The Sabbath Showdown

Main Idea

True obedience means doing what is right—even when it costs you everything.

Recap last week’s sermon about Jesus’ confrontation with the Pharisees in the grain field and His claim about being the Lord of the Sabbath. There, He clarified something about Himself. Today, He will reveal something about them.

Passage

Mark 3:1–6 CSB

1 Jesus entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a shriveled hand. 2 In order to accuse him, they were watching him closely to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 He told the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand before us.” 4 Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. 5 After looking around at them with anger, he was grieved at the hardness of their hearts and told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 Immediately the Pharisees went out and started plotting with the Herodians against him, how they might kill him.

I - Sabbath Snare

It isn’t clear whether we remain on the same Sabbath day as the clash in the grain fields, nor is it clear which synagogue we are in. It could be the one in Capernaum, or it could be in another town. Mark doesn’t provide that level of detail about the setting.

What he provides us is a plot thickening. A man with a shriveled hand is present, and the Pharisees are laser-focused on what Jesus will do about this man. You can almost see them hiding in the crowd, wringing their hands and licking their lips at the thought of catching Jesus of Nazareth in the act. They wanted nothing more than to find a reason to accuse Him, discredit Him, and get rid of Him.

What is fascinating about this scene is the intent of their hearts. If they get what they want, Jesus will heal on the Sabbath, and they are watching Him like a hawk to see if He will… not if He CAN, but if He WILL. This moment reveals a lot about how hardened their hearts are. Jesus saw it and will comment on it later, but at the start, God wants us to see just how far gone they already are. They KNOW Jesus can perform the miracle of healing, and yet, their legalistic mindset is consumed with obedience to policy, not the restoration of people!

This entire story is a flashing red light warning us about the dangers of legalism, because it leads to criticism, which causes hard-heartedness, and that opens the door to all kinds of sins.

II - Speak What is Right

What should one do in light of such opposition when your enemies set a snare to capture you and plot your downfall? Broadly speaking, there are two main actions you must take as a representative of God’s Kingdom. The first is to speak what is right. It doesn’t matter what your enemies do. God is bigger than they are. He expects you to obey Him boldly and speak with courage, not to shrink back in fear of what others can do to you.

Jesus responds with two sentences to the situation—one to the suffering man and one to the undermining Pharisees.

The suffering man. To the man, Jesus gives a simple command: “Stand before us.” Jesus could have approached the man instead of asking him to come over, but I believe He did this for a couple of reasons.

Obedience. Jesus asks for the man’s obedience. He didn’t explain why… He didn’t tell the man what He was about to do… He gave a simple command. That is a great lesson for us today. In trials and hardships, God asks for our obedience… and oftentimes, He doesn’t tell us why we're going through them. There's usually no explanation of His plan. He simply requests our ongoing obedience. Why? Because if He told us everything beforehand, we wouldn’t act in faith. I don’t know if this man knew who Jesus was, though I find it hard to believe he missed all the buzz. One thing I know for sure is that when Jesus called him closer, he came, and that was a prerequisite for what happens next. And we see the same pattern in our salvation story, don't we? God calls us to Himself, and we are responsible for coming to Him in faith.

An object lesson. The man didn’t just stand before Jesus… he stood before the Pharisees. Here in the synagogue, authority clashed with authority, and this man would be used by God to break down some of the man-made debris that has been piled up on His holy Scriptures and to disarm the Pharisees who held less authority than Jesus. This man standing before them on this particular day symbolizes the core tension between God’s kingdom and the Pharisees’ man-made system of rules that were crushing His people. Jesus has already clarified the difference between God’s purpose for the Sabbath and the Pharisees’ twisted and burdensome version. Now, Jesus is revealing the true nature of their hearts.

Authenticating Jesus’ Authority. As we have seen multiple times, Jesus’ power to heal and restore confirms His claims of being the Messiah and God Himself. He is Emmanuel, God with us, and He is spreading the good news of His arrival and kingship to His people! It is truly sad to see the Pharisees, who are the experts in the law and should have been among the first to recognize their Savior, not only fail to see who Jesus is but also actively rebel against His authority!

The Pharisees. Next, Jesus turns to the Pharisees and asks, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” I love how, in one question, Jesus takes this trap and turns it back on the ones who set it! As the God who has all wisdom and knowledge, Jesus effortlessly demonstrates the wisdom of Proverbs 26:27.

Proverbs 26:27 CSB

27 The one who digs a pit will fall into it, and whoever rolls a stone— it will come back on him.

There is a clear answer to this question, isn’t there? It’s as simple as answering one of Jack Handy’s questions: “Would you rather be rich or stupid?”Well, duh! But, as crazy as it might seem, they couldn’t answer based on what was truly in their hearts because doing so would mean admitting that their man-made rules are actually an evil, not a good. That is the main point Jesus is trying to convey. He is creating a division. Good and evil can be done to this man. I plan to do one thing, while you plan to do another… therefore, one of us is doing good, and the other is doing evil. Jesus has put the Pharisees at a crossroads.

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Every human heart needs all three. They need to be shown the way of reconciliation to the Father through the preaching of the truth that leads to spiritual life. The message we carry as ambassadors is no different. It is life to those who are spiritually dead, but we must recognize that it will invite conflict from the enemy.

In Avengers: The Age of Ultron, the team discusses how to handle this new threat to their existence, and the newest member — Vision — makes a compelling comment. He says, “Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict... breeds catastrophe.” That is very true when it comes to human conflict born from fallen and sinful hearts. It’s also true in the spiritual realm. There is a battle between good and evil... between God’s kingdom and Satan’s rebellion. When you stand up and speak truth, your boldness invites challenge, and when a challenger appears, conflict ensues. But what we need to understand about the spiritual war is that as we stand firm in the truth, the catastrophe that follows is experienced only by Satan’s camp. We may be hurt and wounded in battle, but because greater is He that is within us than he who is in the world, we will never be crushed!

III - The Hardness of the Pharisees

Next, we observe the ongoing hardening of the Pharisees and how the evil in their hearts was accumulating, ready to burst into sinful actions. This echoes a truth James explained to the Jerusalem church later on.

James 1:14–15 CSB

14 But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desire. 15 Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.

We’ve already seen one of their evil motives: watching and waiting with bated breath for Jesus to slip up so they could spring into action and accuse Him. That is an evil lurking and growing in their hearts, alongside other wicked desires that will soon give birth to an evil act.

Other evil motives:

Breaking God’s Commandments: They cling to their man-made rules. This may seem repetitive, but it’s an important point. The Pharisees are gripping their precious 39 rules of the Sabbath to avoid breaking God’s law, but what they are actually doing is breaking the two most important commandments right in front of Him! What are those two greatest commandments? They are to love God and love others as yourself. Preventing this man from being restored, even on the Sabbath, is a clear violation of the second, and the evil intentions brewing in their hearts are violating the first. The only people they are loving right now are themselves and their own authority.

Pride: They stayed silent. This wasn’t because they didn’t know what to say. It was because they knew exactly where they stood, but pride kept them from responding because they didn’t want to be humiliated in front of their flock. They could not risk damaging their reputation and perceived authority by admitting that Jesus is right and they are wrong. This can also be called the sin of omission... knowing what is right but choosing not to act, or worse, as Isaiah describes in 5:20-25, they are calling good evil and evil good! The Lord’s anger burns against such people, as we will soon see!

Hard-heartedness. When these two elements are constantly acted upon, they form a heart as hard as granite. In the Old Testament, God called such people ‘stiff-necked,’ like a stubborn ox that rebels against its owner’s pull. They simply refuse to turn to God in repentance and healing. In the New Testament, it is called a hard heart, where qualities like love, compassion, and mercy cannot break through. It is, as Rodney Cooper describes it, “a sin of attitude. It is a settled disposition against God. It is the sin that says, ‘I’ve already made up my mind.’” You see, the Pharisees hate Jesus. They view Him as a threat to their authority and control over the people. They see Him as a danger to their rigid and callous belief system, and a person who must be dealt with so their rule can stay in place.

All of these internal evils are forming within their stony hearts, and before the story ends, they will be born into outward actions. But first, we need to see Jesus’ response.

IV - Do What is Right

This leads us to the second thing you must do as a representative of God’s Kingdom. The first is to speak what is right. The second is to do what is right. Jesus has said what needs to be said. Now, He must do what needs to be done. And what is interesting about Jesus’ action is that it is driven by two very strong emotions.

Anger. This is not an emotion of annoyance. This is a righteous wrath… it is, as Romans 1:18 says:

Romans 1:18 CSB

18 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth,

In Old Testament times, God poured out His wrath when His people's sins reached a peak, and once it began, there was no stopping it. God hates sin and will execute His righteous anger at the right time. As God Himself, Jesus’ anger burned against these men who were withholding God's blessings from others. If it weren’t for Jesus’ faithfulness to His mission, He could have unleashed His full wrath on them immediately, but fortunately for them, His burning anger was tempered by another emotion.

Grief. An emotion one might feel when experiencing the loss of a loved one. He mourns how far gone these men are and the actions that cause the ongoing suffering of His people. This is a beautiful aspect of who Jesus is. The time for wrath has not yet come (though it will in a few decades with the destruction of Jerusalem… an event that the Sanhedrin will experience directly). The cross will bring redemption and reconciliation, but for now, scripture records many instances where Jesus weeps and mourns over mankind's fallen and sinful state and the pain it causes.

Yet, in His indignant sorrow, He shows unyielding compassion to the man with a shriveled hand. Jesus commands the man to stretch out his hand, which he does, and immediately his hand is restored.

Much like the leper, this man was restored far beyond the use of his hand. Undoubtedly, people judged him because of his illness, thinking he was cursed by God due to some serious sin. If he worked in manual labor, his career was also restored. He no longer needed to hide or hold back when lifting both hands to worship the One True God, because there was nothing to be ashamed of anymore. His reputation and fellowship were also renewed in this moment. Jesus returned everything to this man on the Sabbath because it is better to do good and give life on this day, and every day.

This glorious moment should have been met with an extended time of praise and worship, but instead, it was the final push of a laboring mother giving birth to sin.

V - An Unholy Alliance

Until now, the sinfulness of the Pharisees has remained hidden. Now, after Jesus challenges their authority and destroys their man-made Sabbath rules, their desires conceive and give birth to a devious, unholy, and utterly hypocritical plot.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend?” That is exactly what is happening here. No sooner does the healed man flex his fully restored fingers than the Pharisees immediately go and forge an alliance with the Herodians. This is actually a mind-boggling development.

That may not seem surprising at first, but it would have shocked any Jew in the first century. The Pharisees were religious purists—passionate defenders of Jewish law and culture, strongly opposed to Roman influence. The Herodians, on the other hand, were political supporters of Herod Antipas, the puppet king installed by Rome. They embodied everything the Pharisees claimed to hate: compromise with Gentile power, Hellenistic culture, and a diluted version of Jewish identity. These two groups had nothing in common—except one thing: they both saw Jesus as a danger.

That’s why it’s a classic case of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” The Pharisees were so outraged by Jesus’ authority, compassion, and challenge to their traditions that they were willing to team up with Roman loyalists to silence Him. The Herodians feared Jesus because He stirred crowds and spoke of a kingdom—dangerous language in a region known for messianic uprisings. The Pharisees feared Him because He threatened their control and spiritual authority.

Together, their hypocrisy is exposed: the defenders of holiness join with the compromisers of holiness in a hypocritical alliance to murder the only truly Holy One. But that’s not the most shocking part. The alliance itself was hypocritical, but the more egregious sin was to call healing on the Sabbath a sin, then immediately plot the murder of the Lord of the Sabbath on the Sabbath!

We must not let our man-made structures and traditions block our view of who Jesus is or harden our hearts against His mission. If you call Jesus Lord, then at some point in your life, mercy triumphed over judgment (James 2:13), and it continues to do so every day. We must understand that if God did that for us, He will do the same for anyone who comes to Him in faith. Our job is to be an agent of mercy that points others to Him.

🔥 Application Points:

1. Doing what’s right will cost you—but it will never cost you more than disobedience.

Jesus healed on the Sabbath, fully aware it would anger His enemies. Righteous acts are seldom praised by the crowd—but they always honor God.

Choose obedience, even when it’s unpopular, uncomfortable, or dangerous.

➤ Reflect: Where in your life is fear of criticism keeping you from obeying God?.

2. Faithfulness may provoke a fight—but it’s worth it.

Jesus knew His actions would cause conflict, but He wasn’t guided by fear—He was anchored in purpose.

Be faithful, not fearful. Bold obedience exposes the darkness and shines light.

➤ Challenge: Is your Christian witness visible enough to be opposed? If not, why not?

3. A hard heart doesn’t form overnight—it calcifies one compromise at a time.

The Pharisees didn’t start out murderous. But unchecked pride, jealousy, and legalism hardened their hearts so much that they couldn’t even recognize goodness when it was right in front of them.

Regularly examine your heart for early signs of spiritual callousness.

➤ Reflect: Are you more sensitive to God’s Word today than you were a year ago—or less?