In Mark 3, Jesus encounters a man with a withered hand in the synagogue and the Pharisees watch to see if Jesus will heal on the Sabbath. This was an issue with them on more than one occasion and I find it humorous the perspective they had. They did not view Jesus as being God in flesh so their view was based on that, but the thought that God healing someone is work seems comical. With words God spoke the universe into existence so a mere thought could heal millions of sick and it would still not be considered work.
Before Jesus heals the man he asks a question, ?Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to harm, to save life or to kill??, and the scripture records crickets. Silence. No response. What Jesus does after asking the question gave me great pause as I read it. ?And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart..? He then heals the man anyway and proving how hard their hearts were they ?held counsel? to determine how to ?destroy him?.
In my times of serving the body of Christ in various forms I have found myself identifying with Jesus, looking at people with anger because of their hardness of heart. I wonder how they can hear the word and not feel anything, never admitting sin or showing even the slightest amount of conviction. They complain about difficulties in their life that are clearly results of sin. They are having trouble paying bills because they have been using credit cards to buy things they can’t afford an now they have to much debt. Or a spouse is miserable in their marriage yet they live constantly in the kingdom of self, never admitting that they could be part of the problem. The list goes on…
The difference in Jesus? reaction and mine is the second part. It?s the word grieved that at first did not stick out to me until I began meditating on the whole verse. The original word sullupeo means sorrow, grief or heaviness. It?s a word that denotes pain. A hurt for them. What an amazing thing! Only God could be angry at their sinful hearts and at the same time love and hurt for them. An angry compassion.
I can get angry at sin, and that?s a good thing, but what about my own sin? It’s easy to be angry at other peoples sin but to have compassion at the same time?I have to cry out to God for help and forgiveness. We as Christians fall so short in this area and I would suggest that this passage in Mark may be the very thing that has turned so many against God as a result of the Church focusing on only one or the other. All compassion but not addressing sin. Or condemning sin without humility and compassion. What greater example of this failure than in the area of homosexuality and how followers of Christ approach the subject.
We need both anger and hearts that hurt. And we can only do so by the power of the Holy Spirit. We would do well to start with our own hearts. As David said, ?Search me, and know my heart??
You must be logged in to post a comment.