It is a sad reality that many people look upon the work of Christ with a hard and impenitent heart. Jesus Christ came to save, He came for the lost, and He came to heal. Once upon a time, there lived two brothers. One of them stayed by his father’s side, while the other asked for his inheritance early – then shortly after departed from his father’s side.
The brother who departed from his father’s side went out and squandered all of his money. He found himself in great poverty, in intense hunger, and in the midst of a famine in the land. The poor brother who had made some bad choices was brought to an all-time low when he found himself eating out of the pig’s troughs.
It was at this point when he realized that he had to return to his father. So he set out to return home. When his father saw him coming, the father ran to the son who had strayed from his side. The father then ordered for the fattened calf to be killed and for a large feast and celebration to commence because his son had returned.
You may know the story that is being referred to. This story is oftentimes called “The Prodigal Son.” However, have you ever taken note of the response of the brother who had never left? The Bible tells us that the brother was out in the field when the celebration was under way. He heard the music when he came in from the field. He then asked a servant concerning what was taking place. The older brother responded in anger upon hearing the news that his brother had returned and that his father chose to respond with celebration.
It is sad to say, but there are times when a Christian may encounter hardness in his own heart in the midst of what God is doing. Mark 3:1-6 is another passage that speaks of people’s hearts hardening as they see the Lord at work. The Christian would be wise not to explain the passage away simply because the ones with hardened hearts were Pharisees.
Jesus enters the temple
At the outset, the Scripture tells us, “And he entered again into the synagogue…” (KJV, Mark 3:1). When reading this portion of Scripture, one may think of the way in which Jesus was in the temple as a young boy. Do you remember His response when His mother and father came looking for Him? He said that He must be in His Father’s house.
While the synagogues were not necessarily the same as the temple, they provided a sense of unity and corporate worship for the Jew. During the time of Christ, the Jews had been scattered to many places within the Roman Empire. The temple united the Jews in Jerusalem, and many of them made their pilgrimages on the Day of Atonement. However, on a day-to-day basis, the various scattered Jews, who lived in many different cities, united in their cities’ synagogues for religious purposes.
In Mark 3:1, Jesus essentially entered into the synagogue to be in his Father’s house and with His people. Jesus loved the Jew, and He still does; it is a sad reality that those whom Jesus went to save rejected Him.
Jesus heals the man’s hand
The Bible tells us, “… and there was a man there which had a withered hand… And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth” (Mark 3:1, 3). Jesus is pictured here as moving toward the man with the withered hand.
But Jesus was moving toward the Father, as well, as seen in the way He walked according to His Father’s will. Those seek to do the Father’s will must get behind Christ and follow in His steps. However, there is a common problem among mankind, and even amongst Christians, that must be addressed.
In verse 2, after Jesus came into the temple and the man with the withered hand is introduced, the people watched Jesus to see if He would heal on the Sabbath day. One of the major problems that must be uprooted from the heart of man is the tendency to look at Christ’s work with a desire to dismantle it.
Skepticism, criticism, doubt, and a selfish agenda all have a tendency to get in the way of what Christ is doing. Let us not forget that it was the apostle Peter who sought to remove the cross from Christ’s work. Peter had no idea what he was doing, but could you imagine what that would have meant if Peter had his way? Jesus responded by telling Peter to get behind Him, even calling him Satan. Jesus then told Peter that he had been setting his mind on the things of the world rather than on God.
A worldly-minded approach to the work of Christ will get in the way of what Christ is seeking to do in the world. Man must get behind Christ and walk in His steps.
Jesus asks the question
Jesus takes the man and is in the process of healing him when He turns to the people and asks, “… Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?…” (Mark 3:4). In response to these questions, it is said of the people that they “…held their peace.” (Mark 3:4). What a sad response. The people would have rather accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath than for the man to have been healed from his infirmity.
Jesus sees into the heart
Scripture says, “And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other” (Mark 3:5). In this verse, we can see that Jesus was angry. His anger was not sinful anger, but righteous anger. His anger was controlled and rooted in the glory of God.
We can also see that Jesus was roused to anger through grief over the hardness of man’s heart. Certainly, Jesus can work a miracle in the life of any man; this truth must never be discredited. However, there is a way in which the soft hearts are the ones that are pliable in the potter’s hands.
Hard hearts cannot be molded; they must be softened first in order to be made into a vessel for honorable use. While Jesus was speaking of unbelievers in this account, it is important for the Christian to recognize that even his own heart can become hard, as well. The Christian must recognize the fact that Jesus can see into the heart and that He is grieved when the Christian’s heart becomes hardened.
The hardening of hearts that is mentioned in Mark 3:5 is the first of a series of hardenings that the Jewish people faced, which eventually culminated in the crucifixion of Christ. The hardening seems to have started with the scribes “reasoning in their hearts” in Mark 2:6. Later, in Mark 3:5, we encounter hard hearts. In Mark 6:52, even the disciples’ hearts were said to be hard, and as a result, they did not understand Christ’s work.
In Mark 7:6, Jesus could go on to say that the Pharisees’ hearts were far from Him. The reason for this is that their hearts were hardened and cold to the work of Christ. But what does Jesus command? He tells us in Mark 12:30 that the Christian is to love God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is the heart that man must have toward God.
Nevertheless, man will at times find himself like the disciples in Mark 16:14, whom Jesus “…upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart” (Mark 16:14). The Christian must guard his heart in the midst of this life. Jesus is concerned about the disposition of man’s heart toward Him and the work that the Father has called Him to do.
Repent, confess, and forsake your hardness of heart this day.
Final prayer
Father, I thank You for the way that You continue to guide me along the right path. Please help me to make much of the thought that Christ knows my heart and is grieved when it grows hard. Help me to repent, confess, and forsake my sin. In Jesus’ name, Amen.