Heavenly Father, we come before you as people who, whether we know it or not, desperately need a touch from you.
Lord, we know that from you, many were healed when you walked this earth.
Many were cleansed when you walked this earth.
Many were relieved of oppression and possession when you walked this earth.
Lord, we are people who have professed our faith in you, and yet we still live in a broken world.
We still have our flesh that fights against the Holy Spirit that resides in us.
We still struggle.
Lord, we need a touch from you this morning, this afternoon.
Lord, would you please speak to us by your word?
Lord, minister to us by your spirit, and help us to love you and one another.
We pray all these things in Christ's name.
Amen.
Guys, I will nail that afternoon eventually.
It is baked inside of my being to say this morning or good morning.
Anyways, wouldn't that be wonderful if that was a big setup for, like, this opening intro to the sermon, but it's not.
So, I was talking to Christine about this.
I actually, I struggle sometimes with coming up with introductions.
But, so this was like a, this was like at the 11th hour, but I married two couples in my life.
A huge honor.
I mean, marrying and baptizing and some of those kind of big milestone moments are just wonderful.
Yeah, it's just, it's such a blessing and honor.
One of the things I said in the sermon to one couple I married was that I went into marriage personally with expectations.
And the expectations that I went into marriage were, I mean, they were kind of, they were very naive.
And I came to realize that the things that I thought were going to be hard in marriage were way harder than I thought they were going to be.
They were way, way more difficult.
But on the flip side, the things that I was looking forward to in marriage absolutely exceeded my expectations.
Like, it was unbelievable and it continues to be exceeding my expectations.
But it got me thinking about expectations in general.
We have expectations for things that we hope for, our desires, and oftentimes reality doesn't quite line up with our expectations, does it?
We think that if we are hoping for retirement to look a certain way,
if we are hoping for our children to grow up and pursue a specific profession in a kind of way,
if we have expectations, whether big or small, and it doesn't line up with reality,
we are, we have a choice before us how we are going to essentially change, how we are going to manage our expectations.
We can, we have the choice to either be upset and bitter, if they don't line up the way we want,
or we can adjust and ask the question, like, is this actually better than what I was expecting?
Or it's a bit of a mixed bag maybe, but you kind of roll with it.
You see that life isn't always the way you envision it, but, you know, this is the way reality is.
I'm going to make the most of it.
If you are joining us, or you've missed a week or two, we've been going through the first three chapters of Mark.
And right off the bat, it flavors the rest of the gospel.
Mark chapter 1, verses 14 and 15, Jesus says that he has come to proclaim the gospel.
The kingdom is at hand.
At hand, he is proclaiming the gospel.
Repent and believe in the good news.
We found out that that good news isn't just a get-out-of-jail-free card,
but the good news, the gospel of God, is Jesus himself.
His life, his death, his resurrection.
Jesus has come, and he is the Messiah that has been proclaimed in the scriptures.
And he has been messing with expectations.
The religious elite have this idea of who the Messiah is going to be,
and Jesus is, it just does not compute with them.
We are coming up to the end of kind of like a mini-narrative,
like a story within Mark.
Chapter 2, verse 1 to chapter 3, verse 6,
and we're going to wrap up chapter 3, verse 6 today.
Today, there's like a bit of a mini-narrative,
where Jesus, he is proclaiming the gospel.
He is healing people.
He is cleansing leprous folk.
He is casting out demons.
He is also forgiving sin.
He is also calling himself the bridegroom.
He is doing things that are only reserved for God.
And his authority and his ability continues to progressively grow.
And the religious elite, who know the Bible inside and out,
know who the Messiah is supposed to be,
as Jesus' ability and authority and revelation of who he truly is
gets progressively revealed,
their antagonism and anger and frustration progressively grows.
And it hits a fever pitch at the beginning of chapter 3.
Take a look with me.
Chapter 3, verses 1 to 3, it says this.
Again, Jesus entered the synagogue.
By the way, just pause real quick.
Chapter 2 ends with Jesus saying that he's Lord of the Sabbath.
Very offensive.
We took a look at that last week.
For Jesus to say that he is the Lord of the Sabbath,
he is already rattling chains.
The Sabbath is, I mean, apart from the Day of Atonement,
in the Jewish world,
the Sabbath is the holiest day of the year.
And it happens every week.
Very, very, very, very holy.
So for Jesus to claim authority over the Sabbath,
he was putting himself in the very bootstraps,
or the very boots of God, so to speak.
So anyways, a bit of a background.
Chapter 3, verse 1.
Let's get into this really intense climax in this mini-story here.
Again, Jesus entered the synagogue,
and a man was there with a withered hand.
And they watched Jesus to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath,
so that they might accuse him.
And he said to the man with the withered hand,
hit pause for a quick moment.
Jesus is, in the last chapter, he is a blasphemer.
He fraternizes with sinners.
He's eating dinner with sinners.
With another gospel account,
talks about prostitutes,
tax collectors as well.
He's an apostate.
He's a breaker of the Sabbath.
He's a troublemaker who leads crowds astray.
This is from the perspective of the religious elite.
They want him gone.
And they're quarreling with him.
And here, it's very clear
that they are looking for an opportunity
to just get him.
To level charges against him.
To accuse him.
Trial.
Conviction.
Execution.
Done.
Out of the picture.
And Jesus here has a chance
to pull the plug on his ministry.
Or at least postpone this healing.
The thing is,
it's not as if the religious elite
had some bone to pick with people getting well.
It's just that the way
the Sabbath began to be observed.
And I mentioned this last week.
That the command was in the Bible
for certain bits about prohibition,
about work.
But then the religious scholars,
they would build rules around the rules.
And calling those rules the rules.
And so on and so forth.
So there was this giant collection of rules.
Just for the Sabbath.
And one of the rules for the Sabbath is,
listen, if you get hurt on the Sabbath,
if it's not life-threatening,
it can wait.
It can wait until the Sabbath is over.
So an example of this,
if you break your leg or your finger,
you stub your toe,
and it is clearly broken.
It's not going to kill you to wait.
Set it on Sunday.
Like, put a cast on it Sunday.
Wait.
Why ruin the Sabbath for a broken toe?
So another thing was,
if a house collapsed,
yeah, you want to check the rubble for survivors.
But if you find some dead bodies,
like you can't clear the dead bodies out.
Wait for the Sabbath to be over.
Then you can clear out the dead bodies
and bury them.
The Sabbath,
you don't want to screw around on the Sabbath.
Don't want to mess things up on the Sabbath.
This man's been living with a withered hand his whole life.
Why couldn't it wait one more day?
Why do you have to heal on the Sabbath?
Why are you poisoning,
continuing to poison all the synagogue goers?
You're working.
What are you doing?
They were taking issue at what was about to happen.
So Jesus,
he could have waited.
You don't really,
if you're a bit of a troublemaker,
whether it's right or not,
you don't want to keep being a troublemaker
if you can avoid it.
Why didn't you,
like, Jesus could have waited.
He could have waited a day.
They wouldn't have got the dirt they wanted.
He could have,
he could have punked them,
played their own game.
He could have been strategic.
But Jesus does not do that.
He sees pain,
and he sees an injustice.
Because,
the Pharisees,
and the scribes,
and the religious elite,
the irony here is that,
they are trying to catch Jesus,
for doing good on the Sabbath,
all the while conspiring to kill him,
and to do evil.
And,
right in the midst of this,
forgotten in all this,
is this man with a withered hand.
And he's leveraged for the Pharisees.
He is commodified,
by the Pharisees.
By the Pharisees.
His dignity,
isn't that of somebody who's in need of help.
He's a pawn,
in their scheme,
to get Jesus,
absolutely crushed.
No love.
Complete injustice.
Jesus sees the pain,
and he does not wait,
till after the Sabbath.
What is the Sabbath for?
It is,
for rest,
but it is also this proclamation,
that God created all things,
and he made it good.
It proclaims,
the very goodness of God.
It takes disorder,
and makes it into order.
And Jesus is not having it.
This man has a withered hand,
but maybe his spirit is withered.
People with disabilities,
are often ostracized.
And maybe,
they're not made fun of to their face,
but they're gawked at.
And they're whispered,
whispered about behind their backs.
And in an agricultural society,
a man with a withered hand,
was a man who couldn't work the fields.
Sure, I'm speculating here.
It doesn't say anything about this guy's job,
or what he can and cannot do.
But if you think for a minute,
there's more withered in this man,
than just his hand,
isn't there?
And Jesus doesn't play the game.
He doesn't play the game.
What does he do?
He sees pain,
and brokenness,
and injustice,
and he fixes it.
Right there on the spot.
Like I mentioned,
complete irony here.
The Pharisees,
who are trying to do good,
and keep the law,
are completely missing it.
And not just missing it,
by not doing it,
but are doing evil.
Look with me in verse 4.
And Jesus said to the religious elite,
Is it lawful on the Sabbath
to do good,
or to do harm,
to save life,
or to kill?
But they were silent,
and he looked around them with anger,
grieved at their hardness of heart,
and said to the man,
Stretch out your hand.
Jesus,
Jesus is angry.
And it's connected to the injustice
that he sees,
to this commodification
of a human being made in God's image
that he sees,
and he is angry.
And friends,
it is okay to be angry
at injustice.
It's okay to read the news,
and see some kind of horror
in the Middle East,
or in Asia,
or in parts of Latin America,
or in our backyard,
and to be angry about it.
And there's something
wonderfully righteous about that.
It is not something
that you're indifferent to,
that you're angry about.
Ephesians chapter 4 says,
In your anger,
do not sin.
There's a way to be angry,
and not sin.
Even though oftentimes,
anger and sin are so connected,
Jesus here is completely sinless,
but he is angry.
And not just angry,
but he is grieved in his spirit.
This idea of being grieved in his spirit,
it's the same grieving in his spirit
that we'll see
when Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane.
It's not just that it bothers Jesus,
but he hates it.
He hates what he sees.
We can commodify people as well
if we use people
as a means to our ends.
If we see people as
a stepping stone for promotion,
or, you know,
if I'm friends with that person,
my reputation might get a bit better,
or, you know,
if I clown that person
at a party,
or at a dinner,
people laugh at me,
think I'm pretty funny.
Whenever we disregard
the dignity,
inherent God-given dignity,
for people,
we commodify them.
We use them for something
they were never meant to be used for.
That's why
sexual knowing
with many partners
is a form of
commodifying people,
treating people
as a means
for your own pleasure.
It is not a self-giving act,
it is a self-taking act.
We read the Bible,
and we see stuff like this,
and friends,
let's ask the Lord,
Lord,
am I like the Pharisees
in this?
Am I commodifying people?
Am I using people?
In any way,
small or big,
am I not treating people
as image bearers
of the Most High?
Because my guess is,
as Jesus is the same
yesterday,
today,
and forever,
his reaction
to us using people
might very well be
similar to what we see here.
Anger,
and deeply grieved.
But also,
it is permission
for us to be angry
at the things that we see,
the injustices
that we witness.
This type of injustice
is connected
to,
we'll see here,
their hardness
of heart.
We see that
in verse 5,
and he looked around
at them with anger,
grieved at
their hardness
of heart.
And more than
intellectual objections,
or differing
worldviews,
or even
different faiths,
it is,
it is a hard heart
that is the true enemy
of divine grace
and,
and true faith.
A hard heart.
And how do we get
hard hearts?
Well,
the Pharisees
and the,
the scribes,
they knew the scriptures
inside and out.
They sought to keep
the commands of God.
The Apostle Paul
talks of the Pharisees
and the non-believing Jews
as their zeal,
they have zeal for God,
but not according
to knowledge.
They genuinely
want to follow God,
but not,
but based on
their own interpretation,
their own,
not coming under
the scriptures,
right,
but standing
on top of them.
The hardness
of heart comes
when we fail
to see the heart
of scripture.
And what is
the heart of scripture?
It's always that God
wants to dwell
amongst his people.
The opening
chapters of
Genesis,
it's this beautiful
picture of God
walking with Adam
and Eve in the garden
in the cool of the day.
Adam and Eve
are naked and unafraid
and unashamed.
They are completely
vulnerable
and yet cared for.
The tabernacle
when the Israelites
are going through
the desert
after their,
rescued from slavery
is this picture
of God dwelling
amongst his people.
The temple
when it's built
by King Solomon,
what does it represent?
God dwelling
amongst his people.
And now,
God himself
is clothed
in human form,
in human flesh,
fully God
and fully man.
And where does he dwell?
He dwells among
his people.
It's the heart
of the scriptures.
This is the
overarching story
of the scriptures.
scriptures.
But when the scriptures
are looked at
and seen
as just a bunch
of rules
to be kept
so that we may
please God
somehow at the end
on the cosmic scale
of good and bad,
then we fail
to see the heart
of the scriptures.
And our heart
becomes hard.
Self-righteousness
comes in.
And all of a sudden
we become
stiff-necked.
We see the Messiah
in front of us.
What happens?
We say
he is a blasphemer.
He is an apostate.
He is a friend
of degenerates.
And now
he is a Sabbath-breaker.
God himself,
the heart of scripture
is unfolding
in front of them.
God is dwelling
amongst his people
and they're blind to it.
Hardness of heart.
It's remarkable
that the hardness
of heart
has set in
in such a way.
And what is Jesus?
He is angered
but he's also grieved.
God's word
points to God's purposes
and to God's heart.
And God's
God's creation
is declared good
by God
but it is bent.
But it's still
God's creation.
And when we
treat God's creation
humanity
as the pinnacle
of that
made in his image
it grieves his heart.
It angers him.
Hardness of heart
is faithlessness
and it always
leads to some
sort of injustice.
So Jesus is
undeterred
and unwavering.
The kingdom
is at hand
remember.
He is
constantly being
the source
of healing
and cleansing
and he
says to this man
put out your hand
and it's healed
completely.
Right then
and there
you'd think
that
the Pharisees
and the scribes
and the Herodians
which I'll mention
in a brief moment
they would say
well hold on a second
isn't there something
divine
and wonderful
and beautiful
at play?
Again
the hardness
of heart
that can come
from self-righteousness
is blinding.
Look with me
in verse 6.
the Pharisees
went out
and immediately
held council
with the Herodians
against him
how to destroy him.
The Pharisees
were
they were
they were purists
they did not like
the fact that Rome
was in their land.
The Herodians
were
they were Hellenists
which means
that they were
deeply influenced
by Rome.
there was
a little sprinkle
of Israel
a little sprinkle
of Rome
and they were
conspires
with the enemies.
They were
natural enemies
the Pharisees
and the Herodians
and yet
because of their
hardness of heart
what united them?
The
destruction of Jesus.
Verse 6
again
how they held
council
with the Herodians
how to destroy him
and thus ends
this kind of
mini story
but one thing
we can take
from this mini story
is that
that the Messiah
has come
and he is
destroying
expectations.
Destroying the
expectations
of the Pharisees
the Herodians
the Sadducees
the scribes
even the crowds
and this will bring us
to the next section
here
starting in verse 7
read with me
Jesus withdrew
with his disciples
to the sea
and a great crowd
followed
from Galilee
and Judea
and Jerusalem
and Idumea
and from beyond
the Jordan
and from around
Tyre and Sidon
when the great crowd
heard all that he was doing
they came to him
and he told his disciples
to have a boat ready for him
because of the crowd
lest they crush him
and on one hand
there is a desperation
in this crowd
to touch Jesus
but a failure also
to understand who he is
and the crowd
in Mark
is never a positive thing
the crowd is always
getting in Jesus' way
and causing him
to change plans
and causing danger
to loom
so the crowds
are about to crush him
why?
for he healed many
so that all
who had diseases
pressed around him
to touch him
and whenever
the unclean spirit
saw him
they fell down
before him
and cried out
you are the son of God
and he strictly ordered them
not to make him known
see it's interesting
it's not the crowds
that recognize
who Jesus is
it's not the religious
establishment
even not even
his disciples
the demons
for some reason
are the ones
who declare
who God really
who Jesus really is
we'll touch on that
in future weeks
but one of the things
that I want to
touch on
in verses 7 to 12
this middle section
of our reading
is that one of the things
that the Messiah
was prophesied to do
is to rescue Israel
from her enemies
and at this time
the religious elite
they thought
the enemies are Rome
the Messiah is going to come
draw his sword
and he is going to
whoop behind
he's going to destroy
these Romans
but again
failing to see
the heart of scripture
the Messiah
was always
going to
save Israel
from her enemies
but two things
Israel
would be reconstituted
it wouldn't be
ethnic Jews anymore
there's hints of that
throughout the Old Testament
that it wouldn't just be
the Jews
it would be the Gentiles
as well
and also the enemy
wouldn't just be
the enemy
in the here
and the now
but the eternal enemy
sin and death
so we see a bit of this
just hints of it
remember Mark
here is leading us
to the cross
progressively revealing
who Jesus is
in verse 8
Mark is giving this
kind of like
list of people
of where they come from
he says
Jerusalem
the Galilee
and Judea
Jerusalem
I do
and from beyond
the Jordan
and from Tyre
and Sidon
I'll pause here
Tyre and Sidon
are not
Jewish towns
they are
they're not
they are
they are not
Jewish towns
the people that are there
do not worship
the God of the Bible
in Mark chapter 7
it's this
picture of
there's this
sort of interaction
with Jesus
and the Syrophoenician woman
who is desperate
desperate
to have her child
healed
and where does she come from
she comes from
Tyre and Sidon
and Jesus says to her
listen
I've come for the
children of Israel
it is not
appropriate
for me to feed
the bread
to the dogs
that is meant
for the children
very very very
offensive thing
to say to anybody
but this woman
she goes
even the dogs
get the crumbs
under the master's table
and Jesus heals
a non-Jewish
non-Israelite
daughter
and
he marvels
at her faith
it's interesting
we will partake
in communion
later on in the service
and there's this prayer
it's called
the prayer of humble access
you might recognize it
we do not presume
to come to this
your table
oh Lord
trusting in our own
righteousness
and it goes on
and that prayer
is fashioned
after Mark chapter 7
this picture
it's a beautiful picture
of Jesus
this Jewish Messiah
reaching out
to the Gentiles
salvation is not
just for the Jews
it's for the Gentiles
it's not just
to kick out the Romans
it's to kick out death
and we start to see
bits and pieces
of that
all of a sudden
the crowd
is no longer
fully Jewish
is it?
the next scene
is the last scene
and
Jesus goes up the mountain
we can read it
in verse 13
and Jesus went up
on the mountain
and called
to him
those whom he desired
and they came
to him
and he appointed
twelve whom he also
named apostles
so that they might
be with him
and he might send
them out to preach
and have authority
to cast out demons
and I'll
hit a pause button
there
the wonderful thing
about the Bible
is it doesn't
have a whole list
of footnotes
I mean
Crossway here
puts footnotes
in it
your Bible
has footnotes
in it
but the Bible
doesn't have
a bunch of footnotes
it doesn't say
hey this is from
Isaiah chapter 49
and then you can
scroll back
literally in a scroll
and take a look
at it
but throughout
Mark
and the other
gospel writers
there's hints
there's whispers
allusions
to the Old Testament
and all of a sudden
here we see
we have another example
and Jesus
went up
on
the mountain
whether it is
from Elijah
where he is battling
the prophets of Baal
but especially
when Moses
climbs up the mountain
Mount Sinai
to receive the law
the mountain
is always
where God's power
comes
where his revelation
comes
and in this case
the mountain
it's alluding
to Mount Sinai
Moses goes up
on the mountain
and he
he witnesses
God himself
he comes down
his countenance
has changed
he has
encountered the living God
and Jesus
goes up the mountain
and he calls
whom he desires
it's interesting
that Jesus
is the one
who takes
the initiative
the new Moses
he is the new Moses
he is
he is the Moses
that is better
than Moses
who goes up
the mountain
that is better
than Sinai
and he calls
people
whom he desires
and what does he do
he sends them out
no no no
he does
but he doesn't
send them out
right away
what does it say
and he appointed
twelve
so that they
might be with him
and all of a sudden
he draws
disciples
first and foremost
to be in communion
with him
to know him
and
Jesus here
is
drawing twelve
disciples
twelve
tribes of Israel
and we're starting
to see these
connections with
the Old Testament
where Jesus
is reconstituting
Israel
no longer is
Israel just
Jewish people
but it will be
constituted
with people
of all
ethnicities
every tribe
every tongue
this picture
of the Messiah
is much bigger
than what the
Pharisees
and the religious
elite see
the salvation
reaches to the
ends of the
earth
it's a beautiful
picture
of what does he
do
first he gathers
his disciples
and the apostles
are very unique
in what they do
a very unique
time
in the history
of the church
but the call
of discipleship
is still the same
God first calls
us to himself
he initiates
that
he calls us
to himself
and then what
then he sends
us out
and he sends
us out
with the same
authority
that he has
verse 15
so that they
might be with
him
and he might
send them
out to preach
and have
authority to
cast out
demons
the very
thing that
Christ does
himself
and this is
what it means
to be a
disciple
first it's
being and
then being
sent
and it's
on the
initiative
of Christ
himself
and he
draws
whom he
desires
if you are
drawn to him
it's because
he desires
you
in the same
way he
desired to
heal the
man with
the withered
hand
he desires
to do
good
to not
do evil
to bless
and not
to curse
to proclaim
that this
is the day
of the
Lord
to do
away with
sin and
death
the eternal
enemies
forever
not for a
moment
forever
and what
will he
do
he will
be hung
on a
cross
and we
see little
bits of
it here
right at
the end
of our
section
the 12
are named
and then
verse 19
it says
and Judas
Iscariot
who betrayed
him
Jesus will
be betrayed
by one
closest to
him
but just
like every
other
time in
history
where evil
tries to
thwart the
plans of
God
God will
use it
and turn
it on
its head
death
tried to
end
Jesus
and he
defeats
death
by dying
but does
he stay
dead
he does
not
three days
he rises
again
never to
die again
and that
promise of
new life
is ours
friends he
is calling
you to
himself
today
he has
reconstituted
Israel so
that all
of us who
are not
Jewish people
can call
Abraham their
father
that can
say that
their history
goes all the
way back to
Genesis 1
in a spiritual
sense
that God is
doing a
mighty mighty
work in
all nations
to all
people
and
we
retire in
Sidon
and we
think man
that is
not in
the vicinity
of
Judea
and Jerusalem
and Galilee
we are in
North America
that wasn't
discovered by
Europe
until 500
years ago
we are the
Tyre and
Sidon times
a hundred
times a
thousand
we are the
far off
ones
we are the
ones that
are like
the end of
the earth
away from
Jerusalem
and Judea
and the
Galilee
and God's
grace extends
to us
and not
because
there's the
internet
or mail
or whatever
ships that
sailed across
the sea
in the
1400s
is because
God's
purposes
can't be
stopped
they
can't
hell
rages
against
God
and what
does he
do
he
defeats
it
it's a
wonderful
thing
it's a
wonderful
promise
and it
is ours
today
friends
let us
not have
hard
hearts
let us
not think
with smugness
that we
are self
righteous
because of
what we
do
or what
we
know
we
don't
want
the
living
God
to
grieve
because
of our
hard
heartness
even worse
we don't
want him
to be
we don't
want to
kindle his
anger
against us
but friends
we don't have to
taste death
do we
because Christ
tasted it
for us
so let us
strive
by God's
strength
to be
God's
people
doing
God's
things
and when
we fail
and fall
we go
back to
Mark chapter
1 verses
14 and
15
we repent
and believe
in the
gospel
we keep
repenting
and we
keep
believing
in the
gospel
we come
to the
table
and it's
like our
marriage
vow
is
reestablished
it's like
we are
renewing our
marriage vow
with Christ
at the
table
receiving
him
afresh
saying
I sin
please
forgive
me
I believe
help
my
unbelief
heavenly
father
we thank
you so
much
for
your
goodness
that
your
purposes
are
to
bless
that
you
did
not
wait
till
Sunday
or
even
Saturday
evening
to
heal
the
withered
hand
you
healed
it
on
the
spot
you
knew
that
it
would
get
you
in
all
sorts
of
trouble
and
hot
water
and
you
did
it
you
had
compassion
on
that
man
with
the
withered
hand
you
knew
the
pain
and
the
struggle
that
was
going
on
in
his
withered
life
what
did
you
do
you
restored
and
that's
what
you
do
today
Lord
help
us
to
be
people
that
believe
in
your
restoration
that
you
will
heal
and
that
you
will
restore
and
that
you
will
mend
and
that
all
the
bent
ness
and
brokenness
will
be
made
straight
and
restored
Lord
help
us
to
believe
we
pray
that
comes
out
to
аний