“And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.” Mark 3:5 ESV
Reflection: why are so many church leaders allowing evil to creep in and exist within their congregations?
It can be very tough to speak up. To go against the public opinion, or “the flow” is by definition a lot of work and costly. A fish swimming upstream, against the flow of a river, has to exert a lot more energy than going down river. And while we have “free speech” protected by law in many countries, the cost of saying something that is against the accepted opinion of the masses, against the public opinion, can be very costly. Even with the free speech protection of the law. We see public opinion, even those ideas which are very secular and clearly against God’s word moving into the churches. And those who are supposed to be the protectors of the Word, are silent, and some even promote public opinion within their churches.
The religious leaders at the time of Jesus had moved so far away from God, creating their own rules and adopting all sorts of evil into their religion and synagogues. It didn’t even resemble anything that God put in place through Moses, but had become a place where demonic spirits could exist without being challenged. Jesus had very harsh words for these leaders, “They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.” John 8:39-45 ESV
In the story around our focus verse today, Jesus was visiting a synagogue on a Sabbath. And, also attending the service was a man who was sick. “Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand.” Mark 3:1 ESV. A withered hand, seems rather odd, right? But, as we looked at previously, the various diseases can also be a reflection of a deeper spiritual sickness. The connection between spiritual and physical. And, since Jesus had already enraged the religious leaders by allowing His disciples to pick wheat for food on a Sabbath, which was forbidden by their tradition, the Pharisees were closely watching if Jesus was going to heal this man on a Sabbath. Let’s read “And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent.” Mark 3:2-4 ESV. Even if Jesus question was so clear, so obvious, comparing doing good or harm, saving life or to kill, not even one of these religious leaders spoke up.
But they were silent.
The focus verse today describes so well Jesus reaction, “And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.” Mark 3:5 ESV. He was angry. He was saddened and grieved. And we can apply this directly to our world today, of God’s reaction to what is going on within many congregations. How evil has gotten ahold of so many Christian leaders, driven by greed and money, fame and power, being “popular” and aligned with public opinion, ignoring their responsibility to God and the congregation. Many leaders hearts have become hard, filled with the world.
We need church leaders to stand on and defend the Word of God, and are willing to speak up regardless of the cost.
