“And when (Jesus) looked round about on them with anger, being grieved over the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, Stretch forth your hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.”
Jesus went into a synagogue in Capernaum on a Sabbath morning, He saw a man with a “withered” hand. The Pharisees present there were looking to see if Jesus would heal the man on the Sabbath. Jesus did heal the man, after which the Pharisees, in league with the Herodians, plotted to kill Jesus. Our text tells us that Jesus was grieved because of the “hardness of their hearts.” The word “hardness” caught my attention, and I thought about what that meant. I want to share what this means based on a study of the Greek word for “hardness.” This meant that their hearts were “callow.” We would say that they had callous hearts. This means that they were unfeeling and unsympathetic toward the man. People, who would have rescued their donkey on a Sabbath day, had no feeling for the plight of the man with a paralyzed hand who needed healing. If our religious rules keep us from empathizing with real needs, we need to examine our hearts and see if our hearts have grown hard. This meant that their hearts were insensitive. The relationship that we have with Jesus should make us sensitive to the needs of people around us. A lack of sensitivity shows inattentiveness to the people and circumstances around us. The Pharisees were not thinking about the man, but about their own rules. (There was no Sabbath rule that forbad helping people.) This is reminiscent of the priest and Levite in the parable of the “Good Samaritan.” If you remember, those religious men went right on by a man who was bleeding to death on the side of the Jericho Road. The parable is reminding us that when we encounter people and circumstances that call of a touch from Jesus through us that we need to reach out with a caring hand. This meant that their hearts were selfish. Jesus was grieved because they did not think of anything beyond themselves. They didn’t think about the fact that the man could not work because of his paralyzed hand. In that day, that could have meant that he and his family would have gone hungry because he could not draw a day’s pay. Jesus pays attention when we think only of ourselves, and we cause His heart to grieve. We need to examine our hearts and see if they are “hardened.” Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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September 2021
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