It was the Sabbath and Jesus was at the synagogue as usual. The religious authorities were watching him closely to see if he would dare heal a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. If he did that would allow them to bring a charge against him. After asking them if one of their animals had fallen into a pit on a Sabbath would they rescue it, he went on to ask why it would be wrong to heal the man’s hand on the Sabbath. Should he leave it withered? The text says that "dead silence filled the room" (Mark 3:4) and that Jesus was “deeply distressed by their indifference to human distress.” After looking around the room at each of them in “anger” he restored the hand of the disabled man (Jesus, In His Own Words).
Granted, contemporary Christianity has no restrictions like that although certain branches of the church would rather not have their ritualism questioned. Jesus was deeply concerned with the religious leaders’ indifference to human suffering and genuinely angry at their hypocrisy. So the question for us is whether we can or should join him in his opposition to such attitudes. It would seem that the answer should be Yes, but if you actually carried through with it the local congregation would probably take offense. The most overused injunction in scripture is, “Thou shall not judge.” To call attention to the other person’s questionable conduct is often considered the greater offense. It is true that Jesus is Jesus (and we aren’t) but Jesus didn’t draw upon his divinity to live his life here among us. He was truly man and it was as a man like us that he reacted as he did. So my answer is that strong opposition to such things as hypocrisy and indifference to evil is a Christ like attitude. But, let our opposition against the failures of others be an act of love.
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AuthorRobert Mounce Archives
November 2018
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