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On a certain sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and taught,
and there was a man there whose right hand was withered.
This man was had an affliction that was no doubt debilitating. But it brought to mind the place where the psalmist sang, "If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither!" (see Psalm 137:5). And this forgetfulness really did afflict Israel, and led to the breaking up of the kingdom and the scattering of the tribes. We see this in the wicked king Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, who said "You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt" (see First Kings 12:28). It did indeed happen that Rehoboam's hand "dried up" and was not restored until a prophet prayed for it to be restored (see First Kings 13:4,6). And yet we know all too well that the underlying cause, the forgetfulness of God, and the chasing after idols, was not removed, and therefore the kingdom could not remain united. Since Rehoboam's faithlessness brought about the fracturing of the kingdom Jesus, by healing the man with the withered hand, was hinting that the restoration of that kingdom had begun.
The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely
to see if he would cure on the sabbath
so that they might discover a reason to accuse him.
The Pharisees claimed to be among those who remembered Jerusalem, who sang that psalm, and who made God's priorities their own. Yet in actuality they revealed that they had other priorities, and something else on the throne of their hearts besides the Lord God. They were so focused on how they could "do evil" to Jesus and to "destroy" Jesus that they were unable to recognize the work of God in their midst. The very thing they said the sought, the restoration of Israel, they could not see because they were blinded by envy and pride.
Then Jesus said to them,
"I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath
rather than to do evil,
to save life rather than to destroy it?"
Jesus asked a question that ought to have been obvious and rhetorical. But the Pharisees were indeed doing evil and seeking to destroy life in their attempt "to discover a reason to accuse him". It was they, and not Jesus, whose behavior was discordant with the intention of the sabbath, which was to be a day of fellowship between God and his people. Jesus was continually about the business of healing the barriers to that fellowship, proclaiming the jubilee, and always inviting anyone who would listen to the wedding feast.
Looking around at them all, he then said to him,
"Stretch out your hand."
He did so and his hand was restored.
By being very obvious about healing this man Jesus did not intend for the Pharisees to become enraged, although he knew they would. He was nevertheless as clear as possible about what he was doing so that the ambiguity in their hearts could reveal itself. Perhaps they would realize their own overreaction and begin to have second thoughts about their malice. Perhaps its would only further harden their hearts. But even if that hardening was a result Jesus must have hoped it would be temporary. He was interested in healing, not just the man with the withered hand, but all of Israel, the Pharisees included. He had made blatant the fact that they had forgotten Jerusalem, had not prized it above all their joys in order to help them to remember it once more.
What of us, who live at such a great distance from these things? We appreciate the physical healing, but much of the rest of the story is often lost on us. Yet we are meant to be united to the spiritual Israel of God, and to look to the coming of the heavenly Jerusalem. And we too often forget about this Jerusalem in favor of idols. No wonder then that we see splinters and divisions in the Body of Christ. We may be tempted to blame others, the heterodox and the sinners. But if we look more closely we will discover that our own withered right hand betrays the fact that we too share guilt for this tragedy. We too have sought other gods when healing and salvation can only be found in the man of God, Jesus Christ. Fixing this problem is not something that can be done merely by human ingenuity. We need to stretch out our hand, no matter how much we would prefer to hide it, toward Jesus. In him we will find the deep restoration we desire.
I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake,
and in my flesh I am filling up
what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ
Once Jesus begins to heal us we will gradually find ourselves strengthened to be more like Paul, where our suffering is now somehow transformed by the touch of Jesus, making it powerful to bring about the salvation of others, "to bring to completion" for them the word of God.
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