Talk 9 Mark 3:1-12 Defying the Pharisees and dealing with demons
Welcome to Talk 9 in our series on Mark’s gospel. Today we’ll be looking at Mark 3:1-12. In previous talks we have seen how Jesus came proclaiming the Kingdom of God (1:14-15) and demonstrating with miraculous signs his authority over demons and disease. In chapter 1 he casts an evil spirit out of a man in the synagogue at Capernaum, heals Simon’s mother-in-law of a fever, and cures a man with leprosy, and in chapter 2 he heals a paralysed man, telling him first that his sins are forgiven.
We have also seen how his authority did not go unchallenged, particularly by the Pharisees, who understood full well the implications of the claims Jesus was making – his right to forgive sins, and to be the Lord of the Sabbath, which entitled him to heal on the Sabbath and to interpret the law of Moses very differently from them. Now, as we turn to the first six verses of chapter 3, we see Jesus once again antagonising his critics by healing on the Sabbath day.
Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shrivelled hand was there. 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shrivelled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.” 4 Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. 5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
1 Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shrivelled hand was there.
Mark doesn’t tell us which synagogue it was, but it may well have been the one in Capernaum again. The man’s disability would have made him unable to work, particularly if, as early tradition has it, he was a plasterer.
2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath.
Bearing in mind that there are no chapter divisions in the original text, some of them almost certainly refers to the Pharisees who had challenged Jesus at the end of chapter 2. They had clearly rejected his explanation of why his disciples were allowed to pick grain on the Sabbath, and would have hated his claim to be Lord of the Sabbath. To acknowledge the claims of Jesus would have undoubtedly required not only a massive shift in what they believed, but also a complete change in their lifestyle. People who are unwilling to repent will often look for a reason to find fault with Jesus – or with his followers as we saw in the last chapter.
3 Jesus said to the man with the shrivelled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”
Why did Jesus say this? Did he want to draw attention to the miracle? By asking the man to stand up in front of everyone, he would certainly ensure that all those present would witness it. His miracles were signs validating his message about the kingdom of God and he longed for people to believe it. But at this early stage in his ministry, as we shall see later, it seems unlikely that Jesus would have called the man forward just to draw attention to the miracle.
Alternatively, from the question he asks next in verse 4, it seems possible that he did it as a direct challenge to the attitude and teaching of the Pharisees. What better way to expose their hypocrisy and to demonstrate the truth that the meeting of human need is more important than the ritualistic observance of the Sabbath, than to show his compassion by working a miracle of healing on the Sabbath day in front of the entire congregation?
But more probably, in my view, Jesus called the man forward for the benefit of the man himself. In the culture of the day, it would have been natural for people with disabilities to want to keep themselves hidden, partly because many people were revolted by any form of deformity, and partly because these afflictions were widely regarded as having resulted from personal sin. Here, as with the healing of the woman with curvature of the spine in Luke 13, Jesus’ calling the person to the front was a declaration that their disability was nothing to be ashamed of, and their years of embarrassment were now over. It would also encourage their faith.
4 Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.
So far the Pharisees have said nothing, but Jesus knows what they’re thinking, so he anticipates their challenge by asking them a question. The Pharisees had so many man-made rules about the Sabbath that it was virtually impossible to do anything! But to do nothing when someone is in need is to do evil. If anyone knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them (James 4:17). Jesus was the only sinless person who has ever lived, and because he had the power to heal the man it would have been wrong for him not to do it. But he not only committed no sin, he was also never guilty of a sin of omission. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38). Surely the Pharisees knew he was right, but they refused to admit it.
5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.
Notice the strong emotions of Jesus here. He is angry and he is deeply distressed. It’s not wrong to be angry. It’s right to be angry about injustice, about cruelty, about hypocrisy, about anything and everything that spoils the world we live in. And God is angry about sin because he loves us, and sin is the root cause of all that’s wrong in the world.
But here Jesus is not just angry. He is deeply distressed. He grieves over the hardness of human hearts, yes, even over the Pharisees’ stubborn hearts. His anger is mixed with love. He is distressed because he knows there is no hope for those who reject him. Hear the distress in his voice as he weeps over Jerusalem:
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing (Matthew 23:37).
The simple fact is, we all have a choice. To believe Jesus or not. The man with the shrivelled hand was completely and immediately made whole because he chose to believe Jesus. The Pharisees were lost because they chose not to.
6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
We don’t know why the Pharisees were so opposed to Jesus. Were they jealous of his popularity? Did they hate anyone who didn’t agree with their point of view? Was their social position threatened by Jesus’ radical teaching? Or did his responses to their criticism make them look stupid? Whatever the reason, their opposition reached a point where they began to plot how they could kill him. They were prepared to break the moral law contained in the Ten Commandments to defend their interpretation of relatively minor regulations regarding the observance of the Sabbath!
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. 8 When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. 9 Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. 10 For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. 11 Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was.
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. 8 When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon.
The Jewish religious may have rejected him, but crowds of ordinary people were coming from far and wide because they heard all he was doing. Miracles, especially miracles of healing, always attract a crowd. We saw in chapter one how, when Jesus cast an evil spirit out of a man in the synagogue at Capernaum, news about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee (1:28). The people brought to Jesus all who are ill and demon possessed (1:32). After the healing of the leper the people came to him from everywhere (1:45). In chapter 2 they gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left… (2:2). And so it goes on throughout the earthly ministry of Jesus.
And it continues in the book of Acts where, in 1:1 Luke refers to the record in his Gospel of all that Jesus began to do and to teach. Through the ministry of his disciples Jesus was to continue to do and teach as they were empowered by the Holy Spirit. Miracles like speaking in tongues and healings drew thousands under the sound of the gospel. And they still do so today, except where cynicism and unbelief are rife in society (cf. Mark 6:5-6 where even Jesus could do no miracles in his home town because of their lack of faith).
Of course, as we have seen in previous talks, although miracles may draw the crowds, they do not necessarily lead to repentance. Some come out of curiosity, others because they are desperate for a solution to their problem, but not all are grateful, as we see in the story of the ten lepers. So, what is the purpose of miracles? They demonstrate God’s love and compassion. They manifest his power. They confirm the message of the gospel. They make it easier for people to repent and believe. And they vindicate God’s righteous judgment on all who, having experienced them, persist in their refusal to repent.
9 Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him.
This is not the only reference in the Gospels to Jesus teaching from a boat. The reason given here is to keep the people from crowding him. It would also have had the added advantage that more than those immediately next to him would be able to hear his message. Living by the sea I have often noticed on a calm day how much farther sound carries over water than on land.
It’s interesting, too, that the disciples still had access to a boat. Perhaps Zebedee, the father of James and John was still in the fishing business. The fishermen had forsaken everything to follow him, but God still had a purpose for the knowledge and experience they had acquired before their conversion. Our natural talents, as well as any supernatural gifts he may entrust to us, can be very valuable in contributing to the spread of the message of the gospel.
10 For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him.
Of course, Jesus was not afraid to touch or be touched by people with diseases. We have already seen how he touched the man with leprosy without fear of contagion. But we also know that he was able to heal at a distance, something well understood by the Roman centurion In Matthew 8, and the Syro-Phoenician woman in Mark 7.
11 Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”
Notice the word whenever. Jesus cast out many evil spirits, but they all, without exception, acknowledged who he was. And they knew that he had power over them:
What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God! (Mark 1:24 and Luke 4:34)
He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won’t torture me! (Mark 5:7 and Luke 8:28)
They address him as Jesus of Nazareth, but they know that he is far more than a man from Nazareth. He is the Holy One of God. He is Son of the Most High God. They know that he has power to destroy them. As James, the Lord’s brother, tells us, Even the demons believe.., and shudder (James 2:19). Had James been present sometimes when Jesus had cast out demons and seen them cower before him? We don’t know, but whenever they saw him they fell down before him. And the day is coming when at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow… (Philippians 2: 9-11).
How did the evil spirits know who Jesus was? Because before Satan and his minions had rebelled against God and were cast out of Heaven they had known him as the Son of God through whom and for whom they were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers, or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him (Colossians 1:16). No wonder they shudder in his presence.
12 But he gave them strict orders not to tell who he was
Jesus refused to accept the testimony of demons, even though what they were saying was true. Before we attempt to answer why, we need to bear in mind that it was not only demons that Jesus told to be silent. We’ve already seen in Mark 1:44 how he tells the leper he has healed, See that you don’t tell this to anyone. In 5:43 he tells Jairus not to let anyone know about how Jesus has raised his daughter to life. In 7:36, after the healing of the man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, he says the same thing. In 8:30 after Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Messiah, and in 9:9, after their experience of the transfiguration, he even tells his disciples not to tell anyone about him.
So, although, in the case of demons, Jesus may have ordered them to be silent as they were hardly reliable character witnesses, this would not account for why he told the people and his disciples to be silent. One explanation that’s frequently offer to this question, often referred to as the Messianic secret, is that if Jesus were openly identified as the Messiah the people would have probably attempted to crown him as their king, which was not, of course, in line with the reason he had come.
This may well be correct, but in my view another explanation is far more compelling. It’s clear that the restrictions Jesus imposed on his disciples were only temporary. In Mark 9:9, after his transfiguration, Jesus tells his disciples to tell no one who he was until he had risen from the dead. And in Acts 1:8 he tells them – and us – to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth.
So the restrictions he placed on telling others about him were temporary. But why? The answer surely lies in a combination of the two last points we have mentioned. The timing wasn’t right for the majority of people to know who he was, because if they did, they would want to make him the wrong kind of king and this could disrupt the years of training the disciples would need to fulfil their role of spreading the gospel after Jesus had returned to Heaven.
But that leads us to the subject of our next talk when we shall see how Jesus delegates his authority to the apostles he has chosen and gives them authority to heal the sick and cast out demons.