Mark 3:1

FAITH AND UNBELIEF CONTRASTED

‘There was a man there which had a withered hand.’

Mark 3:1

The narrative, like the whole of Mark’s Gospel, is marked by picturesqueness.

I. The obedience of faith is exhibited.

(a) This man was obedient in the presence of a great foe. ‘And He saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth’; and Luke adds, ‘He arose and stood forth’ (Mark 6:8). Luke also informs us that the ‘scribes and Pharisees watched’ Christ. The foe of Christ and of the Truth was now present. Of the Pharisees Josephus has said, ‘They had so much weight with the multitude, that if they said anything against a king or a high priest they were believed.’ May we follow the courageous example of those who lived and died for the faith!

(b) This man was obedient although suffering from natural inability. Jesus said, ‘Stretch forth thine hand’—yea, the dry, withered hand—‘and he stretched it out.’ So Christ now bids the spiritually dead believe, obey, live.

(c) This man was obedient to the reception of a great blessing. ‘And his hand was restored whole as the other.’ To-day Christ gives to such as are obedient to His call the unspeakable gift, the new life.

II. The hostility of unbelief.—This unbelief was not doubt or the suspension of judgment, but the positive rejection of Christ and His claims upon them. Such unbelief is characterised by—

(a) Unfriendliness. They observed Him narrowly that they might accuse Him. The mind which thus labours is contemptible. Such unbelief is always unfriendly to Christ.

(b) Callousness. They were unsympathetic. To them the welfare of the maimed man was a small matter. They were morally impenetrable. Unbelief is always associated with hardness, callousness; moral petrifaction is the sure end and companion of persistent unbelief.

(c) Madness. This is shown by its bitter hatred of goodness. Christ was goodness personified, yet they bitterly hated Him. It is shown by their purpose to suppress the truth by the murder of its exponent and advocate. ‘How they might destroy Him.’ To act thus is to challenge the Almighty to arms.

Illustrations

(1) ‘The old Gospel of the Hebrews informs us that the man was a mason by trade, and there is no reason to doubt the tradition. He is said to have addressed his supplication to the Lord in these words: “I was a mason seeking sustenance by my hands; I beseech Thee, O Jesus, restore Thou me to health, that I may not shamefully beg my food.” Luke (Mark 6:6) adds the characteristic note, which would come naturally from the pen of the physician, that the man had his right hand withered.’

(2) ‘Our Lord goes into the synagogue at Capernaum, where He had already wrought more than one miracle, and there He finds an object for His healing power in a poor man with a withered hand; and also a little knot of His enemies. The scribes and Pharisees expect Christ to heal the man. So much had they learned of His tenderness and of His power. But their belief that He could work a miracle did not carry them one step towards a recognition of Him as sent by God. They have no eye for the miracle, because they expect that He is going to break the Sabbath. There is nothing so blind as formal religionism. The poor man’s infirmity did not touch their hearts with one little throb of compassion. They had rather that he had gone crippled all his days than that one of their rabbinical Sabbath restrictions should be violated. There is nothing so cruel as formal religionism.’