THE GOSPEL OF MARK "Behold My Servant!"

                  Jesus....His ANGER against religious hypocrites

The all action chapter when Jesus exposes the evil of religion               Mark chapter3 vv1-12

We must ever remind ourselves, we are learning in great detail about the perfect servant of God, and Mark would have us note every action and reaction.    What He does, how He reacts, what He says in different situations is a pointer for us who would serve the Lord.   

• His courage   "He entered again into the synagogue......"     v1     Opposition and criticism did not prevent Him going again.   He went there to serve His God as an example to all; this was normal practice and opposition did not concern Him.
• His compassion    "there was a man there which had a withered hand....."    v1      He was always ready to deal with the problems no matter how small.   So far He has healed Peter's wife's mother of a full body fever; dealt with demon possession; cleansed the leper, and healed a helpless man.   All these were major issues, the man with the withered hand had a partial disability. The perfect servant has come to deal with all aspects of sin and it's consequences, and a withered hand did not reflect the original purpose of a perfect Creator.
• His critics       "They watched Him........that they might accuse Him."     v2     Religious prejudice at work, they were so sure of their correctness, they had no interest in the man, desiring only to defame Jesus.   False accusation is a serious matter, and is particularly harmful in spiritual life.  One of the names of Satan, the adversary, is the Greek word "diabolos", or devil, and slander is his stock and trade.......Revelation 12v10   "...the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night."   To desire to, or actually falsely accuse people  is the work of the devil.   The promise of God to His servants in such cases is this "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise in judgment thou shalt condemn.   This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me saith the Lord."   Isaiah 54v17.
• His control       "And He said unto the man...........And He said unto them..."  vv3-5.   Jesus met the accusers head on, and so should we.   He would be gracious when dealing with people in their need, but He confronts the false accusations of so-called religious leaders, and exposes their wrong judgments.   He brings the issue into the public arena..."He said to the man stand forth....and he saith unto them is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath day or to do evil."   He is telling us that Christianity is not all about defence, but also about attack and later He will verbalise this when He talks of "spoiling the strong man's goods."  There are times when we must make issues public.   He asks the man to stand forward, and then speaks to the accusers, while performing before their very eyes another miracle.   They had no answer for Him, and Mark records His body language "He looked round about on them in anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts...."    He showed every one of them the whites of His eyes in a settled, determined, angry, gaze.   He followed it by swift action, for which they had no answer.  The man's hand was restored to perfection.   God is still angry with religious hypocrites.
• The conspiracy against Him       "And the Pharisees went forth and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against Him how they might destroy Him."  v6.   There are two things outstanding here; fist, the murderous intent of the Pharisees against Jesus and secondly, their unholy alliance with the Herodians.   Jesus had noted the hardness of their hearts, which caused them to ignore the plain evidence before their eyes.   They "took counsel"; they had a meeting with Him to decide the destruction of this new Rabbi in their midst.   Thy lost no time, they did it straightway.   They conspired with their former enemies to get rid of Jesus.   Pharisees were known for their national patriotism, whereas Herodians were quite in favour of the Roman occupation.   Also Herod was an Edomite who had no right to the throne of Israel, something which the Pharisees abhorred.  Yet in their common hatred of the person of Jesus Christ, they both readily compromised all they stood for.  How many times has this happened from the beginning of time, indeed from the murder of the righteous Abel right down to the present day this pattern of religious hatred has continued.    It is the lot of all God's servants to experience hatred.

Jesus withdrew Himself; He confronted error but He did not court danger.   Religious leaders had passed the death sentence, all they needed was enough support and public plausibility to achieve the end.   The time was not yet and Jesus removed His disciples from the vicinity.   Crowds followed them and in vv7-12 we have an outline of vast numbers from a wide area in their wake, and also a great variety of  human problems solved.   Only Jesus has the answer to the human problem, whether of indwelling sin or it's consequences.   There are two different words for "multitude" in the section, the first referring to a large number, the second of a thronging rabble which were, at times, unruly in their attempt to receive healing from the Master-Healer.   The areas from which they came borders almost the entire land space promised to Abraham;   Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea (Edom), beyond Jordan, and Tyre and Sidon.   This takes in the north, south, east, and west borders of the land and beyond.   He healed many of different plagues, such that they tried to touch Him to be healed, it was a celebrity culture that had developed.   Also there were many unclean spirits, a testimony to the poor spiritual state of the nation.   These, unlike the religious leaders knew exactly who He was; "Thou art the Son of God" they proclaimed and they were charged not to publicise this fact for people must come to this truth for themselves.

He departed from the thronging multitude and went up into a mountain from whence He called the 12 apostles.