Chain Breaker
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· 7 viewsJesus restores worship and the wounded
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Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.” Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
Responsive Reading: Ps. 103: 1-5; Isaiah 35: 3-6.
The Gospel of Mark reveals Jesus Is a chain breaker. In our passage Jesus will break two types of chains; the chains of affliction and the chains of religious bondage. All of us need one or both of these chains broken.
The Bible says, “Another time Jesus went into the synagogue.” He did so because Jesus Christ is a worshipper. The synagogue represented the remnant of God’s people. Please understand the importance of its existence. The fact He went to the Synagogue shows how much worship of God had evolved.
During the time of Moses, Israel’s life and worship centered around The Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was a tent set in the middle of the encampment. The twelve tribes set up their tents around the Tabernacle which held the Ark of the Covenant. They would make sacrifices and offerings to God. The Lord would come in the cloud and rest above the Tabernacle.
On the day the tabernacle, the tent of the covenant law, was set up, the cloud covered it. From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire. That is how it continued to be; the cloud covered it, and at night it looked like fire.
Later King David desired to build a temple to offer sacrifices to the Lord in Jerusalem. David arranged all the plans but Solomon Israel built the temple . God delighted in Solomon’s efforts and promised to meet Israel there and accept their sacrifices.
the Lord appeared to him at night and said: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.
The Temple was destroyed by The Babylonians in 587 BC. and Israel was exiled to Babylon. The Jews no could no longer make sacrifices to the Lord. The Temple was destroyed and most of Israel lived in a strange land.
Eventually, Israel gathered in small places to read scripture and maintain some form of worship which became the foundation of the Synagogue.
By the time of Jesus, even though they had returned to Israel, the synagogue was still an essential part of Jewish life. The Synagogue centered around the readings of scripture, singing Psalms and someone delivered an exhortation. See the evolution!
Israel went from making sacrifices to God before the Tabernacle in the wilderness with Moses, to worship at the Temple in Jerusalem built by Solomon to gathering in small groups called synagogues to study The Word.
The Jews realized the Synagogue was not the Tabernacle in the wilderness, nor the Temple in Jerusalem. The Synagogue represented how they gathered to wait for the Messiah to return and bring true worship back.
Some people have been angry at the church because they misunderstood the role of the church. The church is not the kingdom of heaven. It is a gathering where God’s people are in active waiting.
Our worship is centered around The Word. When we pray and sing hymns and spiritual songs, we are actively waiting for the Trumpet Blast and the return of The Savior.
People who are angry at the church have missed the whole point of our gathering. This is not the new heaven or the new earth. The church is not the answer to the world’s problems. It is the harbinger of the world’s answer.
We did not gather for a spiritual fix or some emotional therapy. We gather in hope for the word to be manifest among us. We anticipate the move of God and garner every opportunity for Christ to enter our lives and loose the bonds of wickedness.
Jesus again went to the synagogue,
“and a man with a shriveled hand was there.”
The afflicted man had to be there because he would define the purpose of Jesus Christ.
I have a problem with this passage. Those present stared at Jesus if he would heal the man on the Sabbath. The problem I have is the indifference of the people who worshipped with him.
The man with the withered hand came to synagogue every Sabbath. He was a friend of the Pharisees and regular worshipper. No one ever said to the man, “God is a healer. Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness and healed Israel. Do you want to be healed?”
If Jesus healed the man with the withered hand, they would consider him a law breaker. They misunderstood the purpose of Sabbath.
There’s a difference between breaking laws and breaking norms. Jesus did not come to destroy the Law and the prophets, but to fulfill them. Jesus never broke God’s Law, but he did break the chains of religious ignorance.
Jesus shamed the leaders. Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.
Jesus came to break the chains of religious bondage and idolatry.
Would Jesus heal the man on the Sabbath? This implies something very deep. They thought the act of healing was human in its origin and not divine. The human being had the power to heal or not. And if he used his power to heal, it would be the same as plowing a field. This was unlawful on the Sabbath day. If Jesus healed on the Sabbath day, he was like any other working his craft on the Sabbath.
Do you see the problem? They missed the point.
God is the healer.
Healing is the future for every believer.
Healing is not work if God does it.
Not to perform acts of love as a misunderstanding of God.
Jesus cannot come into any place and leave people in the same condition He found them in.
Healing is not work. It is rest. It is the act of Jubilee.
Healing the man with the withered hand is not just another healing story in the Bible. The withered hand was a symbol of Israel’ He idolatry in the past. In first kings chapter 13, Jeroboam, the leader of the 10 tribes to the north led the people into idolatry. For fear Israel would return to worship God in Jerusalem, under Rehaboam, he set up golden calves which was idolatry.
Just when we was about the offer a sacrifice to the golden calf, a prophet of God from Judah, confronted him.
When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back.
His idolatry brought a curse upon himself and the northern kingdom.
Healing the man with the withered hand meant God has restored his people from idolatry through His Son.
Jesus told the man with the withered hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”
Was this to embarrass the man, to highlight his infirmity? No.
Jesus was breaking the chains of spiritual bondage.
They watched him with bitter dread to see if he would heal the man.
Jesus looked at them and he was angry at their stubborn hearts. When he healed demand, they went out to conspire with the Herodians to kill him. That is a spirit of bondage.
We do not want to manifest this spirit of criticism and judgment. We want to manifest the spirit of opportunity. Jesus came to break the spirit of religious bondage. The lamb of God overcomes the golden calf. Jesus came to set every captive free. say, everyone can be loosed if you have the courage to stand up out of need and stretch out your hand by faith When Jesus told the man to stand up in front of everyone, he was breaking the chain on his mind.
Jesus told the man with the withered hand to stand up in front of everyone because You must come forward to be healed.
Many people are afraid to be healed—not because they don’t need it, but because true healing demands change and courage.
The man with the withered hand had to make a decision. Do I remain silent and sit in an atmosphere of bitterness toward Jesus Christ and remain in my painful condition. or Do I see myself free to work again to use my hands to hold my loved ones?
If I need to be healed I cannot worry about what others think. I want these chains off. I want these chains off my body and my mind. I cannot afford to sit down when my healing is right in front of me.
If Jesus tells me to take up my bed and walk, I am going to take up my bed.
If Jesus tells me to get out of the boat, I am going to get out of the boat.
If Jesus tells me to stretch out my hand, I am going to stretch out my hand.
If Jesus tells me to step out my faith, I'm going to step out by faith.
If Jesus tells me to put my foot in the Jordan before the waters part, I'm going to put my foot in the Jordan.
If Jesus tells me to call those things that are not as though they were, I'm going to call out my blessings.
He stretched out his hand, by faith in Jesus Christ, and his hand was completely restored.
The blood started flowing into his fingers and palm. What was dried up and dead came back to life. The man could wiggle his fingers and make a fist. He could feel again. He could use both hands to praise God. Life is in the blood. Power is in the blood. Healing is in the blood. Salvation is in the blood.
The Lord has come to heal you. He has come to heal your soul and spirit.
GROWING NEW GRASS
Sandra and I have a little yard. The grass has been burnt up for some years now. I saw a man the other day putting down hydro seed. I asked him to come by my house. He said, I’ll meet you there in a few minutes.
He came and looked at the ground and said, Call me in September when it cools downs a little. We will tear up the hard ground, plant new seed and put down fresh soil and keep watering the yard until the grass grows back.
I can hear Jesus, when the ground dries up, I will come by and break up the fallow ground, fill it with the seed of the word and bring in new soil and water it with the Holy Spirit.
THREE QUESTIONS
1. What bondage have I accepted as normal, and am I ready to let God challenge it?
2. Am I more concerned about people’s opinions or God’s freedom in my life?
3. What courageous step of faith is God calling me to take right now to experience His restoration?
