Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Un-Saving Faith

"1He entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered. 2They were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. 3He said* to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” 4And He said* to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent. 5After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said* to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him." Mark 3:1-6

If you have just glanced through the passage above, please read it again, look closely at what was happening.
Through past events, they-the Pharisees- knew that Jesus was able to heal. They were watching to see if He would do such work on the Sabbath, showing Him to be, in their eyes, a lawbreaker.
Jesus did not break any of the Sabbath laws; in healing the man's hand He was obeying the greater law, and showing Himself to be Lord of the Sabbath.
"5After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said* to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored."
Jesus is not often known to be angry, but here it is recorded that He was angry, grieved at the hardness of their hearts.
Oh, they believed. They had faith that He could heal. They knew that such power came only from God. But that faith wouldn't save them.
They had God right in front of them, showing them evidence that was irrefutable. Because they could not refute what He did, or answer what He asked, they remained silent.
Does Jesus have cause to be grieved at the hardness of your heart?

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