#43 Jesus Heals a Withered Hand

#43 Jesus Heals a Withered Hand

Please first read: Matthew 12:9-14; Mark 3:1-6; Luke 6:6-11

In posts #41.1, #41.2, and #42, we have seen our Saviors’ ministry shift into a higher gear.   Everything is now moving on a much larger scale; his widespread influence and popularity is affecting many areas. This has been noticed by the Jewish leadership and is causing them great concern. They are making efforts to stop what they perceive as a danger to their entire religion and traditional culture.

There is another problem for the leaders … fear that if there is too much public commotion among the Jewish society, the Romans can be quick to step in and clamp down on the freedoms they now enjoy. Between the Jews and their captors there are always issues to deal with. Judea is not an easy province to govern and the Roman governors move swiftly to stop any possible uprising before it can get started and word of it get back to Rome. Large crowds visiting on the feast days are always watched very carefully and these are days on which Jesus will draw big crowds. Also, some hostility among Jewish groups and sects seems to be escalating.

President J. Reuben Clark Jr.:

“Jesus enters a synagogue  on the Sabbath in which there is a man who has a withered hand;  the Pharisees and scribes watch to see if he will heal on the Sabbath, that they may find an accusation against him; knowing their thoughts, he asks what man among them would not on the Sabbath save a sheep which has fallen into a pit, and how much better is a man than a sheep; he then heals the hand; the Pharisees take counsel with the Herodians how they may destroy Jesus.”

Apostle Bruce R. McConkie:

“By their religious forms and practices men reveal whether they have pure religion in their souls or not. These Jews bore record of their own apostasy by exhibiting their false and fanatical views about Sabbath observance. To them the Sabbath had become a day of restrictions and petty prohibitions. In large measure their very religion was the rabbinical interpretations surrounding it. The formalities of Sabbath observance had come to outweigh the basic virtues of revealed religion … faith, charity, love, integrity, mercy, healings, and gifts of the Spirit.”

“But it is difficult to see how even these Jews could have construed this healing to be a Sabbath violation. Jesus had performed no physical labor, administered no medicine, and required no exertion on the part of the healed person, except that of stretching forth his hand. Jesus totally discomfited his detractors and added to their hatred and madness.”

Apostle James E. Talmage:

“How much then is a man better than a sheep?” “As the Pharisees could not or would not reply, He summed up the whole matter thus: ‘Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.’  He called upon the man with the withered hand to stand forth before the congregation. Grief and anger were mingled in His penetrating and sweeping glance; but, turning with compassion toward the afflicted one, He commanded him to stretch forth his hand; the man obeyed, and lo!  The hand ‘was restored whole, like as the other.’

The discomfited Pharisees were furious, ‘filled with madness’ Luke says; and they went out to plot anew against the Lord. So bitter was their hatred that they allied themselves with the Herodians, a political party generally unpopular among the Jews. The rulers of the people were ready to enter into any intrigue or alliance to accomplish their avowed purpose of bringing about the death of the Lord Jesus. Aware of the wicked determination against Him, Jesus withdrew Himself from the locality.”

Holzaphel:

Jesus is again in a synagogue teaching and it is another Sabbath. He now has Scribes and Pharisees watching and following him to see if he will again heal on the Sabbath so they can accuse him. They are convinced the Law is on their side and they will soon have cause to accuse.

Jesus is aware of their actions and engages them in conversation, asking them challenging questions involving their own laws: Is it proper to do good or evil, to save life or to destroy it on the Sabbath? He takes them to task for the hardness of their hearts. It is only after he has set this stage that he then heals the man’s hand. Jesus thus chooses to make a statement about the purpose and meaning of the Sabbath … he here directly opposes the interpretation the Pharisee and other leaders have made of the laws governing Sabbath behavior and activity.

They are “filled with madness”, leave the synagogue, and hold “a council against him, how they might destroy him.” (p. 144-146) (Luke 6:11; Matthew 12:14; Mark 3:6)

Glenn R. McGettigan

November 2015

References:   

“Our Lord of the Gospels.” Clark  

“Doctrinal New Testament & Commentary.” McConkie    

“Jesus The Christ.” Talmage

 “Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ.” Holzaphel