The Withered Hand
Preaching
Preaching The Miracles
Series II, Cycle B
1. Text
One sabbath [Jesus] was going through the grain-fields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.23 The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?"24 And he said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food?25 He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions."26 Then he said to them, "The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath;27 so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath."28
Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand.3:1 They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him.2 And he said to the man who had the withered hand, "Come forward."3 Then he said to them, "Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?" But they were silent.4 He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.5 The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.6
2. What's Happening?
The Gospel called Mark portrays Jesus as a man of action. If God is to be with us, Emmanuel, then God is a God of action. Jesus had the capacity to use the moment to teach through his actions. We meet him in the middle of doing his work. This healing story also follows the form of a pronouncement story. Jesus confronts a charge or a controversial situation. The plot builds to a climax in which Jesus speaks an authoritative pronouncement. Sympathetic with similar issues that the early church faced, the story suggests that Jesus, also, does not deserve the treatment he receives.
First Point Of Action
Jesus enters the grainfield so his disciples can obtain food. He feeds them because they are hungry. The Pharisees question Jesus about working on the sabbath. Jesus answers the Pharisees with a story from their common scripture. Jesus gives a new, double pronouncement teaching.
Second Point Of Action
Jesus enters the synagogue. So they might accuse Jesus, the Pharisees watch him to see if he will attempt to cure on the sabbath. Jesus addresses the man with the withered hand. He helps the man because the man is hurting. Aware that the Pharisees are observing him, Jesus speaks another pronouncement as a question. The Pharisees are silent. Also silent, Jesus responds with emotion to their attitude.
Third Point Of Action
Jesus commands the man with the withered hand to stretch out his hand. The man does as Jesus directs. God acts, restoring the man's hand.
Fourth Point Of Action
The Pharisees respond by leaving and conspiring with the Herodians about how to destroy Jesus.
3. Connecting Points -- Conversations
Interviewing The Person With The Withered Hand
In some healing miracles, the suffering person speaks. The man with the withered hand does not speak. We never know whether the silence means a total lack of faith, trust, or some degree of faith. Yet the man has voice in his presence. He speaks by his being where he will meet Jesus. He is at the synagogue.
Asker: Who are you, man with the withered hand?
Person: Though neither the editor Mark nor Jesus calls me by name, I have a name. I am a person, not only an example of Jesus making a point.
Asker: What do you mean?
Person: You might also be a Pharisee looking for wrongdoing on the sabbath. For Jesus, even with my withered hand I do count for more than obedience to the Law, including that of doing no work on the sabbath.
Asker: How do we know this?
Person: You cannot know from a distance, but I can tell you this. Whether you stood waiting and expecting or huddled in a corner of despair, if Jesus singled you out, if Jesus looked you in the eye and you looked into his eyes, if Jesus commanded you, however quietly, "Come forward," and then, as you stood before him, he said to you, "Stretch out your hand," you would know which Jesus believed to be the higher law, showing compassion and mercy to one of God's creation or not working on the sabbath. Jesus puts the person first.
Asker: Healers were a denarius a dozen in your day. Why was this man Jesus so different?
Person: Would ordinary healers jeopardize themselves by blatantly breaking the Law? Jesus did call himself the Son of Man. He was more than the ordinary healer.
Asker: Why does your withered hand make you special?
Person: In this age, I am useless, vulnerable and dependent. With only one good hand, I could not be a mason, a fisher, or a carpenter, or engage in any other trade. I cannot make a living. I cannot take care of a family. It is I who must be taken care of.
Asker: So why do you come to the synagogue? Those who beg stand outside the city gate.
Person: From your perspective, it is unclear if I come reluctantly or faithfully or if today is my first trip to the synagogue. There is nothing wrong with my feet. I can walk. On the other hand, to bring myself here, I might have needed some persuasion. I might have lost heart through these years of constant struggle.
You may also ask if the Pharisees planted me in the synagogue. Am I here because I, or they, knew Jesus was coming?
Asker: Is it a case of being in the right place at the right time?
Person: My only real action in the synagogue is making myself available. All any of us can do is to be available to receive the gift of healing. Healing is always a surprise, always a gift. We can neither command nor wishfully think healing to come. When healing does happen, we simply must stretch out our hand to receive it. I speak by extending my hand. I am a recipient of healing.
Person: Now, let me ask you, who are you as you look at me? Do you see a beggar who has given up or a person who is ready to be made whole? Do you see one who, for you, has become dehumanized and worthless because of a withered hand? Do you see someone waiting to get on with life? What do you see in this impairment I carry? For you, do I still count as a human being?
Person: You live in a different time. You have surgeries that can correct some hand abnormalities. You have prostheses. You have job opportunities that can minimize the need for hand labor.
What is the withering of your own hand? What does it mean for you in your day? In what way has your hand become shriveled or lost its energy, its power? That is, what about your incapacity to be mentally, physically, or emotionally productive? What is the ongoing or chronic nature of a symbolic withered hand in your life? Do you want to change it enough that you would stretch it out and offer, that is, allow God to transform it? It would change your entire life. Would that be too scary? Would you prefer to carry the impediments of a withered hand?
When we are hurting, why do we go to the synagogue or church? Is our going passive or active? Is it more than from devotional habit? What is the parishioner looking for, needing, hungering for? What comfort or challenge can we as preachers offer? When is the challenge a comfort? When does the comfort become a challenge?
How do we bring ourselves into the presence of what can help us? When we bring ourselves to God, is the coming in spite of ourselves and our sense of defeat? Are we responding to the hope of God beyond ourselves?
Interviewing A Pharisee
The Pharisees reflect the Jewish preoccupation with the Law.
Asker: When is it okay to break the Law?
Pharisee: You ask that without comprehending that the letter of the Law is just about all we have left of our religion. Political tension is tight. Everything is falling apart. Foreign practices have invaded our people with all sorts of corruption.
It is never okay to break the Law. The Law is more than just a set of regulations. It is a way of life; it binds us together wherever we are. We go wrong in not obeying God's commandments.
Asker: Why do you hound Jesus?
Pharisee: We are just doing what we think is right, following the precise meaning of the Law, following the law of our religion. From our perspective, it is Jesus who is out of line. We have a duty to keep an eye on him at all times.
Asker: Why do you follow Jesus into the synagogue?
Pharisee: The synagogue is the gathering point of Jewish life and thought. It is our coming together as Jewish people, our identity -- national and religious. How dare Jesus break the sabbath with his healing, especially in the synagogue?
Now, we do make exceptions. If the man with the withered hand were in immediate danger of his life, the rules allow for healing. In this person's circumstances, waiting one more day would not have threatened his life.
Asker: Do you not think Jesus knew that? Healing the man quietly on another day would not have made his point that there is a new law, a new way of doing things.
I hear your silence. How else do you speak? Where is your voice?
Pharisee: We speak with the words of a question. We ask Jesus directly in the wheat field why the disciples are doing what is unlawful on the sabbath.
Asker: How else does your silence speak?
Pharisee: Silence can be a powerful threat. We observe Jesus. We want to make him uneasy. We watch him in the synagogue to see whether he will cure the man with the withered hand on the sabbath. We gather evidence so we might accuse Jesus.
Asker: You are so intent on the Law that you miss the whole point that God loves each person. Jesus even draws on the sagas of your religion, the story of David entering the temple because his men were hungry and eating the priest's food. There is much evidence to support such compassion.
Pharisee: We speak with the silence of satisfaction. We have the evidence to nail Jesus. As his superiors, we do not need to respond to Jesus or answer to him. His actions condemn him.
Asker: Are you silent because Jesus truly disturbs you by his uncanny ability to ask the key questions though he knows they will get him into trouble? The issue is not your threatening him. This Jewish brother challenges your entire view of your relationship with God. You were silent when he said to you, "Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?" Now you are silent in response to my question. I wonder what answer you will give in your heart.
Asker: Finally, you speak by your actions. After the miracle, you simply leave, walk out.
Pharisee: We are building our case. We have our evidence. More words are unnecessary.
Asker: As present-day preachers and church members, when are you a Pharisee? How do you talk with Jesus? When are you closed-minded? How do you show your unwillingness to grow? When is it easier to focus on nitpicking than to face change?
Interviewing Jesus
Jesus has the capacity to use the moment to do his teaching. This encourages the preacher's awareness of the everyday. We also can use available moments of learning and teaching.
Asker: The man with the withered hand has a chronic condition and may have become comfortable as a victim. Why do you single him out for healing?
Jesus: This is even more reason for choosing him. Consider the silence of acceptance, adjustment, or coming to terms with a chronic condition. Do not confuse this with inconvenience or the apparent absence of suffering. They are only necessary ways of putting up with what is broken to carry on with life.
Have you ever felt so strongly someone's presence, someone's wordlessly calling to you from the heart, that you turned to address that person? In a room filled with people, have you ever observed someone who appeared vulnerable? Have you then approached that person with the intent of drawing out or somehow assisting her or him? Did you see the sufferer's surprise?
People who suffer do not have to wave both arms in the air to get my attention. That is the last thing someone who lives with a seemingly unchangeable condition would do. Strangers see only the problem rather than recognizing a person's full identity.
It is better that the man suffering from a withered hand does not seek me out. I am not called to respond first to his asking. I can make the point directly about the purpose of sabbath. My action toward this person becomes entirely my looking out for him, my initiative.
God is present. Our Sustainer walks with us through suffering. While we turn to God, God also comes to us when God sees our need.
Asker: When you stand as intermediary in the healing rebirth of the man with the withered hand, you speak directly with an authoritative voice. You say, "Come forward" and "Stretch out your hand." Why are you so brief?
Jesus: I speak simply. A command is clear and direct. I see and acknowledge the suffering and need not waste time interrogating the sufferer. Why prolong suffering? Why use the whole sabbath when the work of sabbath healing may require only minutes?
Asker: Why do you heal him on the sabbath?
Jesus: It appears that to hold up his healing one more day will make no critical difference to his longstanding condition. An outsider cannot fully know the circumstances. Why would God want anyone to suffer another minute for any reason if God could alleviate that suffering? God wishes well for us.
Asker: Regarding the juxtaposition of these stories, the sabbath question and healing this man on the sabbath, why focus on the sabbath?
Jesus: Everything related to the sabbath has become, "Do not do this" and "Do not do that." The sabbath is a special day, a holy day, and a life-giving day. God created and gave light to the world on the first day of creation's week.
Is there anything more life-giving than healing or enabling one of God's human creatures to function as wholly as possible? The smile of God's heart broadens when one child is healed or brought to more fullness of living on sabbath day.
Asker: What do you tell us about who God is in this miracle?
Jesus: If God is to be with us, Emmanuel, then God is a God of action. God puts people first. God is in charge. God has a clear record of bringing order to chaos. God stays present with us in the middle of the chaos -- global, disease, personal, relational. God also is present in the solutions.
However, just as I weep when my friend dies, so do I weep with you for having unexpected limits put on you beyond the usual limits of a human being -- particularly when they are not fixable. Therefore, when God can make a difference, God does not wait for Monday when healing can happen Sunday.
Asker: You do not ignore the Pharisees. You address them directly.
Jesus: My purpose is not to hide but to illumine. I do not intend to close off from life but to open for life.
Asker: You address the Pharisees directly, making two pronouncements. What do you mean by "The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath"? Your words are a direct contradiction to the Law.
Jesus: I wonder what is necessary for men and women to grasp how deeply God loves them, how intimately God knows us and stands with us in all things. How ironic it is that current tradition allows us to save an animal, essentially for economic reasons, on the sabbath. Yet by condemning a human being to death for breaking some sabbath laws, we place people in a position inferior to animals.
Asker: Why do you add, "So the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath"?
Jesus: Maybe I did not add it. What I do know is that I speak and act with an inner authority. Quietly and sometimes noisily, someone has to get things straightened out here. I believe God sent me to do the job. It is God who is in charge.
Asker: When the Pharisees challenge your leading your disciples into the wheat field, why do you tell them the story of David?
Jesus: I am a descendant of the house of David. I, too, am a Jew. David was looking out for his hungry companions. His story offers a precedent.
Our Creator takes care of creation. I take care of the disciples. First comes human need, then adherence to the Law. There are exceptions to the Law that transcend it. I challenge the Pharisees to rethink the place they give to rigid regulations. They have lost sight of the relationship between God and humanity.
Asker: Your second pronouncement comes as a question: "Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?" Why did you state it as a question?
Jesus: A question invites exchange. This question focuses on the basic issue of sabbath. We change and grow only as we ourselves address issues.
Asker: Is that why the response of the Pharisees is silence, because the sandal fits?
Jesus: Silence also speaks. The question sets them to thinking.
Asker: Your silence also speaks. When they do not answer, Mark reports that you are both angry and saddened.
Jesus: These are emotions of a human being, a son of man. I, too, become frustrated. I, too, wonder at the impossibility of my task as God's messenger. My task is to show by my actions what God is like and how we reflect God by our actions and our relationships with each other.
Asker: Jesus, what about all the others who are not singled out for healing?
Jesus: Those who are not obviously healed should not feel God is abandoning them. Healing comes in all forms, as inner whispers of encouragement and a sensing of God's sustaining presence in suffering and in restoration and rehabilitation. God comes as an idea for finding another way of accomplishing a task when an obstacle hinders our doing it.
Even when we give up on ourselves, God does not give up on us. When God created the world, God did not say, "I'm all done now. That's forever." God remains active in our lives.
4. Words
Abiathar
The name Abiathar, meaning "the father (God) gives abundantly," has interesting connotations for this story because one of Jesus' emphases is that of a giving God. However, biblical scholars think some genealogical references were based on a mistake about which priest was the son of whom, Abiathar or Ahimelech. Also associated with the Old Testament pericope is the suggestion that Abiathar was the last of the family of the priest Eli, who trained Samuel. For more information, refer to these names in The Interpreter's Dictionary.
The assigned epistle in which Paul speaks of treasures in clay vessels brings a third connection with the story. David asks and receives holy bread for his men from his high priest (1 Samuel 21). David says not only priests but "the vessels of the young men are holy" (verse 5). Perhaps all people, though made of breakable clay, are valuable vessels and vehicles for expressing God and receiving healing from God.
Suppose that, as a growing boy, Jesus read the story about Samuel's call (1 Samuel 3:1-10) and reread it at the time he performed miracles. Jesus could have wondered about and pondered the same questions Samuel must have considered, that is, who was calling to him and what God was asking him. Anyone who observed Jesus at work also could have asked these questions. Could these be our questions today: Who calls me? How do I know if this call is legitimate? Would I respond as affirmatively and wholeheartedly to the call were I to learn that it is not someone I know and trust? How would I respond knowing it was God, whom I do not actually know? How do I trust that what I am doing is good, right, and appropriate? How will others understand that what I am doing is connected with God?
The answer Jesus would have given is, God is in charge. God is always, ultimately, in charge.
Bread Of The Presence
Consider Jesus' use of bread here and his choice of bread as an element of Communion. Both nourish and give life.
Pharisees
During the Exile, the Israelites were deprived of the temple and escaped with only the Book of the Law. In their dream of restoration, they made the Law the center of Jewish religion. The Law offered a pattern for Jewish life and became the soul of Judaism. Pharisaism grew from a focus on the Law and its interpretation. Pharisees and scribes were a group of lay lawyers. Sadducees were priests. Ongoing conflict between the Pharisees and scribes and the other power group, the Sadducees, brought tension between emphasis on a lay-interpreted Torah and the temple.
The Pharisees were strict legalists and were an exclusive, separatist group. Their precision and rigidity in interpreting the Law brought the development of the elaborate legal tradition. The Pharisees did not focus on politics unless it affected their religious life. Pharisees were the liberal democrats of the day while Sadducees stood for the old ways. Pharisees believed themselves to be the true, pious Israel. They expected the time when a descendant of David, the Messiah, would restore the kingdom on earth.
Sabbath
Paying attention to sabbath has a long history in the Middle East region. Sabbath first comes from a verb meaning to stop or refrain from doing something. Only later does it also mean to rest and be inactive. At first and before the first day of the week became sabbath, doing work on the seventh day was considered unlucky. The number seven and its multiples were important and in some ways connected with evil spirits. Several days of the month were regarded as evil days.
The observance of sabbath, moving from a negative to a positive practice, started with avoiding agricultural labor on the seventh day. Then sabbath observers stopped occupational work of all types and eventually followed the day with no work of any kind. In the Jewish tradition, early Jewish Christians, gentile Christians, shifted sabbath to the first day of the week.
Consider the motif of God's creating light on the first day and our re-creating or taking care of this holy vessel created by God on sabbath. Think about our focus this day of bringing light into the world of our relationships. Consider Jesus bringing light into the lives of those he healed on sabbath and enlightening us about God.
Israel gradually transformed sabbath into a day of gladness and a sacred day in honor of God. Keeping the day holy emphasized the relation between the people and God. As this positive focus grew, the Jewish idea of assemblage developed. People gathered at the sanctuary to worship God.
Despite ever increasing restrictions, the day was to be joyous. The original motive of the Pharisees was to protect the Law, but the Pharisees ended up being rigid. Sabbath again took on a negative focus with the buildup of rules. Acute illness or threat of human life brought some exceptions to abstaining from sabbath work. However, punishment for the violation of sabbath was extreme and could result in death.
Today, ironically, we work harder on our sabbath because often it is the only day we have to get things done. Consider using the time of sabbath so we can do the laundry, repair the faucet, and so forth. Think about the notion of building short sabbaths of rest, meditation and recreation into each day or five minutes of each hour. Consider the full meaning of sabbath when we begin summer months of worship.
What is the measure of ease, relaxation, and pleasure in today's sabbath? What about the "how" of our sabbath? Does present-day sabbath call for redefinition? Is there time for everything on the sabbath -- catch up, rest, worship? How can we honor the holy and the sense of personal/relational wholeness on the sabbath, the interior life and the exterior?
Withered (Hand)
Many of the 54 biblical references refer to the withering of a plant, its fruits, or a tree. Withering is a metaphor for death, fading, cutting off, or not lasting because of some internal drying up of the roots (see Job 18:16) or external condition. The Psalmist uses the plant simile for the withering of the heart or spirit. (See Psalm 102.)
Might Jesus have sought out the man with the withered hand because he wanted to turn around or reinterpret earlier scripture? How might he have responded to the following punishment for forgetting God: "If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither" (Psalm 137:5) or 1 Kings 13:4 or Isaiah 40:7 or 24? Jesus himself caused a fig tree to wither (Matthew 21:19). If the breath of God can cause grass or people to wither, when does God choose also to cause the breath to restore?
5. Gospel Parallels
Pharisees
Rather than name the Pharisees first, Matthew and Mark say only that some people were in the synagogue who wanted to accuse Jesus of doing wrong. (See Matthew 12:10 and Mark 3:2.) Luke calls them Pharisees early (Luke 6:7).
In Luke, the Pharisees address Jesus directly in the grainfield, "Why are you doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?" (6:2). The other synoptics are less pointed: "your disciples are doing" (Matthew 12:2) and "why are they doing" (Mark 2:24). In Matthew, "they" bait Jesus with the sabbath question. Jesus then answers them. In Matthew and Mark, Jesus addresses the Pharisees with the sabbath question.
Luke says Jesus knew the thoughts of his accusers (Luke 6:8). Only Luke specifies that Jesus went into the synagogue and taught (Luke 6:6). Only Mark mentions Jesus' angry and sorry feelings toward the Pharisees (Mark 3:5). Luke does not say anything about his feelings but mentions that Jesus looks around at them all (Luke 6:10).
Disciples' Hunger
Earlier, Matthew explains directly that the disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of wheat and eat the grain (Matthew 12:1). Mark 2:26 and Luke 6:7 only imply their hunger.
Sabbath And The Law
Jesus tells the Old Testament story about David and his hungry men eating the priests' bread. Unlike Matthew, Luke and Mark emphasize that David gave the bread to those who were with him. (See Luke 6:4 and Mark 2:26.)
The priests in the temple actually broke sabbath law every sabbath because they ate the bread. Yet, they were not guilty. The crux of using the Old Testament story lay in these words: "There is something here, I tell you, greater than the Temple" (Matthew 12:6). Matthew 23:23 emphasizes the point Jesus wants to make about the Law, that the Pharisees neglect the important teachings of the Law.
Only Luke distances the sabbath and healing stories by saying that Jesus went into the synagogue on another sabbath (Luke 6:6). The following references clarify further the passage about healing and the sabbath. "Which does the Lord prefer: obedience or offerings and sacrifices? It is better to obey him than to sacrifice the best sheep to him" (1 Samuel 15:22) and "I want your constant love, not your animal sacrifices. I would rather have my people know me than have them burn offerings to me" (Hosea 6:6). Like Luke, Matthew says, "For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath" (Matthew 12:8). Mark adds, "even of the Sabbath" (Mark 2:28).
Saving The Animal
When Matthew relates the story of the man with the withered hand, Jesus tells another story of saving the sheep that falls into the hole. He compares the worth of a sheep with that of a person (Matthew 12:9-14). Luke has Jesus refer to the animal saved as an ass or an ox (Luke 6:5).
Healing The Hand
In both Mark and Luke, Jesus appears to make an example of the man with the withered hand. He does not heal him quietly in a corner but brings him to the front (Mark 3:3 and Luke 6:8). Matthew adds that the man's hand became well again just like the other hand (Matthew 12:13). Luke and Mark say his hand is restored (Luke 6:10 and Mark 3:3).
One sabbath [Jesus] was going through the grain-fields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.23 The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?"24 And he said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food?25 He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions."26 Then he said to them, "The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath;27 so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath."28
Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand.3:1 They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him.2 And he said to the man who had the withered hand, "Come forward."3 Then he said to them, "Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?" But they were silent.4 He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.5 The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.6
2. What's Happening?
The Gospel called Mark portrays Jesus as a man of action. If God is to be with us, Emmanuel, then God is a God of action. Jesus had the capacity to use the moment to teach through his actions. We meet him in the middle of doing his work. This healing story also follows the form of a pronouncement story. Jesus confronts a charge or a controversial situation. The plot builds to a climax in which Jesus speaks an authoritative pronouncement. Sympathetic with similar issues that the early church faced, the story suggests that Jesus, also, does not deserve the treatment he receives.
First Point Of Action
Jesus enters the grainfield so his disciples can obtain food. He feeds them because they are hungry. The Pharisees question Jesus about working on the sabbath. Jesus answers the Pharisees with a story from their common scripture. Jesus gives a new, double pronouncement teaching.
Second Point Of Action
Jesus enters the synagogue. So they might accuse Jesus, the Pharisees watch him to see if he will attempt to cure on the sabbath. Jesus addresses the man with the withered hand. He helps the man because the man is hurting. Aware that the Pharisees are observing him, Jesus speaks another pronouncement as a question. The Pharisees are silent. Also silent, Jesus responds with emotion to their attitude.
Third Point Of Action
Jesus commands the man with the withered hand to stretch out his hand. The man does as Jesus directs. God acts, restoring the man's hand.
Fourth Point Of Action
The Pharisees respond by leaving and conspiring with the Herodians about how to destroy Jesus.
3. Connecting Points -- Conversations
Interviewing The Person With The Withered Hand
In some healing miracles, the suffering person speaks. The man with the withered hand does not speak. We never know whether the silence means a total lack of faith, trust, or some degree of faith. Yet the man has voice in his presence. He speaks by his being where he will meet Jesus. He is at the synagogue.
Asker: Who are you, man with the withered hand?
Person: Though neither the editor Mark nor Jesus calls me by name, I have a name. I am a person, not only an example of Jesus making a point.
Asker: What do you mean?
Person: You might also be a Pharisee looking for wrongdoing on the sabbath. For Jesus, even with my withered hand I do count for more than obedience to the Law, including that of doing no work on the sabbath.
Asker: How do we know this?
Person: You cannot know from a distance, but I can tell you this. Whether you stood waiting and expecting or huddled in a corner of despair, if Jesus singled you out, if Jesus looked you in the eye and you looked into his eyes, if Jesus commanded you, however quietly, "Come forward," and then, as you stood before him, he said to you, "Stretch out your hand," you would know which Jesus believed to be the higher law, showing compassion and mercy to one of God's creation or not working on the sabbath. Jesus puts the person first.
Asker: Healers were a denarius a dozen in your day. Why was this man Jesus so different?
Person: Would ordinary healers jeopardize themselves by blatantly breaking the Law? Jesus did call himself the Son of Man. He was more than the ordinary healer.
Asker: Why does your withered hand make you special?
Person: In this age, I am useless, vulnerable and dependent. With only one good hand, I could not be a mason, a fisher, or a carpenter, or engage in any other trade. I cannot make a living. I cannot take care of a family. It is I who must be taken care of.
Asker: So why do you come to the synagogue? Those who beg stand outside the city gate.
Person: From your perspective, it is unclear if I come reluctantly or faithfully or if today is my first trip to the synagogue. There is nothing wrong with my feet. I can walk. On the other hand, to bring myself here, I might have needed some persuasion. I might have lost heart through these years of constant struggle.
You may also ask if the Pharisees planted me in the synagogue. Am I here because I, or they, knew Jesus was coming?
Asker: Is it a case of being in the right place at the right time?
Person: My only real action in the synagogue is making myself available. All any of us can do is to be available to receive the gift of healing. Healing is always a surprise, always a gift. We can neither command nor wishfully think healing to come. When healing does happen, we simply must stretch out our hand to receive it. I speak by extending my hand. I am a recipient of healing.
Person: Now, let me ask you, who are you as you look at me? Do you see a beggar who has given up or a person who is ready to be made whole? Do you see one who, for you, has become dehumanized and worthless because of a withered hand? Do you see someone waiting to get on with life? What do you see in this impairment I carry? For you, do I still count as a human being?
Person: You live in a different time. You have surgeries that can correct some hand abnormalities. You have prostheses. You have job opportunities that can minimize the need for hand labor.
What is the withering of your own hand? What does it mean for you in your day? In what way has your hand become shriveled or lost its energy, its power? That is, what about your incapacity to be mentally, physically, or emotionally productive? What is the ongoing or chronic nature of a symbolic withered hand in your life? Do you want to change it enough that you would stretch it out and offer, that is, allow God to transform it? It would change your entire life. Would that be too scary? Would you prefer to carry the impediments of a withered hand?
When we are hurting, why do we go to the synagogue or church? Is our going passive or active? Is it more than from devotional habit? What is the parishioner looking for, needing, hungering for? What comfort or challenge can we as preachers offer? When is the challenge a comfort? When does the comfort become a challenge?
How do we bring ourselves into the presence of what can help us? When we bring ourselves to God, is the coming in spite of ourselves and our sense of defeat? Are we responding to the hope of God beyond ourselves?
Interviewing A Pharisee
The Pharisees reflect the Jewish preoccupation with the Law.
Asker: When is it okay to break the Law?
Pharisee: You ask that without comprehending that the letter of the Law is just about all we have left of our religion. Political tension is tight. Everything is falling apart. Foreign practices have invaded our people with all sorts of corruption.
It is never okay to break the Law. The Law is more than just a set of regulations. It is a way of life; it binds us together wherever we are. We go wrong in not obeying God's commandments.
Asker: Why do you hound Jesus?
Pharisee: We are just doing what we think is right, following the precise meaning of the Law, following the law of our religion. From our perspective, it is Jesus who is out of line. We have a duty to keep an eye on him at all times.
Asker: Why do you follow Jesus into the synagogue?
Pharisee: The synagogue is the gathering point of Jewish life and thought. It is our coming together as Jewish people, our identity -- national and religious. How dare Jesus break the sabbath with his healing, especially in the synagogue?
Now, we do make exceptions. If the man with the withered hand were in immediate danger of his life, the rules allow for healing. In this person's circumstances, waiting one more day would not have threatened his life.
Asker: Do you not think Jesus knew that? Healing the man quietly on another day would not have made his point that there is a new law, a new way of doing things.
I hear your silence. How else do you speak? Where is your voice?
Pharisee: We speak with the words of a question. We ask Jesus directly in the wheat field why the disciples are doing what is unlawful on the sabbath.
Asker: How else does your silence speak?
Pharisee: Silence can be a powerful threat. We observe Jesus. We want to make him uneasy. We watch him in the synagogue to see whether he will cure the man with the withered hand on the sabbath. We gather evidence so we might accuse Jesus.
Asker: You are so intent on the Law that you miss the whole point that God loves each person. Jesus even draws on the sagas of your religion, the story of David entering the temple because his men were hungry and eating the priest's food. There is much evidence to support such compassion.
Pharisee: We speak with the silence of satisfaction. We have the evidence to nail Jesus. As his superiors, we do not need to respond to Jesus or answer to him. His actions condemn him.
Asker: Are you silent because Jesus truly disturbs you by his uncanny ability to ask the key questions though he knows they will get him into trouble? The issue is not your threatening him. This Jewish brother challenges your entire view of your relationship with God. You were silent when he said to you, "Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?" Now you are silent in response to my question. I wonder what answer you will give in your heart.
Asker: Finally, you speak by your actions. After the miracle, you simply leave, walk out.
Pharisee: We are building our case. We have our evidence. More words are unnecessary.
Asker: As present-day preachers and church members, when are you a Pharisee? How do you talk with Jesus? When are you closed-minded? How do you show your unwillingness to grow? When is it easier to focus on nitpicking than to face change?
Interviewing Jesus
Jesus has the capacity to use the moment to do his teaching. This encourages the preacher's awareness of the everyday. We also can use available moments of learning and teaching.
Asker: The man with the withered hand has a chronic condition and may have become comfortable as a victim. Why do you single him out for healing?
Jesus: This is even more reason for choosing him. Consider the silence of acceptance, adjustment, or coming to terms with a chronic condition. Do not confuse this with inconvenience or the apparent absence of suffering. They are only necessary ways of putting up with what is broken to carry on with life.
Have you ever felt so strongly someone's presence, someone's wordlessly calling to you from the heart, that you turned to address that person? In a room filled with people, have you ever observed someone who appeared vulnerable? Have you then approached that person with the intent of drawing out or somehow assisting her or him? Did you see the sufferer's surprise?
People who suffer do not have to wave both arms in the air to get my attention. That is the last thing someone who lives with a seemingly unchangeable condition would do. Strangers see only the problem rather than recognizing a person's full identity.
It is better that the man suffering from a withered hand does not seek me out. I am not called to respond first to his asking. I can make the point directly about the purpose of sabbath. My action toward this person becomes entirely my looking out for him, my initiative.
God is present. Our Sustainer walks with us through suffering. While we turn to God, God also comes to us when God sees our need.
Asker: When you stand as intermediary in the healing rebirth of the man with the withered hand, you speak directly with an authoritative voice. You say, "Come forward" and "Stretch out your hand." Why are you so brief?
Jesus: I speak simply. A command is clear and direct. I see and acknowledge the suffering and need not waste time interrogating the sufferer. Why prolong suffering? Why use the whole sabbath when the work of sabbath healing may require only minutes?
Asker: Why do you heal him on the sabbath?
Jesus: It appears that to hold up his healing one more day will make no critical difference to his longstanding condition. An outsider cannot fully know the circumstances. Why would God want anyone to suffer another minute for any reason if God could alleviate that suffering? God wishes well for us.
Asker: Regarding the juxtaposition of these stories, the sabbath question and healing this man on the sabbath, why focus on the sabbath?
Jesus: Everything related to the sabbath has become, "Do not do this" and "Do not do that." The sabbath is a special day, a holy day, and a life-giving day. God created and gave light to the world on the first day of creation's week.
Is there anything more life-giving than healing or enabling one of God's human creatures to function as wholly as possible? The smile of God's heart broadens when one child is healed or brought to more fullness of living on sabbath day.
Asker: What do you tell us about who God is in this miracle?
Jesus: If God is to be with us, Emmanuel, then God is a God of action. God puts people first. God is in charge. God has a clear record of bringing order to chaos. God stays present with us in the middle of the chaos -- global, disease, personal, relational. God also is present in the solutions.
However, just as I weep when my friend dies, so do I weep with you for having unexpected limits put on you beyond the usual limits of a human being -- particularly when they are not fixable. Therefore, when God can make a difference, God does not wait for Monday when healing can happen Sunday.
Asker: You do not ignore the Pharisees. You address them directly.
Jesus: My purpose is not to hide but to illumine. I do not intend to close off from life but to open for life.
Asker: You address the Pharisees directly, making two pronouncements. What do you mean by "The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath"? Your words are a direct contradiction to the Law.
Jesus: I wonder what is necessary for men and women to grasp how deeply God loves them, how intimately God knows us and stands with us in all things. How ironic it is that current tradition allows us to save an animal, essentially for economic reasons, on the sabbath. Yet by condemning a human being to death for breaking some sabbath laws, we place people in a position inferior to animals.
Asker: Why do you add, "So the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath"?
Jesus: Maybe I did not add it. What I do know is that I speak and act with an inner authority. Quietly and sometimes noisily, someone has to get things straightened out here. I believe God sent me to do the job. It is God who is in charge.
Asker: When the Pharisees challenge your leading your disciples into the wheat field, why do you tell them the story of David?
Jesus: I am a descendant of the house of David. I, too, am a Jew. David was looking out for his hungry companions. His story offers a precedent.
Our Creator takes care of creation. I take care of the disciples. First comes human need, then adherence to the Law. There are exceptions to the Law that transcend it. I challenge the Pharisees to rethink the place they give to rigid regulations. They have lost sight of the relationship between God and humanity.
Asker: Your second pronouncement comes as a question: "Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?" Why did you state it as a question?
Jesus: A question invites exchange. This question focuses on the basic issue of sabbath. We change and grow only as we ourselves address issues.
Asker: Is that why the response of the Pharisees is silence, because the sandal fits?
Jesus: Silence also speaks. The question sets them to thinking.
Asker: Your silence also speaks. When they do not answer, Mark reports that you are both angry and saddened.
Jesus: These are emotions of a human being, a son of man. I, too, become frustrated. I, too, wonder at the impossibility of my task as God's messenger. My task is to show by my actions what God is like and how we reflect God by our actions and our relationships with each other.
Asker: Jesus, what about all the others who are not singled out for healing?
Jesus: Those who are not obviously healed should not feel God is abandoning them. Healing comes in all forms, as inner whispers of encouragement and a sensing of God's sustaining presence in suffering and in restoration and rehabilitation. God comes as an idea for finding another way of accomplishing a task when an obstacle hinders our doing it.
Even when we give up on ourselves, God does not give up on us. When God created the world, God did not say, "I'm all done now. That's forever." God remains active in our lives.
4. Words
Abiathar
The name Abiathar, meaning "the father (God) gives abundantly," has interesting connotations for this story because one of Jesus' emphases is that of a giving God. However, biblical scholars think some genealogical references were based on a mistake about which priest was the son of whom, Abiathar or Ahimelech. Also associated with the Old Testament pericope is the suggestion that Abiathar was the last of the family of the priest Eli, who trained Samuel. For more information, refer to these names in The Interpreter's Dictionary.
The assigned epistle in which Paul speaks of treasures in clay vessels brings a third connection with the story. David asks and receives holy bread for his men from his high priest (1 Samuel 21). David says not only priests but "the vessels of the young men are holy" (verse 5). Perhaps all people, though made of breakable clay, are valuable vessels and vehicles for expressing God and receiving healing from God.
Suppose that, as a growing boy, Jesus read the story about Samuel's call (1 Samuel 3:1-10) and reread it at the time he performed miracles. Jesus could have wondered about and pondered the same questions Samuel must have considered, that is, who was calling to him and what God was asking him. Anyone who observed Jesus at work also could have asked these questions. Could these be our questions today: Who calls me? How do I know if this call is legitimate? Would I respond as affirmatively and wholeheartedly to the call were I to learn that it is not someone I know and trust? How would I respond knowing it was God, whom I do not actually know? How do I trust that what I am doing is good, right, and appropriate? How will others understand that what I am doing is connected with God?
The answer Jesus would have given is, God is in charge. God is always, ultimately, in charge.
Bread Of The Presence
Consider Jesus' use of bread here and his choice of bread as an element of Communion. Both nourish and give life.
Pharisees
During the Exile, the Israelites were deprived of the temple and escaped with only the Book of the Law. In their dream of restoration, they made the Law the center of Jewish religion. The Law offered a pattern for Jewish life and became the soul of Judaism. Pharisaism grew from a focus on the Law and its interpretation. Pharisees and scribes were a group of lay lawyers. Sadducees were priests. Ongoing conflict between the Pharisees and scribes and the other power group, the Sadducees, brought tension between emphasis on a lay-interpreted Torah and the temple.
The Pharisees were strict legalists and were an exclusive, separatist group. Their precision and rigidity in interpreting the Law brought the development of the elaborate legal tradition. The Pharisees did not focus on politics unless it affected their religious life. Pharisees were the liberal democrats of the day while Sadducees stood for the old ways. Pharisees believed themselves to be the true, pious Israel. They expected the time when a descendant of David, the Messiah, would restore the kingdom on earth.
Sabbath
Paying attention to sabbath has a long history in the Middle East region. Sabbath first comes from a verb meaning to stop or refrain from doing something. Only later does it also mean to rest and be inactive. At first and before the first day of the week became sabbath, doing work on the seventh day was considered unlucky. The number seven and its multiples were important and in some ways connected with evil spirits. Several days of the month were regarded as evil days.
The observance of sabbath, moving from a negative to a positive practice, started with avoiding agricultural labor on the seventh day. Then sabbath observers stopped occupational work of all types and eventually followed the day with no work of any kind. In the Jewish tradition, early Jewish Christians, gentile Christians, shifted sabbath to the first day of the week.
Consider the motif of God's creating light on the first day and our re-creating or taking care of this holy vessel created by God on sabbath. Think about our focus this day of bringing light into the world of our relationships. Consider Jesus bringing light into the lives of those he healed on sabbath and enlightening us about God.
Israel gradually transformed sabbath into a day of gladness and a sacred day in honor of God. Keeping the day holy emphasized the relation between the people and God. As this positive focus grew, the Jewish idea of assemblage developed. People gathered at the sanctuary to worship God.
Despite ever increasing restrictions, the day was to be joyous. The original motive of the Pharisees was to protect the Law, but the Pharisees ended up being rigid. Sabbath again took on a negative focus with the buildup of rules. Acute illness or threat of human life brought some exceptions to abstaining from sabbath work. However, punishment for the violation of sabbath was extreme and could result in death.
Today, ironically, we work harder on our sabbath because often it is the only day we have to get things done. Consider using the time of sabbath so we can do the laundry, repair the faucet, and so forth. Think about the notion of building short sabbaths of rest, meditation and recreation into each day or five minutes of each hour. Consider the full meaning of sabbath when we begin summer months of worship.
What is the measure of ease, relaxation, and pleasure in today's sabbath? What about the "how" of our sabbath? Does present-day sabbath call for redefinition? Is there time for everything on the sabbath -- catch up, rest, worship? How can we honor the holy and the sense of personal/relational wholeness on the sabbath, the interior life and the exterior?
Withered (Hand)
Many of the 54 biblical references refer to the withering of a plant, its fruits, or a tree. Withering is a metaphor for death, fading, cutting off, or not lasting because of some internal drying up of the roots (see Job 18:16) or external condition. The Psalmist uses the plant simile for the withering of the heart or spirit. (See Psalm 102.)
Might Jesus have sought out the man with the withered hand because he wanted to turn around or reinterpret earlier scripture? How might he have responded to the following punishment for forgetting God: "If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither" (Psalm 137:5) or 1 Kings 13:4 or Isaiah 40:7 or 24? Jesus himself caused a fig tree to wither (Matthew 21:19). If the breath of God can cause grass or people to wither, when does God choose also to cause the breath to restore?
5. Gospel Parallels
Pharisees
Rather than name the Pharisees first, Matthew and Mark say only that some people were in the synagogue who wanted to accuse Jesus of doing wrong. (See Matthew 12:10 and Mark 3:2.) Luke calls them Pharisees early (Luke 6:7).
In Luke, the Pharisees address Jesus directly in the grainfield, "Why are you doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?" (6:2). The other synoptics are less pointed: "your disciples are doing" (Matthew 12:2) and "why are they doing" (Mark 2:24). In Matthew, "they" bait Jesus with the sabbath question. Jesus then answers them. In Matthew and Mark, Jesus addresses the Pharisees with the sabbath question.
Luke says Jesus knew the thoughts of his accusers (Luke 6:8). Only Luke specifies that Jesus went into the synagogue and taught (Luke 6:6). Only Mark mentions Jesus' angry and sorry feelings toward the Pharisees (Mark 3:5). Luke does not say anything about his feelings but mentions that Jesus looks around at them all (Luke 6:10).
Disciples' Hunger
Earlier, Matthew explains directly that the disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of wheat and eat the grain (Matthew 12:1). Mark 2:26 and Luke 6:7 only imply their hunger.
Sabbath And The Law
Jesus tells the Old Testament story about David and his hungry men eating the priests' bread. Unlike Matthew, Luke and Mark emphasize that David gave the bread to those who were with him. (See Luke 6:4 and Mark 2:26.)
The priests in the temple actually broke sabbath law every sabbath because they ate the bread. Yet, they were not guilty. The crux of using the Old Testament story lay in these words: "There is something here, I tell you, greater than the Temple" (Matthew 12:6). Matthew 23:23 emphasizes the point Jesus wants to make about the Law, that the Pharisees neglect the important teachings of the Law.
Only Luke distances the sabbath and healing stories by saying that Jesus went into the synagogue on another sabbath (Luke 6:6). The following references clarify further the passage about healing and the sabbath. "Which does the Lord prefer: obedience or offerings and sacrifices? It is better to obey him than to sacrifice the best sheep to him" (1 Samuel 15:22) and "I want your constant love, not your animal sacrifices. I would rather have my people know me than have them burn offerings to me" (Hosea 6:6). Like Luke, Matthew says, "For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath" (Matthew 12:8). Mark adds, "even of the Sabbath" (Mark 2:28).
Saving The Animal
When Matthew relates the story of the man with the withered hand, Jesus tells another story of saving the sheep that falls into the hole. He compares the worth of a sheep with that of a person (Matthew 12:9-14). Luke has Jesus refer to the animal saved as an ass or an ox (Luke 6:5).
Healing The Hand
In both Mark and Luke, Jesus appears to make an example of the man with the withered hand. He does not heal him quietly in a corner but brings him to the front (Mark 3:3 and Luke 6:8). Matthew adds that the man's hand became well again just like the other hand (Matthew 12:13). Luke and Mark say his hand is restored (Luke 6:10 and Mark 3:3).
