1. Who saved life on the Sabbath? (vv. 4-5)
2. Who sought to kill on the Sabbath? (vv. 4,6)
3. How would you describe Jesus’ attitude to the Sabbath?
4. What does this say about Jesus?
5. What good things can you and should you do on your day off?
Note: The Pharisee's allowed the rescue of an animal if it fell into a pit on the Sabbath (Matt 12:11-12). Yet they objected to Jesus as a lawbreaker for a healing a man! But in Mark, the emphasis falls on a more sinister hypocrisy. Jesus is accused as a lawbreaker for healing and saving life. But the Pharisee's hold themselves guiltless even though on the very Sabbath they begin their plotting with their enemies the Herodians to take Jesus' life. Well may Jesus ask them 'which is lawful to do on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil?’
Discuss: What do the people you know think about Satan and demons? Do they believe that Satan and the demons exist? What about you?
6. What do the demons think of Jesus? (v. 11)
7. Why do you think Jesus tells the demons to be quiet? What does this say about him and them? (vv. 11-12, cf. 7-10, 14-15 and 1:45)
8. In the light of where Mark’s Gospel is heading, what is significant about Jesus' choice of apostles, and the number he chooses (vv. 13, 16, 19, cf. 14:10-11).
Sometimes it is outside forces that shape and mold us. We need to make a response to external events. And that response to external pressures redefines who we are and what we do. It happens all the time in the business world, doesn’t it? A new invention, a break through in technology, and all the players in the corporate world need to re-invent themselves, to keep pace with the new reality.
Jesus may well be the Son of Man who is to be worshipped by all nations, he may be the Christ, the Son of God, the Lord of the Sabbath, but he is also a real flesh and blood human and man, who responds to other real flesh and blood people, and who does not only shape his environment as the only wise God but who also responds and reacts to his environment as a wise human.
Our passage today records Jesus’ responses to human reactions to him. He responds to hostility and popularity, according to the objectives of his mission. Until the turning point of Mark’s Gospel in chapter 8, Jesus’ mission is to preach the good news to sinners, to heal the sick, and to drive out demons.
Previously we saw Jesus responding to questions about the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-28). And in response to these questions, Jesus cited Old Testament precedent, and his own authority. Jesus is one who like King David gives the otherwise forbidden food to his companions. And though Jesus would have been quite correct to show that this did not breach even the terms of the Old Testament law, Jesus made the issue his identity. Jesus asserted that he can do this and defend his disciples’ actions because he is the divine Son of Man of Daniel 7:13-14, and the Lord of the Sabbath.
But the question, of what you can and can’t do on Saturday, seems to follow him with greater intensity after this confrontation. In fact, if in Mark chapter 2 the Pharisees were startled and incredulous, by Mark chapter 3, the Pharisees’ questioning is far more sinister, even down right nasty. They don’t ask questions because they want to know about God from Jesus, if they ever did. They are laying a trap for him.
(1) A Trap (vv. 2, 6)
We see this in verse 2.
Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely. (NIV)
Even more disturbing is verse 6:
Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. (NIV)
The Herodians were the Jews who favoured Herod’s dynasty. Josephus notes that before Jesus came, the Pharisees were bitter enemies of the Herodians. Isn’t it great how Jesus makes enemies friends? For Jesus has provided these unlikely allies a common enemy—himself. This is an alliance whose sole objective is to see Jesus put to death. And in the end, Mark’s Gospel will show that this ‘coalition of the willing’ will succeed in their objective.
So the trap is set. We have Jesus on the one hand going about the work of preaching, while he casts out demons and heals the sick, and with that modus operandi, he walks into a Galilean synagogue. And the Herodians and the Pharisees on the other hand are now looking for an excuse to commence hostilities. And their bait is a man with a shriveled hand. We don’t know whether he is a plant. He probably is just there, not suspecting the intrigue, machinations, and conspiracy surrounding him. But the Pharisees consider him useful to test Jesus.
And this is the logic of their trap: healing is work, and working on the Sabbath is unlawful, so therefore if Jesus heals on the Sabbath, he is breaking the law. And breaking the law is bad, and bad is not from God.
(2) A Pawn (vv. 1, 3)
Jesus clearly knows what is going on. But it is not as if Jesus is going to change his pattern of going about, doing good, and healing because of a petty conspiracy and a little trap. On the contrary, Jesus wants everyone to see what he considers is a good way to spend his Saturday off. In verse 3, he says, “Stand up in front of everyone.” Lets make no mistake about what I’m about do. He asks a question Verse 4:
Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill. (NIV)
And after Jesus gets no answer, he says to the man in verse 5, “Stretch out your hand.” And sure enough, just as with the man with leprosy and the paralysed man, the man was completely restored and whole.
Jesus commands, and it happens. You would hardly call it work. Jesus issues the command with the requisite power for the recipient to obey, because Jesus enables what he commands. There is no toilsome labour or sweat in it at all, just a simple word. For the Son is like his Father: even his work is restful. Jesus’ work is accomplished by a word. So in his rest, Jesus continues to work. God’s work was creating the world by his word, so God’s rest involves sustaining that world by his word (cf. John 5:16-18; Heb 1:3; Col 1:16-17).
So the deed is done. Jesus has healed the man. To the Pharisees, Jesus has committed an unlawful, evil act, about which God is not pleased. But Jesus challenges this thinking, for the Pharisees are morally warped. Just like Jonah, their moral switchboard has crossed wires, for what is good to Jesus is evil to the Pharisees, and what is good to the Pharisees is evil to Jesus
(3) What is Good to Jesus? (vv. 4-5)
Let’s look together at verses 4:
Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” (NIV)
Jesus has redefined the question. The Pharisees ask, “Is it lawful? If it’s lawful, it’s good.” But Jesus asks, “Is it good? If it’s good, it’s lawful.” The Pharisees say, “It’s not lawful, therefore it’s not good.” But Jesus sees that the healing is good, that it can save life, and restore functioning. So Jesus does not hesitate to do the healing. Jesus shows what he thinks is good by what he does on Saturday. The good for Jesus is to heal.
(4) What is Good to the Pharisees? (v. 6)
Likewise, the Pharisees show what they think is good by what they do on the Saturday. The good they do on their Sabbath is to plot to kill Jesus. Verse 6 again:
Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. (NIV)
There is a bitter irony about this. Shouldn’t the Pharisees—so concerned for the Sabbath law—organize their contract killings during business hours? After all, God wants people to rest on the Sabbath. Or do the Pharisees think that it is OK to do good things on the Sabbath, like organizing Jesus’ death. They obviously think it is lawful to kill on the Sabbath. No wonder they are silent to Jesus question in verse 4.
(5) Lessons in How to Make Jesus Angry!
It is no surprise that Jesus strongly reacts against the Pharisees and Herodians. Verse 5:
He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts. (NIV)
I think you begin to really know someone when you know what makes them angry. It is a defining moment in a relationship where you meet that person’s anger. You then know what that person hates, and how much they hate it. It is a crisis moment in the relationship.
Here is Jesus deeply angry, deeply disturbed. Here is the Lord of the universe in trembling outrage. And what is it that deeply distresses Jesus? It is “their stubborn hearts.” Our Jesus hates the hard-hearted person who calls good evil and evil good. The Pharisees regard the planning of a contract killing acceptable on the Sabbath, but censure the restoration of a limb to another human on the Sabbath.
Friend, do you have a hard heart. Do your regard your own evil as good, and do you see Jesus’ good as evil. If so, know you do the thing that provokes his anger. Jesus responds to the anger directed towards his good with his own anger towards our evil. Jesus might be meek, but he is also angry.
Jesus knows how to respond to hostility. But he also knows how to respond to popularity. For like a magnet, he draws crowds to him from all over Israel and the surrounding regions. Streaming to lake Galilee and the town of Capernaum, the word has got out there, and everybody is coming to Jesus.
Why this stream of people? Verse 10 seems to give it away:
For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. (NIV)
There is a crush to get to Jesus. Perhaps it is a bit like the crushes or surges we see starving people make for water and food aid. These are sick and afflicted people in great need pushing forward for help. Jesus is a miracle worker who can help them, and they know it. Fundamentally, they came to Jesus because he could meet their felt needs. But we know, don’t we, that Jesus distinguishes people’s felt needs from their fundamental need for forgiveness and dealing with their sin problem. We saw that particularly in the healing of the paralyzed man (Mark 2:1-12).
If Jesus as a ‘miracle worker’ has attractive force, Jesus also seems to have the opposite effect on those who are both sold to evil and know exactly who he is. We as readers know who Jesus is from the very first line of Mark’s Gospel:
The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1)
And in verse 11, we see the evil spirits falling down, probably in forced worship, and agreeing with Mark. For they say, “You are the Son of God.” The demons know the truth, and shudder at the thought.
But Jesus’ attitude to his own popularity is interesting. He doesn’t take the attitude that any publicity is good publicity, or that the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. In fact, he doesn’t want to be talked about. Verse 12:
But he gave them [the evil spirits] strict orders not to tell who he was. (NIV)
We see Jesus avoiding the public spectacle throughout the early chapters of Mark’s Gospel. And in our passage, verse 7, “Jesus withdrew.” Then in verse 9, “the disciples get a boat ready.” He needs to be able to preach, not be in a media scrum. And if he has to do it in a boat, so be it. So he adopts the strategy of offshore preaching. And in verse 13, we see Jesus retreating up a mountain.
Again the question Mark raises is, “Who is this man?” Do these healings point to him being something more than just a worker of spectacles? Are the demons right about him, that he is the Son of God?
No matter who he is, we can see that the crowds have forced another change in strategy. Jesus ascends up a mountain to get away from the crowd. He doesn’t court the crowd, nor does he ever reject the crowd, either. He doesn’t turn anyone away, but he purposefully retires from the crowd.
Jesus doesn’t go alone up the mountain, because the tactical retreat from the crowd has a broader purpose. Verse 13:
Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. (NIV)
Jesus is engaging and training a small, select group, his crack SAS troops, hand-picked for the next phase of ministry. Notice it was “those he wanted” and notice that they obey and come.
Who are these trainees? We know their names. We know the history of a few. Simon is their leader, who Jesus renamed ‘rock’. He left his boat with Andrew his brother to follow Jesus when Jesus called them and offered to make them fishers of men. Then there’s James and John, two brothers who likewise left their father’s boats, and they are probably hot-tempered and feisty, because Jesus named them ‘Sons of Thunder’. Then there was Levi, also called Matthew, who was the tax collector Jesus bid to follow him, and another Simon, who was formerly a ‘zealot’, probably a member of a revolutionary group: perhaps he previously was a freedom fighter. All in all, none of them were particularly noteworthy, no-one stands out as a great and promising leader, most, except for probably Matthew, are without formal education, religious or otherwise. But they were the ones Jesus wanted.
Each of these twelve men receive the title, ‘apostle’, meaning ‘one who is sent’. And this foreshadows the task to which Jesus will put them over the coming years and decades. They will be Jesus’ emissaries and ambassadors, his delegates and representatives, sent by Jesus, speaking and acting on his behalf, representing him in the places he sends them.
But the apostles’ job for the moment is not to go away. It is to stay close. Look at verses 14 and 15:
He appointed twelve—designating them apostles—that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. (NIV)
The first requirement is to hang around Jesus. He wants them close by, with him, to spend their time with him, to watch him, listen to him, ask him questions. He wants them to copy him, learn from him, to breath the air he breathed, to eat meals with him, to sleep where he laid his head. What a wonderful job, what a privilege they enjoyed, to be with Jesus.
But before we think it was a cumfy, constricting, co-dependant mutual admiration society, the purposes was that the apostles would be with him so as to go away from him. For his appointment of apostles is in response to the needs of the hour. There are crowds suffering through ignorance of God’s word and though demonic affliction. They needed repentance, forgiveness, and the word that the kingdom is near. So the apostolic commission is that “Jesus might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons”, to do what Jesus does because as a result of the crowds now he can no longer do it.
But in all this excitement about the new workers for the harvest, Mark gives reason to pause. It’s like when the Darth Vader music comes on for the handsome fresh-faced Anakin Skywalker. See the last name listed at the end of verse 18, and the little description of him, almost a throw away line.
And Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. (NIV)
There’s a bad apple among these new recruits, a latent defect, unseen by those around. Surely we have before us a tragic error of judgment, like a disastrous employment decision which no-one can see at the time, but only after a while does it become ruinously clear. Only we can see it, as we look at the Jesus’ story through Mark’s eyes.
But that raises a question, doesn’t it? Didn’t Jesus in verse 13 call to himself those he wanted? Did he not know about this accident waiting to happen?
Or did he? For if the demons are right, if Jesus is the Son of God, then things are actually working out according to his plan, which is that of his Father. Does Jesus appoint this Judas, knowing, no stronger, because, Judas would be the betrayer.
I wonder what it was like for Jesus: eating, joking, singing with studying the Bible with Judas. I wonder how Jesus felt when he sent Judas out to preach, and Judas returned rejoicing with the rest because the demons submitted even to him in Christ’s name, or when the people who Judas preached to repented and believed the good news?
For now we are given a hint of the suffering that awaited Jesus in the future. Nevertheless, for now, let’s reach some provisional conclusions.
Is he a miracle worker? Yes, but surely the demons are right. He is the Son of God, though at this stage still travelling incognito, even among his closest friends.
Why has he come? Well, it is to preach, with a sideline of compassionate healing and driving out demons. But now the crowds wanting to be healed have threatened to hinder his preaching ministry, so Jesus withdraws to train others to do what he does. Jesus reaches a new stage of his ministry. This involved a change in approach and selection of a team. But we are also given the hint that he has come to be betrayed. The text doesn’t say it, but we can assume that he appoints Judas, knowing, even because, he knew that Judas would betray him.
What is the cost of following him? Well, even at this early stage of Mark’s Gospel, there appear to be two. First, Jesus is a man who even now has his enemies. There are those plotting to kill him. And those who are with him may be suffer as co-lateral damage. And second, Jesus is a man who calls people to follow. He asks some unlikely people to step up and serve as his ambassadors and emissaries.
Lets pray.
3:1Καὶ εἰσῆλθεν πάλιν εἰς τὴν συναγωγήν. καὶ ἦν ἐκεῖἄνθρωπος ἐξηραμμένην ἔχων τὴν χεῖρα. 2καὶ παρετήρουν αὐτὸν εἰ τοῖς σάββασιν θεραπεύσει αὐτόν, ἵνα κατηγορήσωσιν αὐτοῦ. 3καὶ λέγει τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τῷ τὴν ξηρὰν χεῖρα ἔχοντι· ἔγειρε εἰς τὸ μέσον. 4καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς· ἔξεστιν τοῖς σάββασιν ἀγαθὸν ποιῆσαι ἢ κακοποιῆσαι, ψυχὴν σῶσαι ἢ ἀποκτεῖναι; οἱ δὲἐσιώπων. 5καὶ περιβλεψάμενος αὐτοὺς μετ’ ὀργῆς, συλλυπούμενος ἐπὶ τῇ πωρώσει τῆς καρδίας αὐτῶν λέγει τῷἀνθρώπῳ· ἔκτεινον τὴν χεῖρα. καὶ ἐξέτεινεν καὶ ἀπεκατεστάθη ἡ χεὶρ αὐτοῦ. 6Καὶ ἐξελθόντες οἱ Φαρισαῖοι εὐθὺς μετὰ τῶν Ἡρῳδιανῶν συμβούλιον ἐδίδουν κατ’ αὐτοῦ ὅπως αὐτὸν ἀπολέσωσιν. 7Καὶ ὁ Ἰησοῦς μετὰ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦἀνεχώρησεν πρὸς τὴν θάλασσαν, καὶ πολὺ πλῆθος ἀπὸ τῆς Γαλιλαίας [ἠκολούθησεν], καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰουδαίας 8καὶ ἀπὸἹεροσολύμων καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰδουμαίας καὶ πέραν τοῦἸορδάνου καὶ περὶ Τύρον καὶ Σιδῶνα πλῆθος πολὺ ἀκούοντες ὅσα ἐποίει ἦλθον πρὸς αὐτόν. 9Καὶ εἶπεν τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦἵνα πλοιάριον προσκαρτερῇ αὐτῷ διὰ τὸν ὄχλον ἵνα μὴ θλίβωσιν αὐτόν· 10πολλοὺς γὰρ ἐθεράπευσεν, ὥστε ἐπιπίπτειν αὐτῷ ἵνα αὐτοῦ ἅψωνται ὅσοι εἶχον μάστιγας. 11καὶ τὰ πνεύματα τὰ ἀκάθαρτα, ὅταν αὐτὸν ἐθεώρουν, προσέπιπτον αὐτῷ καὶ ἔκραζον λέγοντες ὅτι σὺ εἶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ. 12καὶ πολλὰ ἐπετίμα αὐτοῖς ἵνα μὴ αὐτὸν φανερὸν ποιήσωσιν.
13Καὶ ἀναβαίνει εἰς τὸ ὄρος καὶ προσκαλεῖται οὓς ἤθελεν αὐτός, καὶ ἀπῆλθον πρὸς αὐτόν. 14Καὶ ἐποίησεν δώδεκα [οὓς καὶ ἀποστόλους ὠνόμασεν] ἵνα ὦσιν μετ’ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἵνα ἀποστέλλῃ αὐτοὺς κηρύσσειν 15καὶ ἔχειν ἐξουσίαν ἐκβάλλειν τὰ δαιμόνια· 16[Καὶἐποίησεν τοὺς δώδεκα,] καὶἐπέθηκεν ὄνομα τῷ Σίμωνι Πέτρον, 17καὶ Ἰάκωβον τὸν τοῦ Ζεβεδαίου καὶ Ἰωάννην τὸν ἀδελφὸν τοῦ Ἰακώβου καὶἐπέθηκεν αὐτοῖς ὀνόμα [τα] Βοανηργές, ὅ ἐστιν υἱοὶ βροντῆς· 18καὶ Ἀνδρέαν καὶ Φίλιππον καὶ Βαρθολομαῖον καὶ Μαθθαῖον καὶ Θωμᾶν καὶἸάκωβον τὸν τοῦ Ἁλφαίου καὶ Θαδδαῖον καὶ Σίμωνα τὸν Καναναῖον 19καὶ Ἰούδαν Ἰσκαριώθ, ὃς καὶ παρέδωκεν αὐτόν.
3:1And again he went into the synagogue, and there was a man there with a shriveled hand. 2And they were watching him, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they could accuse him. 3And he said to the man having the shriveled hand, “Stand up in their midsts.” 4And he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do evil on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?” But they were silent. 5And he looked around at them with anger, deeply distressed at the hardness of their heart, and he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6And the Pharisees immediately went out with the Herodians and conspired against him, how they might destroy him.
7And Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd from Galilee followed, 8and from Judea and from Idumea and across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon—a great crowd hearing everything he did came to him. 9And he spoke to his disciples that a boat be launched for him because of the crowd, so that they would not press in upon him.
10For he healed many so that they were falling upon him, so that as many as had afflictions might touch him. 11And the unclean spirits, when they perceived him, fell before him, and cried out, saying, “You are the Son of God.” 12And many times he rebuked them, so that they would not make him known.
13And he went up a mountain, and he called to himself those whom he wanted, and they came to him. 14And he appointed twelve whom he also called ‘apostles’, so that they might be with him and so that he might send them to preach 15and to have authority to cast out demons. 16And he appointed the twelve, and he added the name ‘Peter’ to Simon, 17and James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, and he added to them the name ‘Boanerges’, which means, ‘sons of thunder’, 18and Andrew and Phillip, and Bartholemew and Matthew and Thomas and James the son of Alphaeus and Thaddeus and Simon the Canannite,19and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.