Scripture: Mark 3:1 - 6 (full passage - Mark 2:23 - 3:6) Call to Worship - Psalm 139:1-6
Subject: Stretch Forth and Be Healed
Title: The Healing Stretch
This is a sermon leads to an invitation to the Lord's Table. It focuses on the man who suffered from a withered hand and helps us to understand that God will heal all the areas in our lives that may suffer from dryness.
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God our Father and from Jesus Christ our Savior and LORD who came to take away the sin of the world!
Our passage this morning is a very interesting one. It involves a man who coming to a local synagogue somewhere in the area of the Sea of Galilee experienced an amazing encounter with Jesus that lead to a supernatural healing. And if you read most Bible studies and most commentaries that is pretty much all that is said concerning this man or his healing.
Most of them (Bible studies and commentaries) view this man as a mere prop to tell the story of about how Jesus fought with the Pharisees (and other religious authorities) and how the whole issue was about what to do and what not to do on the Sabbath. They then focus on the message that we must never allow ritual and tradition to keep us from bringing healing and wholeness into the lives of others. Finally, they focus on the fact that after this meeting the Jews began to plot how they could destroy Jesus and so the story sets up this ongoing caustic relationship between Jesus and the religious authorities that eventually leads to the Cross.
All of that is definitely a major part of this section of Mark's Gospel and it does deal with the proper use of the Sabbath as well as tell the story of how after this healing, Jesus did find himself forever at odds with the religious zealots of his day.
But in all of Scripture people are not to be seen by God or used by God as mere props or means to tell a story. The man that we find in this passage was real flesh and bone. He was a real human being created in the image of God and no doubt had a family and a host of friends as well. He was also a man who was dealing with a serious health issue. A health issue that could eventually take his life.
Tradition tells us he had been a stone mason. That means that he had made his living by laying bricks and stones and working in the construction business. We are not told what caused his limb to start withering and dying away. We do know for example that such "withering" can happen to a person who contracts polio. The affected limb can begin to atrophy, the muscles and tissue begin to dry up and then waste away.
Such "withering" can also happen when a person has developed a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis. The joint and the muscles and tendons can be so adversely affected that one begin to have what some have labeled a "claw hand". The hands can become so damaged that doing any work that requires any level of dexterity becomes impossible. While this usually affects both hands it can happen on occasion to one hand or limb more than the other.
Such "withering" can also take place when someone has for some reason or the other suffered from nerve damage. Perhaps the man's hand and arm was crushed in an unfortunate accident that resulted in nerve damage and over the years the muscles, skin and tendons began to draw up. It wouldn't have been uncommon in that day for a stone mason to have been involved in some accident involving a large piece of stone.
We all that said, we just don't know what happened to the man. All we know is that he is there in the synagogue no doubt doing his best to remain unseen. Most of us when we have something debilitating that happens to us we do our best not to be seen. We don't want to be the center of attention or to have people ask us embarrassing questions. For example, if we suffer from things like:
+ psoriasis of the skin or some other skin condition - we tend to over dress so that people can't see our skin
+certain diseases like lupus - more and more people who suffer from lupus would rather people not know about their disease
+certain types of cancer like lung cancer which most people will display a measure of sympathy but most also believe that such cancers are self induced and so while there is sympathy there is also a level of judgment as well
+certain types of emotional issues and problems like depression, anxiety, instability, mood swings, etc... A great many people stay away from others because of such issues and end up living a very lonely life as a result.
+certain other handicaps
We don't know if everyone in the synagogue that day knew that this man had a withered hand. There is the thought that if someone did know then the man would have been asked to leave because according to ancient Jewish law anyone with a skin disease or certain types of handicaps were considered to be unclean and could not attend synagogue worship. It was believed that their uncleanness could spill over and cause everyone who accidently touched them to be unclean as well. With all those Pharisees and zealot religious authorities keeping a keen eye for anyone who would dare not live up the fullest extent of the law it is hard to see that man was a regular attendee or that anyone knew he had a withered limb.
Perhaps in his own home town he had been faithful to go to synagogue worship each and every Sabbath. But whatever had caused him to have a withered limb made it impossible for him to go to worship in his own home town so perhaps when he could he would travel to the surrounding towns and attend worship. He would have had to be very careful not to extend his hand and making sure that no one would see him. More than likely he was one of the last people to come into a synagogue and one of the first ones to leave. All he wanted to do was to worship quietly, reverently and out of the way. He did not want any attention drawn to him at all.
Haven't we all just come to worship and not wanted any one to see us or draw any attention? We have gone to a large church just to worship and not be seen. We don't want anyone to call out our name, make us stand or make us do anything that draws unnecessary attention. We just want to come in, sit down and be with God.
I think that is what this man wanted. Maybe he thought that after the worship time Jesus would find a home to stay at and he could go over and have a private conversation with Jesus that might lead to his hand/arm being healed. Maybe he had heard what happened that day after worship when Jesus went to Peter's house (Luke 4:38 - 44) and dozens upon dozens of people came to be healed by Jesus.
We just don't know. But I think we can be safe to say that this man did not want to be the center of attention at the synagogue. He most definitely did not want to be paraded up in front of a group of people who upon seeing his "uncleanness" would have wanted to cast him out at best and perhaps stone him at worst. Religious zealots can do some rather crazy things at times.
So, why did Jesus expose this man? Why did Jesus make him get up and "stand forth"? Why did Jesus allow everyone around him to see his "withered limb"? Why did Jesus make him expose his uncleanness, his shame and his brokenness?
I mean in some instances it looks rather cruel and rude to say the least. Was this man merely a ploy or a means to an end? Did Jesus need to send out a message and so he used this man to make a statement? Some have conjectured and have said this was the case. Jesus wanted to use the man to launch an attack against the Pharisees and to hopefully make them line up to what He, His Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit wanted them to do.
I tend to believe that we are reading something into this passage that while it may have hints of being there is in fact not there at all. I don't think the God of the Universe - God in Flesh - Jesus of Nazareth wants to embarrass anyone at all. I don't think Jesus merely used this man and healed him to make a statement against the Sabbath or to prove a point to the Pharisees.
I do think that Jesus was saying something very important to the man
I. Things like - YOU ARE ACCEPTED.
I don't think God looks down on us because we have an emotional or physical handicap or some other issue. I don't think our Heavenly Father focuses on all the many things that may be wrong with us. The Bible tells us in John 4 that Jesus told the woman at the Well that there would come a day when people would understand that worship and having a relationship with God supersedes the physical and ascends to the spiritual.
In the Old Testament when it came to anointing young King David, the LORD had to remind the Prophet Samuel that God does not see as man sees. The Bible tells us that Samuel tried to anoint all the other boys besides David. He believed that they fit the bill of what a person needed to possess to be a king.
David did not. After all, David was too young, he was red headed and he was considered to be the black sheep of his family. That is the real reason why Jesse had him out tending the sheep when all the other sons had been called home. It wasn't the fact that the sheep needed David or that there was no one else that could take care of the sheep. Jesse had enough servants to fill in. The fact was in Jesse's eyes and in his brothers eyes David was an outcast. He was not worthy to come home and sit in the presence of his father, his brothers and Samuel the Prophet. That is why David was out on the hillside tending the sheep. It was not by accident it was by design.
Aren't you glad this morning that our Heavenly Father sees our hearts - not our broken or diseased limbs, not the brokenness that comes from mental pain and anguish and not the brokenness and pain that comes from acts of sin. God seeks the real us. For we are much more than our physical bodies whether the world considers us a "10", a "5" or a "1". According to Psalm 8 our Heavenly Father sees all of us as a "10".
Psalm 8: 3 - 4 the Psalmst asked the question about the value of human beings:
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
And then in verses 5 - 9 he answers that question!
5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings[b]
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Even today inside the modern day church we still have some problems when it comes to seeking outward beauty over inward beauty. We still have issues making people feel uneasy when they cannot wear the right things, when their physical bodies or minds are not what are considered normal. We still have issues and sadly so many people who suffer from certain maladies still feel that they are not welcomed and/or are made to feel different.
I think Jesus brought this man forward to tell him that as far as He, His Father and the Holy Spirit was concerned he was a man of great worth. I think Jesus wanted him to know that he was loved, welcomed and accepted. I believe with all my heart that Jesus did not see a man with a withered hand but a man with a hungry soul. I believe that Jesus saw a person who had come to worship, pray and receive God's wonderful and glorious Holy Spirit.
+I think Jesus brought Him forward to HONOR HIM
I don't think this was a scene of embarrassment or intended to make others stare at this man. I think this was one of those times when Jesus wanted everyone to know that they should be honored to be in the presence of this man.
It's sorta like that story that we read about in Luke 21 with the little widow who put in the two little copper coins. Jesus did not reference her to point out her poverty. Instead, he pointed her out to declare her faith and to bestow upon her great gratitude and honor. Above everyone else in the Temple, she possessed the true heart of a giver. She possessed the true heart of a person who knew what it meant to give sacrificially.
All around her were individuals of great wealth that were dropping their coins in one at a time so people could be impressed with the sound of each coin hitting the bottom of the metal box. The temple authorities had designed the offering box that way so that you could both give and impress those around you. The person who could make the box jingle the loudest and the longest was considered to be the most holy.
When this little woman dropped her offering into the box, you could hardly hear a sound. Her coins did not weigh enough and with only two of them all you would hear was perhaps a soft thump. People would look at her and perhaps smile and wonder why she had walked all the way to the Temple if that was all she could give. Surely, God would not care about her gift. God was more interested in hearing the jingle, jingle of large coins and many coins making a noise. All she was doing was taking up space and time.
Over the years as a pastor I have seen similar scenes like this one played out. I have watched people carefully fold their check or their money in such a way so that anyone down the row or the aisle can quickly see the amount that they had given. They have wanted to give but they have also wanted people to be impressed. In some churches the deacons even put a list up on the back board of the church to let people know how much has been given by each one of their members. I remember going to this one church where it was their custom to take up the offering, bring it to the front and then read off the amounts that were given - clapping for those who had given the most. I don't think that it was their intention to promote those who had given the most but in the end that was the result.
There was no way that any synagogue ruler or Pharisee would have taken the time to honor this man with a withered hand. They would have considered that blasphemy. Like we have said before, once everyone knew that he had a withered hand he would have been considered to be unclean and immediately forced to leave. But that is not the way it is with Jesus.
Jesus doesn't make us leave when we are not perfect either physically, mentally, emotional or in an any other way. Jesus not only welcomes this man, he honors him by asking him to come forward to help him.
+I think Jesus asked this man to HELP HIM REVEAL AN AMAZING TRUTH ABOUT LOVE, HEALING AND WHOLENESS
There is something in my soul that says that during all of this there was a great deal of eye contact and soul contact between Jesus and this man. The truth could be that these two men knew each other from the years that Jesus was a carpenter/stone mason himself. If tradition is correct and this man with a withered limb was a former stone mason that lived around the Galilee area it is not beyond imagination that he and Jesus knew one another.
If you have ever spent much time in Lowe's or in Home Depot you can witness this happening first hand. Different construction workers from different sites see one another and begin to talk to one another. It's like Lowe's or Home Depot is a great big watering hole for a great many local construction workers. They share information about where they are working, how their families are doing and how life is treating them. If that happens today then of course it could have happened back in Jesus' day.
Perhaps Jesus' father, Joseph had worked on a local project with this man. Perhaps, he was one of the men that Jesus had seen working while he was growing up. Perhaps, this man and Jesus had even worked together sometime in the past.
I wish at times that our Gospel writers had been able to share more in their stories than we have here in a few sentences. I wish that they would have had a DVD of the service or left behind a streaming video or audio of these events. But of course they didn't because they couldn't.
But it does not mean that we cannot allow the story to be fleshed out a bit. If Jesus knew the man and as we have said it is entirely possible that they knew each other then the story takes on a wonderful new turn. This is not Jesus suddenly picking on some random man making him come forward to be used as a prop. This is not Jesus merely using a man to get a point across to some stiff necked and hard hearted Pharisees.
Instead, maybe it is old friends or at least acquaintances seeing one another again with one of them revealing himself as the Son of God and the other one being a man who was in great need. It is two men who have worked together, sweated together and shared life together and one of them has had something happen to them that has taken away their ability to live life to the fullest. It is Jesus reaching out to a man who he knew and who he knew he could call upon to help him.
Looking at the story with this type of twist makes more sense to me. I can see how Jesus not only wanted the man to know he was welcomed, he wanted to honor him and he knew that he would help him teach a lesson while at the same time reward him with a great blessing of healing and wholeness.
Jesus asks the man to do only one thing - stretch out his hand and arm the best that he could. This was something that the man had to do each time he saw his local doctor or tried to put on any robe or tunic. Jesus was not asking him to do anything that was not beyond his ability.
Our passage tells us that the man obeyed Jesus. And suddenly, his arm became healthy and whole. What was withered came alive. What was dry and unless became vibrant and energetic. Jesus had told the man to do something, the man did it and healing happened. No big fan fare and no big deal.
Now, of course those that did not like Jesus got upset and set about doing what they could to destroy Jesus. Whenever lives are changed there will always be some group that will get upset especially if it involves the name of Jesus. Even today that happens as well.
As I worked on this message and asked the Holy Spirit to help me bring it into today's world I felt impressed by the Holy Spirit to think of a couple of more lesson truths - certainly, we need to understand that supernatural healing is possible. That God does heal today - physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. And secondly, that God brings about healing and restoration in relationships as well.
But then I felt impressed by the Holy Spirit that at times it maybe that our hands in the church that are dealing with some "withering" - some drying out and loss of energy and power
+Our Hands of Intercessory Prayer may be suffering from a little withering.
We use our hands for work and some of our best work is the time we spend interceding for one another. However, with all of life's interruptions and busyness our prayer lives can become a little withered and dried out. We can find ourselves mumbling a few words of prayer in a hurry without spending some quality time with the Lord in prayer. This morning, we may need to ask the LORD to help us stretch out out hands a little more in prayer for ourselves, our family, friends and others.
+It's easy for our Hands of Service to suffer from a little drying out and withering
Just like prayer, because of the busyness of life we can find ourselves becoming more and more takers than givers and servers. We get so use to just paying someone else to do things for us or just expecting people to do things for us that we forget that as disciples of Jesus we called to be servers and givers as well. We can forget that in the Kingdom of Jesus we are called to pick up a towel and serve as well.
+It's easy for our Hands of Fellowship to get a little withered and dry
Perhaps, this morning we know of a relationship that over the past few weeks, months or years has become a little dry and withered. We didn't mean for it to happen but we have drifted apart from some people that we had a disagreement with. Perhaps we have for some reason or the other become a little distant for no apparent reason. Perhaps it is time to reach out to them to see how they are doing. To reach out a hand of fellowship again and to begin to bring some new life back to those relationships.
+It's easy for us to feel like we are withering ourselves
Sometimes life deals us some rather harsh and difficult blows that make us feel like we are drying out and our lives are withering away. Maybe we have made some bad choices, our lives are a little bit of a mess and we feel like our relationship with ourselves and with God is becoming a little dry and withering.
This morning, we are going to close with inviting everyone to come and share the grace that is made possible through the Lord's Table. Over the years I have discovered that the Lord's Table, Communion is more than a ritual and much more than a memorial of the day before Jesus died on the Cross. There is true grace and presence when in the name of Jesus we come to His Table to receive oneness with Him and oneness with one another.
John Wesley taught that when we take Communion the LORD will give us - "healing grace". Wesley rightly believed that the LORD Supper could help us in the deepening of our spiritual lives. Communion is able to bring "present strengthening and refreshment" to our souls. Wesley believed that when we rightly receive communion the door to healing, grace, forgiveness, receiving God's Spirit and so much more is opened.
I believe this morning that Communion is a time we share fellowship with God and with one another. Communion is a time when our withered souls - withered prayer hands, withered service hands and withered hearts can find strength and wholeness. Communion is much more than memorial or a religious ritual. It is a means by which Jesus is present with us and it is a means of grace and healing if we allow the Holy Spirit to refresh us and renew us today.
This morning as we prepare to receive communion let us ask the LORD to bring healing and wholeness to our souls. Let us ask God to continue to forgive us, fill us with His Holy Spirit, mercy and grace. Let us ask the LORD to bring new life to any part of our lives that are suffering from a season of dryness.
THE LORD'S SUPPER
BENEDICTION
