage and the problems they were causing? Or the little lizard in the south that prevented highways from being built? And yet that same rotten bunch will vote to murder babies!
It’s a $5,000 fine plus up to a year in jail for killing a baby eagle...and yet we can kill an unborn human being and it’s simply considered removing a blob of tissue. And it doesn’t make us angry does it? Well does it? Not enough to keep many of you from voting for the very people who see that this remains legal and acceptable!
What do you think you’re worth? Jesus said you’re worth more than an animal. But just how valuable are you? How important are you? Truth be known, we often think far less of ourselves, deep down, than Jesus does.
It’s a fact that nearly every single human being has an inferiority complex. Sure, many will hide it well behind all kinds of masks...with loudness, with crudeness, with quietness...but deep inside most all of us is a feeling of being less than we are in the eyes of God.
You know for yourself, it doesn’t take much at all for someone to shatter our self-image...to make us feel inferior...unworthy even though we’d never admit it to them. Satan did that...he’s the one that puts those thoughts and feelings in our minds.
Some of you here tonight constantly fight those very feelings...feelings of inferiority...or inadequacy...or maybe even worthlessness. But God wants you to understand tonight that in His eyes you are tremendously important and worthwhile.
And that brings us to the power of the miracle working man. So that man with the shriveled hand is standing there...and he sees Jesus...Glory! Don’t you know what’s in his mind? What would be in your mind? You drag that old piece of atrophied; that old dead flesh that was like a piece of concrete hanging on your elbow...
It won’t work, the fingers won’t move, and you try to pick up something and all you can do is take it and try to ....can’t pick up anything...put on clothes.
And he’s in the synagogue and he looks up and he sees Jesus coming...My Lord, My Lord, He sees Jesus coming!!! And his heart is just...thump, thump (pound on chest)....And he’s probably saying, "Shut up, shut up..."
I don’t know what he thought but I got an idea he looked at that old withered up hand and said to it...something is about to happen to you...you’ve just met your match Glory to God!!!
Then he called that man over...Oh, happy day, happy day! There’s that hand that’s all knotted up...atrophied...hard and dead...hadn’t moved it in years...probably about half the size of the other one...
And it’s the Sabbath day...but he’s leaving it all to Jesus. Jesus never touched him...the Bible didn’t say He touched him or anointed him...just said to him, "Stretch out your hand!"
Glory to God!!! And he reaches out there and those fingers start to move...and all of a sudden flesh starts to appear all over that hand and all over that arm...it starts to grow...and all of a sudden he can move it back and forth...HE’S HEALED!!!!!!!!!!
Restored whole. Can you imagine what that man did? I bet he showed everybody..."Let me show you what I can do...anyone want to arm wrestle? Come on..."
Jesus was there to prove that you don’t have to live a withered shriveled life...He was there to prove that this man was tremendously important to Him. And Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever! AMEN?
The message tonight is that you are special in the eyes of God. And whatever deficiencies are there in your life, Jesus can restore and make you whole...if you’ll give Him a chance.
