Mark 3:4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
Opportunities To Do Right
I think most of us know enough to avoid raucous troublemakers, but sometimes the troublemakers you really have to watch out for are the kind that just watch, wait, and then cause problems. That’s exactly what the religious leaders of Jesus day did when Jesus entered the synagogue and found there a man with a withered hand. Of course, Jesus was inclined to heal him.
Mark 3:2 says that as He entered the synagogue the religious leaders “watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.” Jesus, knowing what was going on, simply told the man with the withered hand, “Stand forth.” Then He turned to the religious leaders who resented His authority and what it was doing to their power, and said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?”
The religious leaders held their peace after being confronted with Jesus’ questions, but then went to plot Jesus’ death. It’s interesting that they begrudged Him healing a man on the Sabbath day, but they had no trouble plotting Jesus’ death on that very same Sabbath day. I might also note that Jesus did no obvious work in healing this man. He simply healed the man, very quietly and quickly. So the issue here was not whether Jesus was breaking the law or not, it was about Jesus’ authority that threatened the power of these religious leaders.
The religious leaders didn’t even see the man with the withered hand. They didn’t care about him or his need. He was simply an opportunity to find a way to condemn Christ.
They also didn’t see themselves. They were blind men who were leading the blind. They had religion and tradition, but not God’s Son whom they had rejected. They didn’t see Jesus, although they watched Him. They weren’t watching Him to learn from Him; they were watching to learn how they could destroy Him. Finally, they didn’t see other people or the opportunities to do what was right.
To neglect an opportunity to do right is to do wrong. Obeying Christ will never keep you from doing the right thing. Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath put Him in conflict with man’s traditions, not God’s law. It is important for us to know the difference, to have submissive hearts, and to seek opportunities to please God by doing good to others.