Gospel of Mark Study #9

“Working in a Hostile Environment”

Mark 3:1-12

Study #9 in Mark Series

INTRODUCTION:

Have you ever had to work in a hostile environment, one where you constantly felt uncomfortable, unappreciated, and out of place? For example, you might have experienced sexual harassment on the job. Or you might have suffered from discrimination because of your gender, race, or age. It is hard to do your work when you are surrounded by hostile people who constantly criticize you and look for opportunities to accuse you of something.

TRANSITION:

In our text for this week, we can see that Jesus was in a hostile environment almost everywhere He went. He was constantly being watched and spied on by people who hated Him and wanted Him dead. As He went about doing good, healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons, and preaching the Good News He was attacked from every side by self-righteous religious hypocrites who looked for anything they could possibly use against Him. I think you’ll see what I mean. Turn to Mark 3:1-12. 

NOTES on the Text:

Verse 1: Another time He went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there.

• Mark has been stringing together a series of events. These likely occurred over a period of days or maybe even weeks. Here Mark tells us about a second Sabbath controversy that arose. Last week we looked at 2:21-28 that describes the confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees because they accused Him and His disciples of “harvesting grain” on the Sabbath, merely because they were pulling off heads of grain to eat as they walked along the road. Jesus summed up His position and His authority in verse 28: “Therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath.”
• Now once again we read that Jesus went to the local synagogue, probably the one in Capernaum, the same one we read about back in 1:21ff where He cast a demon out of a man. You must understand that the synagogue was the center of Jewish life. It was not like a church or a worship center. The Jews did not gather there to sing hymns or offer sacrifices. It was where the men would go to offer communal prayers and to discuss the holy Scriptures and the oral law, and to argue incessantly about what these meant. The word synagogue is a transliteration of the Greek word sunagōgē, which means, “meeting, assembly” (from sun- “together” + agein “to bring”). In Hebrew it is called beyt knesset, בית כנסת, meaning “house of assembly”; or beyt t'fila, בית תפילה, “house of prayer.” American Jews often refer to the synagogue as shul, the Yiddish word meaning “school.”
• “…and a man with a shriveled hand was there.” That was no accident, no mere happenstance. Jesus was orchestrating all these events. I fully believe that Jesus knew that man would be there that day, and He knew exactly what was going to transpire.
• We do not know anything about this man—his name, how he had come by his infirmity (i.e., congenital, result of an accident, etc.), his age, his family history, etc. We do not even know about his level of faith or what he thought about Jesus. This is interesting because normally a healing was predicated on a person putting his faith in Jesus to heal him. In this case the man may not have had any faith at all. Even that could not hinder the Sovereign God of Heaven.

Verse 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.

• These Pharisees were spying on Jesus, watching everything He did, and taking notes. What a bunch of weasels! After the run-in over the so-called “grain harvesting” incident they were looking for a way to trip Him up. Their purpose was to gather evidence by which they could publicly accuse Him, discrediting Him in the eyes of the community. Jesus could see right through their evil motives, but it did not frighten or deter Him.
• “…they watched Him closely”  The verb Mark uses here means “to spy,” and indicates a malicious lying-in-wait to trap a person, much like a roadside bandit might do. According to rabbinic tradition practicing medicine on the Sabbath was forbidden unless the sick person was on the verge of death, which was not true in this case. Consequently, if Jesus healed the man, the Jews were ready to accuse Him as a Sabbath violator. 

Verse 3: Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”

• Can you imagine what was going through the man’s mind at that moment? Most people with any kind of disability would hate to be made the center of attention. I am sure he was no exception. This man probably did everything he could to not draw attention to that withered hand. But now Jesus singles him out and asks him to stand in front of the whole group. He was probably embarrassed and somewhat afraid because he had no idea what Jesus was up to at that moment, but he did as he was commanded. This is an example of the formula for joy in the Christian life. Faith + Obedience = Joy.

Verse 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.

• Jesus addressed His question to the whole assembly but especially to the Pharisees and Scribes who were there.
• This was sort of a trick question on Jesus’ part. The answer is obvious, but they did not want to say it out loud because it would undermine what they were trying to do. In fact, it is never lawful to do evil on the Sabbath, or any other time, for that matter. And it is never lawful to commit murder on the Sabbath, or any other time. Jesus was saying that to meet this man’s need would be to do good; to fail to do so would be to do evil. Matthew’s account of this incident is recorded in Matthew 12:9-14. Matthew reports that Jesus also said to them, “What man shall there be among you, who shall have one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it, and lift it out? Of how much more value then, is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
• As I explained before, the Jews, and especially the Pharisees, had developed their own set of rules and regulations surrounding the 613 Laws given by God through Moses. These 1,500+ additional rules went far beyond anything that God required of them, becoming a crushing burden. Rabbinic law was quite definite and detailed about what you could and could not do on the Sabbath. Medical attention could only be given if a life were in danger. For example—a woman in childbirth might be helped on the Sabbath. A restriction of the throat might be treated. If a wall fell on anyone, enough rubble might be cleared away to see whether he was dead or alive. If he were alive, he could be helped; however, if he were dead, the body could not be attended to until the close of the Sabbath. 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 that at the most an injury could be kept from getting worse, but it must not be made better. These are the sort of stupid rules the Pharisees wanted to impose on Jesus, but He was having none of it.
• They just sat there glaring at Jesus, because once again, He managed to out-trick the tricksters. None of them said a word.

Verse 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.

• Jesus knew what those skunks were thinking and why. Mark records that Jesus experienced two emotions:
• Anger, righteous indignation—this was the same emotion Jesus demonstrated when He cleansed the Temple with a whip in His hand.
• Sadness, grief because of their hard hearts—this was the same emotion He showed when He wept over the city of Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday, just one week before His death.
• Once again Jesus turned His attention to the man. He issued a simple command: “Stretch out your hand.” The man did as he was told for the second time. In that instant his hand was made whole. His simple act of faith and obedience was rewarded by having his hand made perfectly normal. Imagine his joy and surprise!

Verse 6: Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

• The Herodians were men who were politically devoted to the Herodian family and committed to keeping them in power. Consequently, they normally had no friendly dealings with the Pharisees, who zealously hated foreign domination. But a common opponent can bring enemies into strange alliances. As the old saying goes, “Politics makes for strange bedfellows.”
• These men crossed a line. They did not just dislike Jesus, they hated Him and everything He stood for, and they wanted Him dead. This was the start of what would culminate later with the mob shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

Verse 7: Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed.

• After healing the man with the withered hand Jesus and His followers made their way out of town down to the shore of the Sea of Galilee, just a short distance away.
• Probably some who followed Him had witnessed what had just occurred in the synagogue. Others followed hoping to see another miracle. But some had, by faith, come to believe in Him as their true Messiah and Savior.

Verses 8: When they heard all He was doing, many people came to Him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumaea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon.

• Word of His miracles spread far and wide. People came from every part of Israel to see Him. Idumaea was the area in the extreme south of Israel, bordering on the Negev Desert. East of the Jordan were the regions of Gilead and Decapolis. And people even came from the region of Tyre and Sidon, which were cities on the Mediterranean coast up in Phoenicia.

Verses 9-10: Because of the crowd He told His disciples to have a small boat ready for Him, to keep the people from crowding Him.  ¹⁰ For He had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch Him.

• Remember, several of the disciples were fishermen by trade. Simon and Andrew, and James and John all owned small fishing boats. Seeing where this situation could lead, Jesus instructed the disciples to have a boat handy so that He could make an escape if need be. Apparently, the crowd was so large and so pushy that they were literally pushing Jesus out into the water. However, this was not malicious behavior. They were not trying to drown Him. These people loved Him and just wanted to get close to Him. Others had legitimate physical needs and wanted Him to heal them the way He had healed so many others. They kept pushing in close to try and touch Him.
• I have a crazy question… Why did Jesus not just say the word and heal that whole bunch of people at the same time? Could He not have done that? If He created the world with a word, why could He not just say it and make it happen for all these people at the same time? Yet He never did that, not even once. Instead, He chose to deal with people as individuals, meeting their personal needs. I think it was to remind us that God sees us as individuals, and not just as a race or a group. He knows each of us by name. 

Verse 11: Whenever the evil spirits saw Him, they fell down before Him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”

• Some who came to Jesus had physical afflictions—cancer, tuberculosis, leprosy, wounds, illness, blindness, broken bones, paralysis, deafness, etc. Jesus could heal any of those things. But some in the crowd were under the power and domination of evil spirits, demons, who tormented them day and night. In some cases, their family brought the afflicted person to Jesus to be healed. In other cases, they just seemed to show up, as though drawn by a magnet.
• However, in every case, upon getting anywhere close to Jesus the demon-possessed person would be unable to stand in His presence. They would go prostrate in the dust at His feet. Something about Him made the demons manifest their presence to Him and to offer acknowledgement and praise, even though they did not want to.
• Jesus was God in human flesh. The demons recognized Him as the Second Person of the Trinity, God of very God, in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt albeit in human form. They could not remain silent. It was as though the words were pulled from those demon-possessed throats despite their intense hatred of Him. 

Verse 12: But He gave them strict orders not to tell who He was.

• Why did Jesus do this? Would it not have been excellent PR for word to get out that all the demons had stated publicly that Jesus was the Son of God? But Jesus repeatedly refused (Greek imperfect tense) to let those evil angels speak (cf. 1:34). The Lord wanted men to find out who He was by listening to His words and by watching His deeds, not by believing the testimony of lying demons from Hell.

CONCLUSION:

Perhaps you too have experienced working in a hostile environment. You know what it is like to be watched, unjustly criticized, and hassled. But I do not think any of us have ever experienced the kind of a hostile work environment the Jesus had to deal with, day in and day out. He was criticized. He was scrutinized. He was slandered and threatened. Jesus came to earth on a mission—to seek and save the lost, and to reveal the Father and His gracious plan of salvation. He came to do good, and to be a blessing to people. But everything He said was twisted and used against Him and everything He did was misinterpreted and counted as evil. And He went through all of that for you and for me.

In John 1:10-12 we read, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.”

Looking at this fact, the writer of Hebrews in 12:3 admonishes us: “Consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.” We cannot give up just because we think that being a Christian is difficult.