Man with withered hand - Mark 3 1-6, Luke 6 6-11, Matthew 12 9
I was a stonemason by profession, as was my father and his father before him. We ran a small business which made us a good living and we were able to employ several young men from the town. All was going well, I was married to a woman I adored and I had two lovely children. Business was booming. And then I had my accident. I crushed my right hand under a block of stone when my apprentice slipped on a wet road as we were carrying materials up a hill to a new building site. Despite the best attentions of the local doctors, nothing could be done to restore movement into my hand and from that day forward my life had changed drastically. I had to restrict my working life to speaking to clients, pricing work, collecting accounts and paying the men. I was in constant pain and had taken to drinking strong wine to try to combat this. I didnt sleep well and I knew that my mood was often dark and difficult for my family to cope with.
My family had helped to build the synagogue and as a result we were of good standing in the local religious community. I went to services every Sabbath and I still prayed every day for some miracle of healing which would take away the pain. I believed that the God who appeared to Moses in a burning bush and who spoke to Gideon in a winepress was still the God of Israel, and that He had promised to send a Messiah to rescue us from the oppression of the Romans. I prayed intently every day for this Messiah to come. But mostly I prayed about the pain.
The day I met Jesus I was in the synagogue. He was there too. I had heard him teach before - he was good. He brought scriptures alive, he was wise yet entertaining in the way he spoke. Unlike other Rabbis he seemed to make his teaching relevant to peoples everyday lives and I was looking forward to what he might have to say that particular day. I was aware that many of the Pharisees and other teachers of the law didn't like him much. I think they felt a bit threatened because he was so popular and had gathered quite a large following in a short period of time. I think they also questioned his theology because he did have quite a different way of interpreting scripture and teaching about God. But I liked him. I was glad when I saw him there that day.
We had got to the Haftorah and had said the prayers for the wellbeing of the congregation when suddenly Jesus stood up and pointed at me and said ' Could you please step up here?' I looked round wondering if he was speaking to someone else. This was most irregular. I could feel all eyes on me as I stepped forward whilst the officiators stood in stunned silence with the Torah still held on high wondering if they should continue with the service and put it back in the ark or not. Jesus nodded to them and they quickly but respectfully returned it to its place. Then Jesus stepped forward until he was standing right beside me.
' You have just said prayers for the wellbeing of everyone here. You have asked Yaweh to bless you and heal and restore you. But are you really willing for Him to do that? ' I could hear the Pharisees muttering and shifting uncomfortably in their seats as they wondered what was coming next.
' This man has a crushed hand. He is in constant pain. He comes here every week to pray and ask God to help him, but how many of you have helped him? You ' and here he pointed directly at the teachers of the law who were sitting in their special elevated seats at the front of the congregation' you are more concerned about whether I am going to do a miracle on the Sabbath, thereby breaking laws which you have invented to keep the people away from God, rather than whether this man is able to work and live free from pain.' I was shocked at how angry Jesus seemed to be with the leaders of the synagogue and I was red with embarrassment that he had chosen to use me as an example to make a point. I wanted the earth to open up and swallow me. But Jesus went on
' Is it more lawful on the Sabbath to heal or to leave someone in pain? Is God happier that you keep your petty rules or that you act with compassion and care for one of His children?' Now it was the turn of the leaders to look embarrassed.
'Sir' Jesus said to me with the utmost respect , ' God has heard your prayers and seen your service. Stretch out your hand.' I hesitantly raised my right hand, and as I did I suddenly felt tingling in my fingers. I gave an involuntary yelp of surprise and then began to be able to move my fingers, then wiggle them, then make a fist. And at the same time I was aware that all pain was leaving me and that the stress of feeling that burden of pain was lifting. I couldnt believe it. In front of my eyes the hand that had not moved for five years was suddenly alive again. I burst into tears. My father, who had been sitting next to me, came rushing up and threw his arms round me and hugged me. My friends cheered and started to applaud. There was a jubilant and very unseemly celebration going on right in the middle of the service, before Jesus had even started to preach. The Pharisees looked extremely cross and some of them walked out. But barely anyone noticed. They were all too busy coming up to shake my newly restored hand and clap me on the back.
Eventually everyone settled down and Jesus started teaching. I cant really remember what he said that day because I spent the entire sermon just looking at my hand, wondering what my wife and kids would say when they saw me completely healed and planning my return to stone cutting as soon as possible. After that day I told everyone I met that I had been healed by Jesus who was God's prophet and later I searched him out and offered to build him a house, or a meeting place or anything he wanted to say thank you for what he had done for me. He smiled at me and said something like ' foxes have holes and birds have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head' - which was a bit of a riddle, but which I took to mean that he didn't need a building at that particular time. I told him that if he ever changed his mind he should look me up. He never did - but if he had done I'd have built him a house fit for a king.
My family had helped to build the synagogue and as a result we were of good standing in the local religious community. I went to services every Sabbath and I still prayed every day for some miracle of healing which would take away the pain. I believed that the God who appeared to Moses in a burning bush and who spoke to Gideon in a winepress was still the God of Israel, and that He had promised to send a Messiah to rescue us from the oppression of the Romans. I prayed intently every day for this Messiah to come. But mostly I prayed about the pain.
The day I met Jesus I was in the synagogue. He was there too. I had heard him teach before - he was good. He brought scriptures alive, he was wise yet entertaining in the way he spoke. Unlike other Rabbis he seemed to make his teaching relevant to peoples everyday lives and I was looking forward to what he might have to say that particular day. I was aware that many of the Pharisees and other teachers of the law didn't like him much. I think they felt a bit threatened because he was so popular and had gathered quite a large following in a short period of time. I think they also questioned his theology because he did have quite a different way of interpreting scripture and teaching about God. But I liked him. I was glad when I saw him there that day.
We had got to the Haftorah and had said the prayers for the wellbeing of the congregation when suddenly Jesus stood up and pointed at me and said ' Could you please step up here?' I looked round wondering if he was speaking to someone else. This was most irregular. I could feel all eyes on me as I stepped forward whilst the officiators stood in stunned silence with the Torah still held on high wondering if they should continue with the service and put it back in the ark or not. Jesus nodded to them and they quickly but respectfully returned it to its place. Then Jesus stepped forward until he was standing right beside me.
' You have just said prayers for the wellbeing of everyone here. You have asked Yaweh to bless you and heal and restore you. But are you really willing for Him to do that? ' I could hear the Pharisees muttering and shifting uncomfortably in their seats as they wondered what was coming next.
' This man has a crushed hand. He is in constant pain. He comes here every week to pray and ask God to help him, but how many of you have helped him? You ' and here he pointed directly at the teachers of the law who were sitting in their special elevated seats at the front of the congregation' you are more concerned about whether I am going to do a miracle on the Sabbath, thereby breaking laws which you have invented to keep the people away from God, rather than whether this man is able to work and live free from pain.' I was shocked at how angry Jesus seemed to be with the leaders of the synagogue and I was red with embarrassment that he had chosen to use me as an example to make a point. I wanted the earth to open up and swallow me. But Jesus went on
' Is it more lawful on the Sabbath to heal or to leave someone in pain? Is God happier that you keep your petty rules or that you act with compassion and care for one of His children?' Now it was the turn of the leaders to look embarrassed.
'Sir' Jesus said to me with the utmost respect , ' God has heard your prayers and seen your service. Stretch out your hand.' I hesitantly raised my right hand, and as I did I suddenly felt tingling in my fingers. I gave an involuntary yelp of surprise and then began to be able to move my fingers, then wiggle them, then make a fist. And at the same time I was aware that all pain was leaving me and that the stress of feeling that burden of pain was lifting. I couldnt believe it. In front of my eyes the hand that had not moved for five years was suddenly alive again. I burst into tears. My father, who had been sitting next to me, came rushing up and threw his arms round me and hugged me. My friends cheered and started to applaud. There was a jubilant and very unseemly celebration going on right in the middle of the service, before Jesus had even started to preach. The Pharisees looked extremely cross and some of them walked out. But barely anyone noticed. They were all too busy coming up to shake my newly restored hand and clap me on the back.
Eventually everyone settled down and Jesus started teaching. I cant really remember what he said that day because I spent the entire sermon just looking at my hand, wondering what my wife and kids would say when they saw me completely healed and planning my return to stone cutting as soon as possible. After that day I told everyone I met that I had been healed by Jesus who was God's prophet and later I searched him out and offered to build him a house, or a meeting place or anything he wanted to say thank you for what he had done for me. He smiled at me and said something like ' foxes have holes and birds have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head' - which was a bit of a riddle, but which I took to mean that he didn't need a building at that particular time. I told him that if he ever changed his mind he should look me up. He never did - but if he had done I'd have built him a house fit for a king.
Comments
Post a Comment