It is Good Friday.
I am too early for the service and am now sitting quietly in the pew reading the Word whilst the church fills up. Now and then someone will stop and say a quiet "hello" and we'll wish one another a blessed Easter.
We will be remembering the Lord's suffering and death by partaking of Holy Communion this morning.
I had opened the Word at Mark 3 and was reading at the beginning of the chapter:
"and He (Jesus) entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered
hand." Mark 3:1
(between brackets inserted by me)
Suddenly this small secion of the Word opens up as if I am reading it for the first time.
What strikes me first is that I read that Jesus entered the synagogue - He did a very ordinary thing -
He went to church, just as I am doing this morning.
Secondly, there was this man with a handicap in the synagogue - a withered hand - something that made his life imperfect.
I look around me and realise that all of us inside the church building are imperfect. Each one has his/her own "withered hand" - our own handicap - be it a sickness, a habit, an addiction perhaps, a need, a sin, an unrighteousness, a financial or relationship problem, some battle that causes our daily spiritual walk to be hampered.
Are we here because we want to be healed?
"So they watched Him closely whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they
might accuse Him." Mark 3:3
I look around me again - is there someone with a critical spirit in the church this morning? Perhaps just waiting to find fault with the proceedings, or the hymns we are to sing, or the volume of the music, or the Word that will be shared, or the way someone is dressed, or not dressed, or... or... or.... does any of this sound familiar?
"and He said to the man who had the withered hand, "Step forward". Mark 3:3
Jesus gave an altar call - directed specifically at the person with a genuine need. Jesus always knows who needs what - in fact, H always addresses one's most dire need. According to the Gospel according to the Ebionites, it is added that this man was a stone mason. Can you imagine what a blessing it would be for him to have his hand restored?
Jesus gave an alter call : "Step forward". An altar call as is often given in churches all over the globe. An alter call as perhaps you are perceiving the Lord giving to you right now as you are reading this...
Will you respond?
Jesus then proceeded to do a very strange thing which really catches my attention as I carry on reading. He turned to the other members of the congregation present:
"Then He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save
life or to kill?" Mark 3:4
Why would He ask this question?
Perhaps because their Jewish laws forbade any work on the Sabbath and rather than see a healing as the blessing from God that it was for this man being restored to a full life, they labeled it work and therefore "sin" in their critical hearts and self-righteous minds?
Do we perhaps frown on time spent ministering to the sick and needy during a service? Are we bound to a rigidly set "one-hour" service within which we think to worship God?)
Our does the reason we attend church in fact have nothing to do with worshipping the Living God?
"But they kept silent." Mark 3:4
Why?
Were they under the authority of the church leaders and traditions rather than the authority of God to the extent that they feared answering?
Or were they just critical of Jesus? Were their hearts as hard as the stone the mason used? Had they no compassion on a man whose very livelihood had been taken from him because of his handicap?
Or was the question they could not answer, the question that Jesus was in fact asking them, knowing their hearts and minds as He did: "Which is better? Me desiring to heal the man on the Sabbath or you desiring to kill Me?"
"For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Heb. 4:12
What did He find in their hearts - malice and fear! Malice directed at whom? Fear of what? Fear and malice because if He kept performing miracles and changing lives He would indeed prove to be the long awaited Messiah and they would lose their control over the people; lose their positions, their status, their income... a political storm, even a war may ensue...
"And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness
of their hearts..." Mark 3:5
Typical of our Saviour, being angry at their hardness of heart, yet sorrowful on their behalf.
Jesus then again addressed the handicapped man and instructed him to stretch out his hand and the Word says he stretched it out and it was restored as whole as the other was.
A miracle working Jesus. But...that man had to do something too... he had to have faith and stretch out that sick and withered limb towards Jesus... he had to respond to the Word of the Son of God!
"So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Rom. 10:17
It would seem that of all those present in the synagogue that day we had at least one with a genuine desire to be touched by God... one who was not only hearing the words being spoken to him, but reacting to the words and applying them to his situation.
Do we hear and go away nourished, or hungry? Do we apply the Word of God to our daily lives? Do we have at least that much faith that we believe that if we stretch out our "withered hand" to the Lord God Almighty something will happen?
Then we find the last group of people in the synagogue:
"Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against
Him, how they might destroy Him. " Mark 3:6
Interesting group of people. In the above case scenario, learned, intelligent people with status and connections. Leaders and politicians. Yet, they were going to use all of their collective resources, to harm the work of Christ - the church - because matters were not going the way they anticipated and desired.
It reminds of Saul of Tarsus before his Damascus road experience...
Are we aware that Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Angels of God are present at our services? Have you experienced Their presence during a service lately? Are you aware that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever? Have you opened yourself to the possibility that Jesus is in fact in the service waiting to touch your life?
"Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not
harden your hearts as in the rebellion." " Heb. 3:15
What if He is waiting and we are not even there?
"And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not for-
saking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhor-
ting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. Heb. 10:24-25
Do we at least acknowledge the presence of God when we attend church services? Or has attending services perhaps become just a perfunctory duty, lip service to a God that we are no longer sure we believe in or rely on?
What question would Jesus be asking in our services - might He have cause to be angry or grieved in our midst?
"For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of
them." Matt. 18:20
Thank You, Lord God, that you are so patient with us. Thank You that by Your Will and grace we still have services to attend, for your Word to be imparted to us, and that Your Spirit and Son are still present in our meetings to meet with whoever shall be responsive to the small, still voice of the Holy Spirit. Thank You that although you were angry and grieved, You still healed and restored the withered hand and You are ever true to Yourself and ready to hear our cries.
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