Mark 3:1-5

And there was a man there which had a withered hand.

The withered hand

I. What the withered hand may be said to symbolize.

1. It represents capacity for work. By the hand the toiling millions earn their bread.

2. The hand stands as the symbol of fellowship. This is what our custom of shaking hands expresses.

3. There is one more thing symbolized by the hand-generosity. By the hand we convey our gifts.

II. The causes of the hand’s withering.

1. The first suggestion is that, like some forms of blindness and certain deformities, it is sometimes a sad, inexplicable inheritance, possessed from birth.

2. The hand would become withered, I should think, if you fastened tight ligatures or bandages round the arm so as to impede the free circulation of blood. Our narrowness may cause the same result.

3. And then, perhaps, another cause may be cited-disuse of the hand, if long continued. Nature’s gifts are cancelled, if not made use of.

III. The means of healing.

1. The man is made to “stand forth.” The healthful effects which flow to a man when he is drawn out of the solitude of a self-shrouded life, and constrained by force of circumstances to come into contact with other human beings: We need to be stored up with all sorts of social agencies.

2. There is another thing in this narrative-obedience to Christ. His obedience evidenced his faith. (W. S. Houghton.)

The withered hand

I. The meaning of the withered hand. The disease was not like the palsy, a type of universal inaction; it was not like some consuming fever, a type of the way in which sin and vice pervert all the faculties of the soul; but there was a vivid picture of that infirmity which destroys a man’s power of doing anything well in this world of ours. The hand of man is one of those noble physical features which distinguish him from the brute. “The hand” is but another name for human skill, power, and usefulness, and for She studied adaptation of means to ends.

1. The bigotry of these Pharisees rendered them useless in the great kingdom of God, and destroyed their power of serving Christ. Christ did not keep the Sabbath in their way, and that was enough for their malice. That man with a “withered hand” was an apt picture of the way in which their bigotry had incapacitated them for any holy service. Bigotry ties up men’s hands still.

2. Prejudices wither up some of the energies of men. By prejudices I mean opinions taken up without sufficient reasons, and maintained with obstinacy; opinions that rest on feelings rather than on facts. There are many men-and professing Christians, too-who are so full of obstinate prejudices that they invariably find fault with every good work that has to be done, and with every possible way of doing it; but who very seldom do anything themselves. Their hand is withered.

3. Past inconsistencies often wither up the power of service. It is a mournful truth that if a man has once forfeited his character for integrity, or Christian prudence, he may have repented; but still his power for service is crippled.

4. Easily-besetting sins will paralyze the usefulness of any man who does not with earnestness wage war against them. Let a man yield himself indolently to the slavery of an evil habit, idle talk, vain thoughts, he will soon find that his hand is withered, that his power of serving God is gone. Indolence, fear of man, ungoverned temper, paralyze our energies.

II. The healing of the withered hand. Christ came into this world not mainly to set men free from the bondage of sin, but to emancipate all his faculties for holy service. There are three lessons we may learn from this narrative.

1. We may gather Christ’s willingness to heal us.

2. The way in which we are to make use of Divine strength. When the man willed to stretch forth his hand, God willed in him; the communication of Divine strength was granted to him at the very moment when he determined to obey the command of Christ. If we will we may make the Divine strength our own. Verily while we “work out salvation with fear and trembling,” God is working “within us both to will and do of His good pleasure.”

3. Here is the great rule by which at all times, through the help of God’s grace, we may overcome our listlessness and uselessness in His service. It is by our own vigorous effort to overcome the withering up of our faculties that we shall test the worth of Divine promises. (H. R. Reynolds, B. A.)

Restoring of the man with the withered hand

I. the scene of this miracle.

“He went into their synagogue.” We often find our Saviour in the synagogue.

1. To show respect for Divine institutions. Places of worship may be despised by some, but not by Christ who came to do His Father’s will.

2. To secure the great objects of His own mission. He appeared as a Divine Teacher, and frequented the synagogue in order to make known the glad tidings of His kingdom.

II. The person on whom this miracle was wrought. We are first shown-

1. The nature of his complaint. He was not affected in his whole body, but in one of his members.

2. Something similar to this was occasionally inflicted as a Divine judgment. Jeroboam (1 Kings 13:1).

3. This case may be regarded as a representation of man’s spiritual condition. By sin the powers of his soul have been paralyzed.

III. The dispute by which this miracle was preceded.

1. The question proposed-“Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?”

2. The conclusive reply-“What man shall there be among you, etc.” Interest is a very decisive casuist, and removes men’s scruples in a moment. It is always soonest consulted and most readily obeyed.

3. The verdict pronounced-“The Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

IV. The manner in which the miracle was performed.

1. An authoritative mandate-“Stretch forth thine hand.”

2. An instant compliance.

3. A gratifying result-“And it was restored whole, like the other.” (Expository Outlines.)

Withered hands

If there were no withered hearts there would be no withered hands-make the fountain clear, and the stream will be pure. (Dr. Parker.)

The human side of a miracle

No great stretch of imagination is needed to see in this narrative a picture of man’s spiritual state. The gospel of Jesus not merely tells us what we ought to be, but gives the power by which we actually become that which it requires. There have been many teaching gospels, but this is the only transforming gospel. But the strength of grace is bestowed upon conditions, and these seem to be set forth in the text, “Stretch forth thine hand.” By the command of the text three conditions were demanded.

I. It is easy to see that there was faith required. His faith had much to encourage it; yet he would perhaps feel something of that diffidence which makes it hard to realize as possible to oneself the blessings which have come to others. His faith would also be somewhat severely tested by the manner in which the Saviour dealt with him. Moreover, it appears that there was no outward act on the part of our Lord. It was merely by a word that the invisible power was communicated. This faith was indispensable. It was a condition invariably demanded. Without it Jesus wrought no miracles. Unbelief hinders His merciful designs. Faith is the mysterious moral force which thrusts out the hand of humanity to take the gift Divine.

II. The faith of this man was accompanied by obedience. The commands, “Stand forth,” “Stretch forth thine hand,” were by no means easy to obey. But undaunted he obeyed, and in the very act of obedience he found the blessing that he craved. This obedience was the fruit of his faith, and the faith which does not produce obedience is of little worth. Saving faith is always obedient faith.

III. It seems evident that there was needed in the case of this man a strong resolution. This may appear from what has been already said. Still more if we consider the act which was required of him. But he found that the law of Christ is, Obey, and thou hast the power. (S. S. Bosward.)

Analogies of faith

You say, “I have no faith.” We answer, “Believe, and faith is yours.” Does it seem a paradox. But paradoxes are often great truths, and are only hard to us because they come to us from a higher region, where our poor logic is of small account. But how many analogies there are of this paradox of faith even in the lower spheres of life! How often is the ability to perform an act, not merely revealed, but actually developed or even created by the very effort to accomplish it! How many works exist today as monuments of genius which never would have existed if their authors had waited till they had the necessary power. So it is in the matter of salvation. You can never have it till you take it. You will never have the gift of faith until you believe. Your will is all God waits for. He speaks by His prophet thus: “Hear, ye deaf, that ye may hear; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.” And by His incarnate Son He says to every impotent soul, “Stretch forth thine hand!” (S. S. Bosward.)

Stretch forth thine hand

I. Christ sometimes enjoins what seems to be impossible.

II. Faith is shown in doing what He commands, even when it seems to be impossible.

III. Where there is the “obedience of faith,” power will be granted. (A. F. Muir, M. A.)

Divine kindness amid human opposition

The destructive effects of sin are abundantly seen in this life. It destroys men’s mental eyesight, making them blind to their own best interests. Notice here-

I. The Divine Healer seeking opportunity to do good.

1. The pathway of filial obedience is the pathway of useful service. Jesus went to the synagogue because there He was sure to meet with human needs. He went to do good as well as to get good. These two things are identical at the root.

2. The comprehensiveness of God’s purpose puts to shame the selfish narrowness of man’s. No place or day can be too sacred for giving free play to the love of God.

II. The Divine Healer disciplining the faith of the distressed. The measure of our present strength is not the limit of what we can do. Divine help supplements human endeavour.

III. The Divine Healer provoking the hostility of the proud.

1. It is possible for man’s will to resist Divine influence.

2. The choicest blessing can he perverted into the direst curse.

3. Contact with Jesus makes men either better or worse. The ice that is not melted by the midsummer sun is greatly hardened thereby.

IV. The Divine Healer doing good, heedless of his own interests. Come what may, Jesus Christ must do good. It was the natural forth-putting of His inexhaustible love. It is as natural for Christ to show unmerited kindness as for the sun to shed its light, the rose to diffuse its fragrance. (D. Davies, M. A.)

A withered hand

We may behold our own weakness in this emblem, which represents that total inability of doing good to which sin has reduced mankind. A withered hand, in the sight of God, and in the eyes of faith, is-

(1) a covetous wretch, who bestows on the poor little or no alms at all;

(2) a lukewarm and negligent Christian, who performs no good works;

(3) a magistrate or person in authority, who takes no care to maintain order and justice;

(4) a great man who abandons the innocent when oppressed. None but Thou, O Lord, can heal this withered hand, because its indisposition proceeds from the heart, and Thou alone canst apply Thy healing and almighty hand to that. (Quesnel.)

Publicity

There is no public action which the world is not ready to scan; there is no action so private which the evil spirits are not witnesses of. I will endeavour so to live, as knowing that I am ever in the eyes of mine enemies. (Bishop Hall.)

The good eye and the evil eye

“They watched Him.” And He watched them. But with what different eyes! The evil eye, like the eye of the serpent, confuses with distress, overcomes by pain; and a good eye, like the eye of man fronting the wild beast of the forest, subdues. But the evil eye makes us a prey; the good eye subdues the beast of prey itself. If we can but gaze calmly on the angry face of the world, we have already half tamed that great foe. Christ went on His daily course surrounded with evil eyes. He did indeed face the angry world. Men quailed before Him, multitudes hushed, and enemies whose tongue was arrogantly loud, were silenced. But think not that courage can be exerted even by the best without frequent anguish. To be watched by the unkind, even if we can maintain our composure and good will, inflicts a pang; and to be watched in time of festive and unsuspicious pleasure by the enemy, instead of being permitted to utter all with unusual freedom through the presence of kind sympathy-this is indeed distressing. (T. T. Lynch.)

“To save life or to kill?”

The man was not in danger of his life, and he would have survived undoubtedly had no cure been wrought. But that question implied, that not to give health and strength, not to restore the vital power when the restoration lies within your reach, is equivalent to taking it away. To leave a good deed undone is hardly less sinful than doing a bad one. (H. M. Luckock, D. D.)

The sin of neglecting to do good

In God’s account there is no difference, in regard of simple unlawfulness, between not doing good to the body or life of our neighbour, in the case of necessity, and doing hurt unto them: he that doth not good to the body and life of his neighbour (when his necessity requireth, and when it is in his power) is truly said to do hurt unto them, at least indirectly and by consequence. The rich glutton, e.g., in not relieving poor Lazarus, may be truly said to have murdered him. The reason of which is, because both these, as well the not doing of good to our neighbour’s body and life, as the doing of hurt to them, are forbidden in the sixth commandment, as degrees of murder; therefore he that doth not good, he that shows not mercy to his neighbour’s body in case of necessity, is truly said to do hurt, and to show cruelty against it. How deceived, then, are those who think it enough if they do no harm to others, if they do not wrong or oppress them, though they take no trouble to relieve or help them. Let us clearly understand this: that not to save life is to destroy it, though not directly, yet indirectly and by consequence. They are both degrees of murder, though the latter is a higher degree than the former. Let this move us not only to forbear hurting our neighbour, but also to make conscience of doing good to him. (G. Petter.)

Christ and the Sabbath

They watched Him with an evil eye. Not to understand but to bring accusation against Him.

I. The world watched the Saviour; the world watches the Saviour’s disciples. “No man liveth to himself.” The eye of the world is always on the Church, on every disciple, just as it was on the Church’s and the disciples’ Lord. What a lesson of circumspection this should read!

II. The Saviour did good on the Sabbath day; it is the duty of his disciples to do good. Did men expect that He would be held within the stone walls of Jewish ceremonialism? (J. B. Lister.)

Good lawfully done on the Sabbath: or, love the over-ruling law

At other times the defence of the Lord was based on the nature of the works which He had performed. He held and taught that “it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath day.” Nay, He went farther, and maintained that there is a class of duties which we not only may, but must perform on that day. It was ordained at first for the benefit of man, and, therefore, it was never intended that it should operate to his detriment. Whenever, therefore, an injury would be inflicted on a fellow man by our refusing to labour for his assistance on the Sabbath, we are bound to exert ourselves, even on that day, for his relief. Nay, more; in the case of the lower animals, when an emergency shall arise like that which a fire or a flood creates, or when a necessity exists like that which requires that they shall be regularly fed, the higher law of benevolence comes in and suspends, for the moment, the lower law of rest. There are thus degrees of obligation in moral duties. As a general rule children are bound to obey their parents; but when that obedience would interfere with their duty to God, the stronger obligation comes in and requires them to do what is right in the sight of God. In chemistry you may have a substance which, yielding to the law of gravitation, falls to the bottom of the vase; but when you introduce another ingredient, you shall see the particles, whose weight formerly held them down, rising in obedience to the mightier principle of affinity, and combining to produce a new result. Precisely so the new principle of love operates in the interpretation of law. All law is for the good of man and the glory of God; and when the highest welfare of the individual creates a necessity, love is to seek to meet that emergency, even though in doing so it may seem to be violating the Sabbath. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)

The power of the human hand

The hand of a man is one of those noble physical features which distinguish him from the brute. “The hand” is but another name for human skill, power, and usefulness, and for the studied adaptation of means to ends. By his hand, as the servant of his intellect and his heart, man is put on a physical level with, if not far above, all other living beings, in respect of his power to defend himself against the formidable creatures who are furnished by nature with ponderous and deadly weapons, both of attack and resistance. By the aid of this wonderful instrument, he can cover his nakedness, he can build for himself a home, and make the whole world do his bidding; he can subdue it unto himself, and fill it with the trophies of his mastery. The houses, the roads, the bridges, the fleets, the palaces, the temples, the pyramids, of earth, have all been wrought by the little hands of men. The agriculture and industry by which the whole habitable face of our globe has been fashioned into “the great bright useful thing it is,” have been file work of man’s hand. While the working man’s hand is his sole capital, the hand of man is constantly used as the symbol of power and the type of developed and practical wisdom. The hand commits thought to paper, and imagination to marble and to canvas. Literature, science, and art are as dependent on its service, as are the toils of the labourer, or the fabric of the artizan. If manual toil is economized by machinery, still man’s hand is essential for the construction of the machine, and for its subsequent control, so that the hand is the symbol and the instrument of all the arts of human life. We can, therefore, scarcely refrain from the thought that that “withered hand” in the synagogue was a type of uselessness and feebleness; and that “right hand,” as St. Luke describes it, robbed of its nourishment, hanging helplessly in a sling, was a picture of whatever deprives a man of the power of holy work, and renders him an encumbrance, if not a mischief, in God’s great kingdom. (H. R. Reynolds, B. A.)