STAND FORTH IN THE MIDST…STRETCH FORTH THY HAND

Our reading begins with ‘another Sabbath’ connecting it directly with the previous incident. On both these occasions the Lord is correcting the scribes and Pharisees for their misinterpretation of the scriptures concerning the sabbath. The question our Lord asked the Pharisees that day gets to the heart of the matter. Solomon wrote, ‘Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbor, Go, and come again, and tomorrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee’, Prov. 3. 27-28.

Can we imagine the One from whom every good and perfect gift comes, Jas. 1. 17, instituting a day each week where good would be withheld? But unfortunately man’s religion would seek to keep others in fear and bondage. Paul tells us of those who prohibit marriage and the eating of certain meats as the purveyors of the ‘doctrine of demons’. The Pharisees had added many things to the law and held the Jewish people in fear.

But One stood in their midst who told them the two greatest commandments were that they should love God and love their neighbour and that all the rest of the law hung on these. So Jesus, upon seeing one of the children of Israel with a withered hand, wanted to do him good. Hence, He said, ‘stand forth’. All eyes were fixed on him and upon the Lord. ‘Stretch forth thy hand’. How could this man do that? He had no ability. But, with confidence in the word of the Lord Jesus, he did that which he had no ability to do. And his faith was rewarded.

The Pharisees were filled with rage. They had no thought of the Lord’s compassion or power. They were filled with thoughts of losing their power and authority over those they were holding in bondage. Fear is a powerful tool in the hands of those who seek to control.

What do we seek? Do we seek to love, encourage, help, and enable our fellow believers and others with whom we come in contact? Or do we seek to control others so they do what we desire? The Lord’s way is the way of love and service: ‘by love serve one another’, Gal. 5. 13.