Ever wonder how many millions of dollars (or denarii) Jesus saved people in healthcare costs?
He healed everyone everywhere.
If you held an accountant hostage for eternity and forced him to total up the savings, you’d have to run through another loop of eternity just to comprehend how much individual attention Jesus gave to the physically broken.
Incurable diseases. Demonic torments. Pick your affliction, because He had it covered.
No surprise there since He’s the Great Physician.
Of all the offenses the Pharisees wanted Him nailed to a tree for, you’d think healing their countrymen wouldn’t make it into the written indictment.
But a particular Sabbath healing got Jesus on the Pharisees’ kill or capture list, and it’s worth the read to find out why.
Mark 3 has Jesus, a man with a withered hand, and a collection of Pharisees together in a synagogue.
The history is straightforward. The Pharisees stopped specifically to watch if Jesus would heal someone—and not because they couldn’t wait to celebrate someone’s miraculous recovery.
Mark writes to us,
“So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.” -Mark 3:2
Now, they weren’t looking to throw the book at Jesus because he hadn’t booked an appointment with the man in advance and didn’t apply for a medical license.
Nope.
The Pharisees didn’t like Jesus turning a synagogue into a recovery room.
Why?
Because they weren’t getting a cut of the acclaim.
So when no one consulted them about the proper time to heal a man, they lost some prestige.
But there’s a deeper destiny to this story, and it’s more about Jesus than the Pharisees.
It’s about how golden Jesus’ heart was in that moment, for that man.
Even better, He heals the man’s withered hand, knowing that the Pharisees planned to use that act against Him.
A lot of people paint Jesus as a welcome doormat, something you wipe your feet on so you can get clean.
But this story show that He had an iron spine to go with a tender heart.
Read this:
“Then He said to them, ‘Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save a life or to kill?’ But they kept silent. And when He looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts…” -Mark 3:4-5
Jesus then called the man with a withered hand forward, healing him in full view of the Pharisees.
Not sure about you, but I’d find it difficult to focus on the task at hand if I knew in advance the authorities were tailing me, waiting to put a warrant out on me for a kind act.
Jesus could have said to the man with a withered hand:
“Hey man, I’m going to take care of you after service. I would do it now, but there’s some authorities who have me under surveillance, so if I heal you now, I might get jumped later. Just meet me at the greeting desk, and I’ll take care of you then, okay?”
Not a chance.
Jesus didn’t let outside harassment compromise his compassion. He did what He was called to do, regardless of what opinions (or death plots) would come from outside observers.
There’s a modern-day application in this, but I think you’re wise enough to tease it out without me holding your hand.
Now back to the Pharisees.
That healing got them heated, and get this…
They immediately went out and plotted with the Herodians—the Pharisees’ political enemies—on how they could kill Jesus.
Moral of the story: Jesus delivers healings in hostile environments. But like the man with a withered hand, you have to step forward and accept it.
Are you like the man with a withered hand or like the Pharisees?
Maybe you’re swaying in the same boat: you believe that Jesus heals today, because you know His power hasn’t declined in 2,000 plus years.
But you’ve been a naysayer right after you unfold your hands following a prayer.
Right after the “amen,” comes the grumbling. Yeah sure, we’ll see about whether you deliver or not.
The praying cynic.
I found myself convicted of the same thing after reading this account in Mark 3.
So what to do?
All I know is this: Jesus didn’t walk into that synagogue to kill anyone that day in Mark 3.
He told the man with a withered hand to stretch it out, and the black-and-white tells me that it was “restored as whole as the other.”
We don’t serve a Savior who suffers an aging curve like a broken-down professional athlete who’s past his prime.
And the Living Word isn’t window-dressing.
That’s enough for me to believe that healings can happen in your circumstances today.
Read Mark 3 (it’s only 6 verses) and let me know what you think the comment section below.
Here’s to more stories of healing.
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Kevin Cochrane is the creator of Replenish, the site to resupply your faith with overlooked insights from Scripture-based stories. Share your thoughts by commenting below or dropping a line to kevin@replenishstories.com.
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