The Poison We So Often Allow

Mark 3:5:“And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.”

In Mark 3:5, Jesus was angry with the Pharisees’ lack of compassion for a man with a deformed hand. They sat silently observing Jesus to see if He would heal this man on of all things, on a Sabbath day. They did not acknowledge the purpose of the Sabbath. The Herodians, a Jewish political party that ordinarily opposed the Pharisees, had now united with them because they saw Jesus as a threat to their political future so united to try to destroy Jesus. Both of these groups silence displayed their hardened and cold hearts, by not answering Jesus’s question: “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to kill (verse 3)?”

If they chose to do good, that would not have violated any OT laws. Their traditions missed the point of the OT law – to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind and one’s neighbor. Jesus turned the tables back on His accusers by asking if it was against the law to do good or to save a life?

Jesus did not lose his temper and yet was “angry” with the Pharisee’s pridefulness. He could see into their hearts and identified their true sinful motives. Jesus was furious at their hard-nosed religion. They were more concerned about their traditions than seeing a man healed. Jesus then moved the question from a legal to a moral issue.

Too often when we give into losing our patience and express our anger, we blow up like a volcano. Our pride and self-centeredness take over. However, Jesus revealed His outrage, in this instance, by healing a man’s hand – by correcting a problem. That was His solution without tearing either religious sect down, and He did it so well! Jesus challenged His accusers, and their sin made Him angry. Jesus then left the crowd and spent a night in prayer.

The aftermath of anger is a lifelong struggle we all face. Jesus came to offer forgiveness, fulfillment, and freedom. Our focus needs to be turned towards worshipping the Lord and deepening our relationship with Him. That’s it.

As Jerry Bridges states: “Sometimes we apologize to the person who is the object of our anger, and sometimes we don’t. The relationship is scarred but not broken. That seems to be the way far too many believers view the sin of anger. they’ve just come to accept it as part of life . . . rather than noxious weeds . . . and can poison our minds.” Respectable Sins. Confronting The Sins We Tolerate.

Listen to Jeremy Camp’s song, Christ In Me w/Lyrics YouTube