Mark 3:1 - Meaning and Application

Here, as before, the Lord Jesus was busy first in the synagogue and then by the sea. This teaches us that his presence is not limited to one place or another. Wherever people gather in his name, whether in a synagogue or elsewhere, he is in their midst. In every place where he sets his name, he will meet with his people and bless them. It is his will that people pray everywhere.

Here we see something of what he did. When he went again into the synagogue, he used the opportunity to do good. He had no doubt preached there, and then he worked a miracle to confirm his message, or at least to confirm this truth, that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day. The account is also given in (Matthew 12:9).

The man’s condition was sad. He had a withered hand, so he could not work for his living. People in that condition are fitting objects of charity. Those who cannot help themselves should be helped. The people watching were very unkind, both to the man and to the Physician. Instead of speaking up for their poor neighbor, they did all they could to stop his healing. They made it clear that if Christ healed him on the Sabbath, they would accuse him of breaking the Sabbath. It would have been unreasonable to oppose a doctor or surgeon helping a poor sufferer by ordinary means. It was far more foolish to oppose one who healed without labor, simply by speaking a word.

Christ dealt fairly with the watchers, and he dealt with them first, if possible to prevent offense. He worked to convince their minds. He told the man to stand up before them (Mark 3:3), so that seeing him would stir their pity and keep them from calling his healing a crime. Then he appealed to their own consciences. Though the matter was plain enough, he still asked them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, as I intend to do, or to do evil, as you intend to do? Which is better, to save life or to kill?” What fairer question could be asked? Yet because they saw it would go against them, they said nothing. Those are truly stubborn in unbelief who, when they cannot argue against the truth, will not even answer it.

When they resisted the light, he sorrowed over their stubborn hearts (Mark 3:5). He looked around at them with anger, grieved by the hardness of their hearts. The sin he was considering was their hard hearts, their lack of feeling for the proof in his miracles, and their fixed decision to keep on unbelieving. We may hear wrong words and see wrong actions, but Christ looks at the root inside the heart, the blindness and hardness there.

Notice how strongly he was stirred by their sin. He looked around at them, for they were so many and had surrounded him. He looked with anger. His anger likely showed on his face. His anger was like God’s, free from any disturbance in himself, yet deeply provoked by us. The sin of sinners is very displeasing to Jesus Christ. To be angry and not sin is to be angry, as Christ was, only at sin. Hard-hearted sinners should tremble at the anger with which he will one day look on them, when the great day of his wrath comes.

Notice also how he pitied those sinners. He was grieved for the hardness of their hearts, just as God was grieved for forty years over the hardness of their fathers in the wilderness. It is a deep sorrow to our Lord Jesus to see sinners set on their own ruin and stubbornly resisting the means of conviction and rescue, for he does not want any to perish. That is a good reason for us to be grieved over our own hard hearts and the hard hearts of others.

Christ then dealt very kindly with the man. He told him to stretch out his hand, and it was immediately restored. Here Christ teaches us to keep going in the path of duty, no matter how strong the opposition may be. We must sometimes deny ourselves comfort, pleasure, and convenience rather than give offense, even to those who wrongly take offense. But we must not deny ourselves the joy of serving God and doing good, even if offense is unfairly taken. No one was more careful about avoiding offense than Christ, yet rather than send this poor man away uncured, he was willing to offend all the scribes and Pharisees around him.

He also gives us a picture of the cures his grace works in poor souls. Our hands are spiritually withered, our souls weakened by sin and unable to do good. The great healing day is the Sabbath, and the healing place is the synagogue. The healing power is Christ’s power. The gospel command is like the command given here, and it is reasonable and right. Even though our hands are withered and we cannot of ourselves stretch them out, we must still try. We must, as far as we can, lift them up to God in prayer, take hold of Christ and eternal life, and use them for good works. If we make the effort, Christ’s power goes with his word, and he brings the cure. If our hands remain withered because we will not even try to stretch them out, the fault is ours that we are not healed. But if we do try and are healed, Christ and his power and grace must receive all the glory.

Christ’s enemies acted very cruelly toward him. Such a work of mercy should have won their love, and such a wonder should have led them to faith. Instead, the Pharisees, who claimed to be the church’s wise teachers, and the Herodians, who claimed to support the state, though they were opposed to each other, joined together against him and planned how they might destroy him. Those who suffer for doing good are only suffering as their Master did.

When he withdrew to the sea, he did good there too. While his enemies were seeking to destroy him, he left the place. This teaches us that in hard times we should take care for our safety. Yet notice how he was followed even in his retreat. Some hated him so much that they drove him out of their country, but others valued him so highly that they followed him wherever he went. The hatred of their leaders for Christ did not cool their respect for him.

Great crowds followed him from all parts of the nation, from Galilee in the north, Judea and Jerusalem in the south, Idumea, the region beyond Jordan, and even around Tyre and Sidon (Mark 3:7, Mark 3:8). They were drawn by the reports they had heard of his great works for all who came to him. Some wanted to see someone who had done such great things, and others hoped that he would do great things for them.

The thought that Christ has done such great things should move us to come to him.

What they came for is shown in Mark 3:10. They pressed around him to touch him, as many as had diseases. Here diseases are called plagues, that is, painful afflictions or punishments meant to correct us. They are meant to make us feel the weight of our sins, turn from them, and learn not to go back to them. Those who were under these strokes came to Jesus, and that is still the right use of sickness, to wake us up and send us to Christ as our healer.

They pressed in on him, each trying to get closest and be served first. As Dr. Hammond says, they fell down before him as people asking for his favor. They wanted only to touch him, trusting that they would be healed, not only by his touching them, but even by their touching him. They had likely seen this happen many times before.

Christ also made provision so he could be ready to serve them, as in Mark 3:9. He spoke to his disciples, who were fishermen and had boats available, to keep a small boat ready for him at all times. This would carry him from place to place along the same shore after he had finished the work he had to do in one place. In that way, he could move on quickly to another place where his presence was needed, without being pressed by the crowds who followed him out of curiosity. Wise people, as much as they can, avoid crowds.

Even in this retreat, he did much good. He did not pull back to be idle, and he did not send away those who came crowding after him in a rude way. He received them kindly and gave them what they came for, because he never said to anyone who sought him earnestly that they were looking for him in vain.

He healed many people, with all kinds of sicknesses and all kinds of cases. Though they were many and varied, he healed them all. He also conquered demons. When evil spirits saw him, they trembled before him and fell down, not to ask for mercy, but to beg him not to punish them. By their own fear, they were forced to confess that he is the Son of God, as in Mark 3:11. It is sad that anyone among human beings should deny this great truth, when even demons have so often been forced to admit it, though they can gain nothing from it.

Christ also did not seek praise for himself in these great works. He strongly charged those he healed not to tell others about him, as in Mark 3:12. He did not want them to spread news of his cures like an advertisement in a newspaper. Instead, he let his own works speak for him, and allowed the reports to spread naturally. Those who are healed should not be eager to brag about it, especially if that would feed their own pride. Let others notice and carry the news. When we do what is worthy of praise, and yet do not long for human praise, then we have the same mind that was in Christ Jesus.