If you’ve ever held on tightly to a certain way of living or felt you were to unworthy of God’s calling or just weren’t good enough then the actions of Jesus in this chapter will change your perspective.
With simple logic and a powerful healing Jesus the religious traditions and assumptions of His day into question. Through the silence and plotting of the Pharisees we are warned of the trappings of our own traditions and closed minds. In the end Jesus challenges our tradition to such a level that even our definition of family may need to undergo altering.
Do you think you’re not good enough? In choosing twelve men to be his closest disciples Jesus selected twelve men who where unqualified, politically incorrect and temperamental. Not the sort of polished, skilled people you would select to start a ministry with. Yet these men turned the world upside down. No matter how unqualified or how big of a loser we might feel like when Jesus calls us he enables us to be successful and provides all the skills we need.
STUDY NOTES: verses 1-35
3.1-6: Healing on the Sabbath
The scribes and Pharisees did not come to worship at the synagogue. They came to watch Jesus. They understood that Jesus had the power heal and that the people were following him. So they watched Jesus to find an opportunity to accuse Him. It’s likely they knew that the man with the withered hand would be present and they also knew of Jesus’ compassion for the sick. The trap was set and they were going to be there to watch.
Jesus is already prepared for this confrontation with His watchers. Jesus initiates the situation and calls the man forward into the midst of the people present at the synagogue. It was time for Jesus to make His point about what God’s heart is really about.
Presenting this man Jesus in verse 4 basically asks, “According to your values can I heal this man or not? What is the intent of these rules you follow so strictly?” Those who were watching Jesus could not say that God was against healing so they instead kept silent. Perhaps they were so focused on the Law of the Sabbath that they hadn’t even thought beyond the Law to the intent of the Law.
Jesus becomes visibly angry at their silence and is grieved by the hardness of their hearts. Then in defiance of their hardness Jesus asks the man to stretch out his hand, and the man is healed. Jesus’ healing was not so much for the man with the withered as it was to call those who were watching this healing to questions their religious assumptions.
The Pharisees believed in themselves so wholeheartedly that they couldn’t accept the evidence of the healing that was right before them. Unable to refute the sheer logic of Jesus’ questions and the power of His healing they simply chose to keep silent and with hardened hearts they plotted to destroy Jesus.
The Pharisees kept there silence because at their core their desires were evil. They didn’t want to see the heart of God. They were more interested in upholding their traditions than in seeing people healed. In John 7.7 Jesus states, “…it [the world] hates me because I testify of it that its works are evil”. The Pharisees hated Jesus because the life of Jesus exposes how poor their own lives really were. In John 3.19 Jesus speaks of this as well saying, “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” Unless we allow the light of Jesus and the Holy Spirit to expose our evil deeds we will condemn ourselves by what we hide and keep back.
A withered hand today could manifest itself in a life that is paralyzed relationally, wounded financially, or withered emotionally. This account should impact us all. Jesus healed with his word. We must not substitute the healing power of Jesus solely with other secular methods (AA, counseling, marriage seminars, etc.) The scribes and Pharisees had relegated healing to a secular work not a spiritual work. That’s why they considered such healing impermissible. They thought the healing power of Jesus was the healing power of a man and not the gift of an almighty God. Secular methods of course are of great value but only as part of a larger spiritual renewal.
Do you come to God with your withered hand? How can we make our lives and church a place where people can come with withered hands and expect healing? How can we guard ourselves against the mistake of the Pharisees and not make spiritual healing a secular work?
Unlike the people who watched Jesus are you willing to change you way of life to understand God better?
Jesus asked the man to stretch out his hand. The man could have replied, “But Jesus can’t you see my hand doesn’t work?” But in faith the man had to attempt to stretch out his hand and Jesus provided the healing and the ability of the hand to stretch itself.
The stretching out of his hand was God’s command to the paralyzed. In your life is there an area that is withered? Have you prayed to God but you’re still depressed, financially stretched or maybe your marriage isn’t all you thought it was supposed to be. Have you been obedient to the commands of God? If you desire spiritual healing find out what God’s command is for you life and do it, it is in obedience that you will find healing.
3.7-19: The Selecting of the 12
Jesus “called to Him those whom He desired”. Jesus selected those who would be his representatives we have no record of anyone volunteering. Jesus didn’t form a committee to select the next great leaders of His movement. Rather Jesus simply prayed for direction from the Holy Father and he was directed to select twelve outcasts and losers who would eventually take his message to the world.
Jesus did not choose those men who appeared outwardly to be successful. If we look at just a few of the men that Jesus called we see some interesting examples of who Jesus chose:
- Simon – His name meant “Shifting Sand”, he was unstable. But Jesus changed his name to Peter and made him into a Rock
- James & John – Son’s of Thunder with violent tempers Luke 9:54, Mark 9:38
- Matthew – 3 years with an IRS agent! Need we say more
- Simon the Canaanite – Also called the zealot. Zealots were a political group who advocated the violent overthrow of the Roman government. Not the kind of guy whom you would chose to go about proclaiming that Christ’s kingdom was not of this world
These seemingly unqualified men became the men who would turn the world upside down. When Jesus chose you and me He chose not who we were but who we could become. No matter how good we think we might look we all come to God as a loser and in His grace He sees beyond our shortcomings and through the Holy Spirit makes winners out of us all
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No enduring movement can rest upon the shoulders of a single individual. For a movement to grow and have momentum it must expand from a single individual and spread to others. In Mat 28:19 Jesus sends His disciples out into the world to ‘make disciples of all nations’. It’s not enough for us to come to Jesus to be enabled individually for His calling. Only by bringing others along with us can we personally experience the transformation from loser to winner.
What were your qualifications when God called you to serve Him?
What are you doing to make disciples, or bring others along in their spiritual walk? How has this affected your own spiritual walk and maturity?
3.20-30: A House Divided
Jesus’ own family and friends thought He was out of His mind. They couldn’t understand the tiring degree Jesus was going to just to help people. They failed to comprehend the radical obedience to the will of God that Jesus was expressing. His family likely meant well and was simply trying to protect Jesus from Himself but in reality they were trying to distract Jesus from His mission. It seems odd but often those who are trying to protect us can often hold us back from doing.
Not being able to discount the teachings and actions of Jesus on scriptural grounds the scribes resort to what today in political races amounts to a smear campaign. They accused Jesus of receiving His power from Beelzebub, or the devil. Those in leadership can similarly expect their character to be attacked from their adversaries. Taking the high road Jesus simply asks them to explain the logic of their accusations. “Can Satan cast out Satan?” If Jesus was casting out demons using the power of Satan eventually the power would turn in on itself and Jesus’ healings would amount to nothing.
In our desire to do God’s will we must not rush in too quickly and forget that Satan does have power and that he must be tied up before beginning the battle. We bind Satan only through prayer. If we act before praying when we enter the battle the strong man of Satan will still be loose and we will have a battle on our hands (one we will be in great fear of loosing). But if the hands of Satan are tied he can do us no hindrance or harm. We can not advance without first allowing Jesus to tie up Satan and bind the ‘strong man’ that hinders our way.
What are some practical ways to engage in the type of prayers that bind Satan before we enter the world before us? How might such a prayer life change you?
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.31-35: Redefining Family
If there was a crowd around Jesus why didn’t the family come inside? As family I’m sure they would have been more than welcomed guests inside the house. Instead they called for Jesus to come to them and required that Jesus stop what He was doing to honor their request. After all they felt Jesus was ‘out of his mind’ – v. 21 and Jesus was clearly in need of their help but how they misunderstood the calling of Jesus.
Jesus’ response shows that he was bound by no one but those He was called to minister to. The allegiance we often place on family or our family demands of us are not always the allegiance that they are due. This is not an excuse to neglect our family and spend more time on the golf course but rather a call to understand that God’s calling for our families is not always what our families think they need. We must understand that our families are most fulfilled when they are lead according to God’s purpose and not by their own appetites.
True brother hood is and kinship is spiritual not physical John 1:11-13, Rom. 8:14, 29, Luke 11:27-28
Though out history and even to this day religious groups who proclaim the deity of Jesus Christ have turned and elevated Mary the mother of Jesus onto an equal or superior footing with Jesus. This passage does not support that position because if Mary was in fact equal or superior to Jesus than Jesus, being 100% perfect, would have left the house and listened to the demands of His mother but He did not.
Conclusion
The watchers of Jesus in the synagogue and His family placed religious traditions and their own understanding ahead of the true will of God. Along with the calling of the disciples we have learned that our understanding of the world may not be how God understands the world.
Just because you’ve always worshipped God in a certain way doesn’t mean God doesn’t want to change how you worship. Just because you aren’t polished, educated and perfect doesn’t mean that God is not calling you to do something great for his kingdom. Jesus took shifting sand, turned it into a rock and built his church on it. He can use you or even that messed up kid down the street in the same way he used Peter.
We need to be asking ourselves, “Why am I living, or working, or raising my family the way that I am and what would Jesus say about it?” Do not remain silent to Jesus’ questions. Do not give him reason to look upon you in anger. Rather seek Him and ask Him to soften your heart to His calling. If you ask He will send the Holy Spirit to enlighten you and direct you to a life, a job and a family that is more fulfilling than the ones we invent for ourselves