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Mark 3:1–6 Healing the Man with a Withered Hand

“What makes Jesus mad?” would be a good title for this section. Those who want to make Jesus some kind of moral policeman who stands by with a set of the Ten Commandments and keeps score are disappointed with the findings in these verses. In these verses the very ones who anger Jesus are the ones who want him to be that moral policeman.

A good deal of religious practice is based on a God who is like Santa Claus—“making a list and checking it twice, gonna find out who’s naughty or nice.” Jesus is more concerned with the source of a person’s actions. He keeps talking about matters of the heart, the heart being the seat of emotions and thought for the Jewish people.

Keeping the rules for the sake of keeping the rules is not enough, and it can lead to empty ritual and self-righteous merit badge collecting. Jesus has a way of seeing through actions and looking for attitudes. If it is a question of giving someone a cup of water, Jesus would be interested in where the water is drawn from. For Jesus, the reasons for actions reveal more than the actions themselves.

The people who make Jesus mad are the ones who forget the reason that God made guidelines in the first place. God is not concerned with list-keeping nor is God impressed by the quantity of rules that one keeps. God loves. God wants wholeness for God’s people. God knows best, and God knows what hurts people. God knows that we are less than God, and we were supposed to be less than God. God set up parameters within which to operate. God does not box us in but allows us to be free.

Many of the Pharisees and other religious leaders of Jesus’ day are box sellers. They get so busy making sure everyone has the right box that they forget what the box is supposed to hold. Goodness of life is for everyone. When Jesus asks, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath?” he is met with silence.

Jesus is aware that his listeners already know the answer. Jesus understands that those being asked to respond to his question have been boxed in. This boxing-in makes Jesus mad. Those who are uncomfortable with Jesus being mad will just have to get over it. The word that Mark used to describe Jesus’ anger means “to be really disgusted.” He is so disgusted that he grieves for those with whom he is angry.

If you have ever looked at someone who has made you angry and they are angry back at you and you say, “You know, I feel really sorry for you,” then you get the picture. Jesus is saying to the religious leaders, “You don’t get it, do you? You have forgotten the reason for the Sabbath. You have closed down your hearts. Your hearts are fossilized. They have grown old, hard, and without feeling. They represent death and not life.”

If you have trouble believing that Jesus meant all this with the use of one phrase, then look it up in a good commentary. Mark’s use of the Greek language, based on the idiom of Jesus’ day, reveals a multi-layered meaning in many phrases. In other words they had some better ways of saying what something means than we do. One phrase could say many things.

Jesus is sick to his heart over the religious leadership of his father’s house. Before he ever goes to Jerusalem, Jesus, by means of his words and deeds, symbolically turns over the tables in the synagogue. On the tables are all those boxes full of regulations that the religious leaders have used to hem in the people. Jesus wants the contents of those boxes out on the floor for all to see. The new has arrived. The old is going to have to be broken open in order to contain the new. The boxes are too small.

But boxes are an important product of the religious establishment. No wonder it is in this section that Mark reveals for the first time in explicit language that they start plotting how to get rid of him.

Lest we forget that there is a healing story in all this, let us remember the man with a withered hand. Mark seems more interested in the Pharisees’ contempt for Jesus’ perceived disrespect towards the Sabbath. The healing of the man with a withered hand seems secondary. To Mark, it is secondary. Mark assumes the healing ministry of Jesus and usually gives little detail about the healing itself.

The assumptions made by the writer of Mark’s Gospel would make a book unto themselves. We might like to know more about the background assumptions of this first and oldest gospel, but Mark keeps us guessing. His writing almost assumes that the reader already buys into certain things about Jesus. Jesus is a healer. That is assumed.

Mark has no way of knowing the questions that would arise years later about some of his assumptions. How does Jesus heal? Why does he not heal everybody? Why does healing not happen more today like it did when Jesus touched people?

All of these are pretty good questions which Mark leaves unanswered. Jesus’ healings are, in my book, pretty spectacular. But is this some kind of tease? I have personally not seen withered hands made whole with one touch of a human hand. Yes, I know there are miracles of modern surgery and medicine, but I am talking about those things that look like they happen on TV when some screaming voice beckons a person in a wheelchair to walk.

We have all seen the scenes on TV and anyone who wants to take the time to investigate will discover the emptiness of many of those “healings.” Mind control, hysteria, and even set up fake healings are usually what are behind many of these spectacular episodes.

The Gospel of Mark clearly states that Jesus is the unique bearer of a new kingdom. As a sign of this kingdom, Jesus heals. Mark believes in the demons of his day. In our day and age, we can demythologize those demons, but to Mark they are demons. Jesus, as we shall see later in this chapter has the demons’ number. A new power is breaking into the world. This is the power of the man from heaven.

For Jesus, to heal is not really a big deal. In the completion of this new kingdom there will be healing for everyone. What is soon discovered is that our kingdom cannot handle the completeness of this new kingdom. There are still healings that happen. We cannot box up those healings. There is mystery to healing, for there is a mystery to the way the kingdom of God touches our kingdom.

We can offer healing in the name of Jesus, but we are not Jesus. He is a one-time event. He is the bearer of a kingdom which is both here in part, and not yet. Jesus gives us a glimpse of the “not yet” in his healings. Jesus does, however, go away.

The power of his spirit is with us. Healing and wholeness can happen in the name of that Spirit, but it is not as patterned and controlled as many “healers” claim it to be. I have the same anger as Jesus had when I see the manipulation done in his name.

For Jesus, there is no mystery in healing. He simply does it. When we see him face to face we too shall receive the full benefit of that healing. In this life, where the kingdom of God struggles to be felt and made real, healing is not as evident.

I know there are miraculous, sudden healings that cannot be explained. They are few in terms of all that could be and all that are needed. I will not package the healing of God nor do I believe anyone can. Jesus is a pattern in many ways, but there can be some danger in those who think they can also say boldly, “Stretch out your hand.” Some things are to be left to Jesus.

To pray for healing in the name of Jesus is most appropriate, but there is always an element of letting it be after the prayer is said. I fully believe that when I lay my hands on someone or anoint them with oil and ask for God’s healing grace for their lives, that God gives a measure of healing to that person. I am not to control or package what kind of healing that will be.

Usually I do not get the kind of physical healing I desire when I pray such a healing prayer for someone. I have seen many cases of healing of relationships, emotional healing, and spiritual growth come from such healing times. When it comes to the physical, we stand at the edge of mystery.

Jesus contains the full mystery within himself in some way that I do not pretend to understand. Many creeds are written after Mark pens his gospel. Those creeds attempt to present the mystery of the Christ. All creeds fail in this effort. Faith recognizes the mystery.

The mystery touches a man’s hand and the hand is restored. The Pharisees can only see the infraction of an old rule. They cannot even see the mystery. Jesus’ anger is centered in their being so much in the dark when they are supposed to be those whose job it is to be sacred handlers of the mysteries of God.

Mark 3:7–12 The Crowds and the Demons

This is a scenario that most preachers would recognize: If you ask someone who comes to church on a certain Sunday, “How many people were there in church today?” they will give you a certain number. If you ask the preacher of that church the same question, the answer will have at least another fifty people added to it.

Mark tells us that Jesus departs to the sea with his few disciples (he has not called all of them yet) followed by “a great multitude from Galilee.” No doubt that this is a large crowd, but because the followers are surging forward and jostling each other so much, it probably feels much larger. The reason for the numbers is the “new preacher,” although Mark states that the people are gathering not so much because of what Jesus is saying but rather what he is doing. Everybody wants healing. This man can heal.

Your age will determine how you will picture the scene in these verses. My generation would use the image of The Beatles arriving in America. It is a mob scene. Jesus is a star and the crowd is mob-like.

Mark, as usual, does not go into great detail so one must pay attention to get the big picture. Jesus has his few disciples prepare a boat for his escape from the crowd. This sounds like a man who understands mob scenes. Jesus understands desperate people. The people who gather around Jesus do not want autographs. They long for something more personal. They desire healing.

At other times the crowd is interested in what Jesus is saying; today’s mob is hungry for Jesus’ touch. Word is out that he has “the power.” At a time when there are no hospitals and few means of healing there is no way to imagine what these people must be feeling. There are many rumors about itinerant healers at that time, but this healer is for real.

Despite the fact that the crowd is eagerly pressing in, Jesus still has some work left to do and he does not want to be trampled to death by the crowd. He takes advantage of the boat that the disciples have prepared to give himself some space. Unlike some ideas that people have of Jesus, he does not and will not “leap tall buildings with a single bound.” That is another character and not a real one.

Jesus is a very real person who is very special but not an unreal character. The prior sentence may sound like a bad translation of some original Greek, but what I mean is that he is divine but within human perimeters. Jesus is not some Superhero. He is a unique blend of human and divine. There are limits, and Mark’s Gospel, being the one that was written closest to the time of Jesus, reveals some of those limits. Jesus needs some protection from the crowds.

It is obvious from the text that Mark believes in “unclean spirits” or demons. At that time in history, it was thought that demons caused mental illness but today we would not want to equate mental illness with demon possession. It can be very destructive and alienating to those who suffer from mental illness to be told that they are in some way demon-possessed. Nowadays we understand that mental illnesses have biological and social bases, rather than spiritual ones.

Much speculation has been brought forth as to whether Jesus believes in demons. Would not the divine Son of God know better than to participate in the mentality of his time? We can see that he uses language that indicates his belief in demons. God allows Jesus to be a child of his time. Whatever the case, the important thing is that Jesus is healing people in body, mind and spirit.

Mark of course would not know to think in these terms. For Mark the demons simply represent the powers that Jesus has come to defeat. Those who know Star Wars imagery can easily acknowledge and recognize “the power of the dark side of the Force.” Jesus knows that there exists “a dark side” and he is well aware of the powers that bind, oppress, and exclude people. Today, demons may be thought of not as beings, but as anything which pushes against the healing, wholeness, justice, and love that God desires for individuals and for society as a whole.

In Mark’s dealing with demons, the demons are the ones who first recognize who Jesus is. Jesus tells them, in this case, not to “come out” but to “be quiet.” The demons are the strange light from the dark side which illuminates the outline of Jesus’ messiahship. The demons are the foil against which Jesus is first seen.

It almost seems that Jesus wants the demons to be silent so that they won’t spoil the surprise coming later. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus’ suffering and servant leadership are primary, not his miracle-workings or his titles. The fact that the crowds are following Jesus because of his actions demonstrates what kind of Messiah the people are looking for. They are attracted by his “magic wand.” The demons, by calling out that Jesus is the “Son of God,” are more in tune with what Jesus is really about.

I preached a sermon one time at a small, rural church I was serving. The congregation consisted for the most part of farming people with minimal formal education who had gone to textile mills to make a living when farming no longer provided an adequate way of life. My own education was, in part, a hindrance to my efforts to communicate with them. One Sunday I decided to preach about “demons.” I tried my best to show that today we need to understand the symbolic and metaphorical quality of demons in our own lives. To “name our demons” was the first step in allowing God to help us deal with them.

I spoke of greed, selfishness, pride, and obsessive individuality as some examples of “demons.” The people seemed to really respond to the sermon. That was not always the case. Most of the people kept telling me that I was not preaching “hard enough.” One big, strapping man had told me that “We don’t need a preacher to remind us of how good we are. We need a preacher to tell us how bad we are.”

In any case, this particular Sunday I seemed to have struck a receptive chord. I was feeling good until one enthusiastic man came out, shook my hand and said, “I’m glad you finally preached about them demons, preacher. I’ve got two of them in my closet.” Some demythologizing is a waste of time. Jesus probably knew that before I did.

The crowd in these verses is clamoring around Jesus because he can manhandle the demons; the ones in their bodies and the ones in their closets. The crowd may be there for the wrong reasons (they aren’t yet able to glimpse the larger picture), but they are there and in great numbers. Despite the fact that they are working for the dark side, the demons are the ones who are able to recognize Jesus’ significance. In Mark’s Gospel it seems that everybody is having a hard time understanding what Jesus is really about, including the disciples he is getting ready to choose.

Mark 3:13–19a Choosing the Twelve

Jesus selects and then commissions. He does it in these verses and he does it today. The selection does not make those who have been appointed special, but it does make them needed. In Mark these twelve named disciples are not prominent characters. They are simply the ones chosen for the specific tasks of healing and proclaiming. Jesus needs help. It was and is that simple.

Those who are still waiting for Jesus to operate in a manner that is different from this are going to be left waiting. People have been waiting ever since he spoke the words of calling that we now have before us in these verses. Jesus makes it clear in these verses that he expects those whom he calls to do some definite things in his name. He will not do it all. He calls others to carry on his work.

It is interesting that the names of the twelve differ in different Gospels. What makes them special is not their names or their individuality, but their willingness to follow Jesus and do what he commands. Amazing things can happen when ordinary people respond to the call of Jesus.

The text implies that a few of the twelve were distinguished by nicknames. These few have a reputation in the early church. Peter becomes “the rock,” James and John are “the sons of thunder,” the rowdy bunch, and Judas is “the betrayer,” which is about as bad a nickname as you can get.

In Mark’s Gospel, the disciples are, for the most part, background figures who help the story move along. Jesus is primary. In a day where individuality has become primary we need to again hear Mark’s version of the story. There is a bigger plan. Jesus is primary. The community of believers is next. And coming in last is the individual. It seems that often in the modern-day church the order is reversed. Could it be that is part of our problem?

Mark 3:19b–27 Jesus and Beelzebul: The Devil Made Him Do It

Now we reach an interesting few verses. Jesus returns “home.” A crowd again gathers around him, but this time his family becomes concerned both for and about Jesus. Mark cuts to the chase and says that his family thinks he is mad. This time we are not talking about anger, we are talking about crazy.

Already we understand that Mark is presenting a Jesus who is not understood by the crowds. We have a Jesus who has set up Messianic expectations but who is going to present a far different picture than the one the Jewish people want. Now we have Jesus’ own family thinking he has gone off the deep end.

What are members of his family expecting? We have no Christmas story in Mark where Jesus’ mother goes through a virgin birth and is assured that her son is the one.

Why does Jesus’ family now think his actions are crazy? Could it be that his own family is not ready for the radical nature of what he is doing and saying?

Why does Mary not stand up for her boy? Why does she not say, “He seems crazy because the ways of God are crazy. I ought to know”?

There is the temptation to mix the Gospels and try to explain one of them by using another. We simply cannot do it. Mark is using his own sources. We have to let the Gospel of Mark stand on its own whether we like the picture or not. Mark is telling about a man who is not even understood by his own family. A picture of growing isolation is being painted.

The religious leaders chime in and accuse Jesus of being possessed by the devil. Jesus counters with a kind of parable in which he says something along the lines of, “Why would the devil commit suicide by shooting himself?”

Oftentimes Mark does not give the reaction to what Jesus does. I for one would like to know what his family says about all this. Are they reassured by Jesus words? Do they share in the fear that he is possessed by some spirit?

Mark is saying clearly that being a follower of Jesus is not going to be easy. Being called crazy is going to be part of the package. Remember that the folks hearing Mark’s Gospel for the first time are probably being called crazy for lining up to follow a crucified Messiah.

I often think that we domesticate and tame our modern version of Christianity, so perhaps we need to reintroduce the craziness of faith. There should be an element of faith that leaves one feeling a bit crazy. It is the part that makes us wonder if we are really going to follow a man who talks about “losing to find, dying to live, and forsaking all in order to have.” Have we turned the sayings into poetry? Some of them are crazy. He intended them to be that way. This foolish craziness is the new way of life for a world whose “wisdom” has a bankrupt element within it.

The “over-againstness” of Jesus’ words is met by the accusation of insanity by even his own family. Let us not lose this early reality that Mark preserves for us. Jesus is pushing against what people expect to be normative. The real spirituality of Jesus has a fire about it. Some religious practice attempts to contain the fire into a small flame to be placed in a lamp, a lamp for individual devotional reading.

Jesus comes to set the woods on fire. He once said that he came to bring fire to the earth. He is crazy. Within him burns the flame of God. His frame contains what has never been pulled off before or since. He is the “God-Man.” He is a delicate balance of the divine and the human.

I wonder sometimes if such a high octane blend would not have felt crazy. Maybe what Jesus is really saying is, “Yes, I am crazy but it is not the devil that makes me so. The source is none other than my Father in heaven. Want to be crazy with me?”

Close examination often shows that family units have within them an internal kind of craziness that only the family can really comprehend. Jesus offers those who will follow him an opportunity to be part of his family. His biological family has to realize that Jesus’ understanding of family is much bigger than the family tree. Under the shade of Jesus’ father’s family tree there will stand all types of people. When the religious types of the day realize just how inclusive the shade of the tree will be, they know Jesus has to be crazy. Their solution is to either cut down the family tree or hang Jesus from one of its branches.

Mark 3:28–35 The Unpardonable Sin/Jesus’ Real Family

Guilt is feeling bad about what you have done. Shame is feeling bad about who you are. Jesus expects that his followers will sometimes experience guilt because the expectations of being a disciple are challenging enough that guilt is sometimes the consequence, but Jesus has no room for shame. He has the divine quality of seeing each person as a child of God with infinite worth simply because they are. All the titles and good deeds are not important. Grace is the new norm by which people are measured. We all start the same, and we all mess up eventually. The law cannot save us. The many religious laws in Jesus’ day that were intended to be life-giving so often led beyond guilt to shame.

Jesus offers forgiveness for sins, but in this passage we read Jesus’ statement about an “eternal sin,” sometimes translated as the “unpardonable sin,” which is committed by “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit.” People who think that maybe they have committed the unpardonable sin experience all kind of shame. They may have a mental picture of a God who suddenly says at the Heavenly Gate, “Whoops, you can’t get in. You committed the unpardonable sin and did not know it. Surprise!” This may be some kind of scary story that has haunted them from childhood.

In fact, if one listens closely to Jesus and watches closely how he lives and teaches forgiveness, one will wonder what this “unpardonable” sin might be. We hear the word “blaspheme” and we think of some kind of curse. A curse is usually thrown out to demean or disregard someone. It expresses a contempt or lack of reverence for God or something that is considered sacred.

In the context of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is referring to those who have just accused him of working for the powers of evil. These accusers feel threatened by Jesus and the way he is healing and freeing people. They do not want to accept that God may be working through someone outside of their system.

The accusers are also so much caught up in a sense of their own righteousness and superiority that they have lost the ability to distinguish good from evil. They have become incapable of recognizing the work of God when it is right before them, and do not appreciate that Jesus views each person as a sacred child of God, worthy of his attention. They are more concerned about judging, shunning, excluding and oppressing others.

Jesus’ “Abba” has no room for such a way of treating people. Jesus comes to open the doors to people not to shut them, to free them, not to bind them. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day who accuse him of conspiring with the dark side are getting real close to the unpardonable sin stuff because they are shutting down God’s expansive grace and blocking off the family connection that is essential for the right understanding of life.

Jesus offers those who will listen to him a chance to re-establish this right relationship to God, but if a person has lost sight of moral vision, of right and wrong, of the dignity and respect that is due to every person, they may be unable to see a need to ask for forgiveness. They may say, “I do not need the Spirit of God. I am the captain of my own fate. What I have gained in life, I have made myself. It is all about me.” This person may put himself or herself outside the family. God does not do this.

Family connection is important to Jesus. For him, “family” goes way beyond the concept of biological family. He says, “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” The real family of Jesus are those who express their reverence for God by their regard for others, and their actions towards them.