Hi everyone. Welcome back to the logical.
Bible study podcast where we look at the Gospel reading from
today's mass and we want to get it, the literal sense of the
text. What is what was the author
trying to convey to his original audience?
Today at Mass you'll hear from Mark chapter 3, verses 1 to 6.
So here's the reading. Jesus went into a synagogue and
there was a man there who had a withered hand and they were
watching him to see if he would cure him on the Sabbath day,
hoping for something to use against him.
He said to the man, with the withered hand, stand up out in
the middle. Then he said to them, is it
against the law on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do evil to
save life or to kill. But they said nothing.
Then grieved to find them. So obstinate he looked angrily.
Rounded them and he said to the man, stretch out your hand, he
stretched it out and his hand was better.
The Pharisees went out and once at once began to plot with the
herodians against him, discussing how to destroy him.
So the context here is really important.
You remember, in yesterday's episode and yesterday's Gospel
reading. Jesus was walking through the
corn fields on the Sabbath and his disciples picked up corn
picked Grain on the Sabbath day. In the Pharisees said, you can't
do that at the Sabbath day and remember Jesus response, he said
the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
The son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath.
So that was the profound response by Jesus in yesterday's
gospel. Today's Gospel takes place it
appears on the same day later on that same day.
It's still the Sabbath verse 1. Jesus went into a synagogue and
that's where most Jews would be on the Sabbath day.
They would all go there for teaching and for prayer.
And in there, there's a man who had a withered hand.
So probably it means the man's hand is atrophied.
It's infected with something and possibly even paralyzed his hand
does not work the way it should. And at face value, that doesn't
sound as bad as other conditions like blindness and deafness, but
think about it in this culture, the way that most men earned a
living with through manual labor.
So it's quite a severe condition in that culture.
Presumably the man. It doesn't say this but probably
the man comes to Jesus for healing either that or Jesus
notices the man and the Pharisees predict that Jesus is
going to heal them. In either way the Pharisees see
this healing is about to happen. Verse 2, they watched him.
So, that's the Pharisees watched him to see if he would cure him
on the Sabbath day. So, again, the Pharisees are
concerned about what's Jesus going to do on the Sabbath day?
Because, as we said yesterday, on the Sabbath day, Jews were
not allowed to do work, but what countered?
His work was determined by the Pharisees.
The Pharisees had, this complex system of what counted as work
and what doesn't And according to their system healing or
medical treatment is considered to be work according to their
classification. So you're not allowed if you're
a Jew you can't seek medical treatment on the Sabbath.
And the text says that they're hoping for something to use
against him. So this is the first clear
indication in Mark that the Pharisees out to get Jesus up.
Until now they've just been watching Jesus and learning and
now they're actually trying to catch him out.
So by this time, they probably recognize that Jesus is a threat
to their established system. They feel like their authorities
being undermined by his even if he is appointed by God, they
want him out of the way. Now most likely some, we don't
know this but probably some of the Pharisees actually started
to think about things and might have become Jesus followers.
So when it says the Pharisees brought against him, probably
means collectively. Most of them were but we
shouldn't assume that they're all bad.
Probably some of them who were genuinely open.
May have changed their mind in response to some of Jesus
teachings. Verse 3, Jesus says to the man
with the withered hand, stand out in the middle.
That's a bit of a strange translation that ours has other
translations. Just say come here or another
translation says Rise up. So it carries this idea, a few
commands the man to come out to a place where everyone can see
him. He wants this to be a public
healing. And then he asked the fair, he
hasn't healed him yet but he asks, the Pharisees.
The question is it against the law on the Sabbath day to do
good, or to do evil? Now, the Pharisees system
doesn't, actually answer this question.
Remember the Pharisees system just says, what counts as work
and what doesn't? Jesus then asks a similar
question. To save life or to kill.
And again the Pharisees system doesn't address whether you can
save life or kill on the Sabbath day.
So by bringing this up, Jesus is highlighting, the God's
intention is to save life rather than kill and that that's
actually more important principle a deeper principle
than what counts as work and what doesn't.
So again, Jesus doesn't enter into a debate about what exactly
counts as work. And what doesn't he brings them
back to deeper principles? Yes.
And that's often how he goes about handling.
These situations, he wants people to remember deeper
principles that have been neglected.
And in fact, that's Jesus whole interpretation of the law.
He doesn't, he doesn't necessarily abolish the law, but
he wants to remind people of the deeper intention of the law.
And he says that if we neglect the deeper intention, that
probably means that we've missed the whole point and that's his
whole message. He's constantly giving to the
Jews. But the Pharisees were silent,
and that's a common response by the Pharisees.
Now, it probably doesn't mean that they can't think of an
answer. They're not sitting there going,
I don't know, don't know. They probably could think of a
few answers here. They're very smart people.
It's just that they know if they answer the committing themselves
to that answer and they don't want to make themselves look
foolish. So they choose to stay silent
verse 5. Then Jesus grieved to find them,
so obstinate It's an interesting phrase, isn't it?
Or another translation says, Jesus was grieved at their
Hardness of Heart. Hardness of Heart is basically
stubbornness. So, Jesus is grieved at the
stubbornness of the Pharisees for refusing to answer the
question. The fact that they stayed silent
to didn't say anything. Jesus is frustrated that they're
so stubborn. And think about it from Jesus
perspective, what Jesus wants more than anything is for his
Jewish people to come to God, with their whole selves, to come
into the kingdom of God. And he wants to have leaders.
He wants them to have leaders, that will help them get closer
to God. And so, he's frustrated that
these Jewish leaders are not being good leaders, they're not
helping people come to God. He looked around at them with
anger. This is one of these few
instances where Jesus gets angry.
Now, it's obviously not an uncontrollable rage here.
He just looks around and he's angry.
And what has been written about this?
And most people would say, this is kind of like a righteous
anger. Not all anger, is sinful, and
Jesus, here, obviously, Jesus doesn't sin, so he has here an
anger that's Justified, but he doesn't yell at them.
He then turns to the man with the withered hand and says, Is
stretch out your hand. So apparently the man can
stretch out his hand or maybe by Jesus.
Command now the man can stretch out his hand and immediately
it's healed. So probably everyone would have
seen the healing happen before their very eyes But verse 6, the
Pharisees went out at once. So even though the Pharisees
have just witnessed this amazing visible miracle healing, they're
more concerned with upholding, their reputation and destroying
Jesus. And they begin to plot with the
herodians. So who are the herodians that a
group of high-ranking Jews, who were loyal to Herod Antipas?
Who's actually the king of this part of Israel down in
Jerusalem? They haven't got a king of
Israel anymore. But up in Galilee, where Jesus
is at the moment, there is a king of that part of the world
and he's a Jew. So, if your herodian you're
loyal to King Herod and your kind of you want to preserve
this National Jewish establishment.
You want to keep the Jewish state Going as it is.
And so what are the herodians want?
Really, they want to keep the peace?
They want Israel to stay as Israel, they know that if things
get out of hand, the Romans will come in and wipe them out.
So they want to keep the peace. They don't want anyone to come
in, that's going to disrupt the peace and obviously, they would
see Jesus as someone who will disrupt the current peace in
that part of Israel. Normally the Pharisees and the
herodians don't get along. They have quite different views
about religion, but the Pharisees know that they'll have
allies in this case with the herodians.
Cuz both of them would want Jesus out of the way, but for
different reasons. So, they plot how to destroy
him. When it says, destroy some
translations say that means kill, they're already planning
how they can kill Jesus, which is possible.
But it could also just mean ruin is in ruin, his reputation, to
get him out of the way out of the public Limelight.
It's interesting, isn't it the Pharisees choose to do evil
rather than good on the Sabbath? So they wouldn't answer the
question about that before but now they're actually choosing a
certain evil action on the Sabbath.
Now, I want to that's the end of our analysis but I want to read
you a quote here, from the Catholic commentary on sacred
scripture for the Book of Mark. And that's the main resource I
use in helping me think about an exegesis with this passage.
And this particular quote, I think is a really, really nice
summary of what's why did Jesus do this particular healing?
So here's the quote. This incident raises the
question. Why did Jesus deliberately heal
on the Sabbath knowing that it would provoke such Furious
antagonism Note that in all four, gospels, every one of the
healings, initiated by jesus takes place on the Sabbath on
other days, the sick themselves or their relatives or friends
approached Jesus to seek healing, but only on this
sabbath. Does Jesus take the initiative?
Why does Jesus apparently prefer to heal on the Sabbath?
The Declaration giving 2:28 and Illustrated in chapter 3 in
their synagogue provides the answer.
The son of man is Lord of the Sabbath and he exercises his
lordship by undoing the effects of sin and inaugurated the new
creation by which humanity is restored to the fullness of life
that God intended from the beginning.
Jesus, thereby fulfills. The original purpose of the
Sabbath to bring Humanity into communion with God.
So that's a really, really good. Corey, I Think Jesus is all
about. Bringing people back into
communion with God and he has a lot to say about what that means
in terms of the Sabbath. Now, there's a few places where
this appears in the catechism. There's in paragraph, five seven
four, there's a discussion about how the Pharisees plot to kill
Jesus and that references this passage and then in fact in
paragraph 1859 which is in the section about the difference
between Mortal and venial sin. There's a discussion about
Hardness of Heart and what that means in terms of mortal or
venial sin, and it references this passage as well.
So that's well worth reading. Probably the two most important
paragraphs that I'll read out here a paragraph to 173, which
is about the Sabbath day. It says, the gospels report many
incidents when Jesus was accused of violating the Sabbath law but
Jesus never fails to respect the Holiness of this day.
He gives this law. It's authentic and authoritative
interpretation. The Sabbath was made for man.
Not man for the Sabbath with compassion Christ, declares the
Sabbath for doing good rather. Than harm for saving life.
Rather than killing the Sabbath is the day of the Lord of
mercies and a day to honor God. The son of man is Lord even of
the Sabbath. And then in paragraph five nine
one, which is about Jesus, faith in God, and Israel's faith in
God. It says such a demand for
conversion in the face of. So surprising of fulfillment of
the promises allows one to understand the sanhedrin's.
Tragic misunderstanding of Jesus, they judge that he
deserved the death sentence as a blasphemer, the members of the
Sanhedrin were thus acting at the same time, out of ignorance,
and the hardness of their unbelief.
Still hear The Echoes from The Mark 3.
Passage about the Pharisees, having a Hardness of Heart.
Okay, that's the end of your exegesis for today.
Hopefully you're enjoying this way of starting.
The liturgical year were up to Chapter 3 of Mark.
Now, moving through really quickly and if you think that
other people would benefit from going through the liturgical
season, by listening to this podcast, then please make sure
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