I’m Right…Right?
Read Mark 2:23-3:6
Reflect
The response is jolting: “His hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot how they might kill Jesus.” The complete restoration of the sick man leads the Pharisees to plot how they might kill the healer. Who are these self-righteous monsters who think they can dictate the rules by which God must work in the world? Why are they more concerned about their rules than about a sick man?
They’re a lot like me, I realize, when I note my frustration at seeing something succeed with which I disagree. I drive past the booming mega-church and shake my head with disdain, because obviously they’ve “sold out” to the culture and are “catering to people” rather than preaching Christ. I return to my ministry, glad I know better than to join that group.
That group must be thriving more than the ministry in which I’m involved because they’ve compromised the gospel. If I meet a growing new believer whose life has been changed through the ministry of that group, my first reaction is to look for ways to discount the authenticity of the healing; I look for that fatal flaw in his thinking that now I must correct. Good thing God and I see their theological errors.
In this way, I, the Pharisee, respond to restoration by plotting how I might undermine the Agent of healing. I miss it when I’m more concerned with being right than about restoration, when technical accuracy trumps compassion for others. The law, theology, and religious practice are all good, but they are not the point. The Son of Man is Lord of all of them. And restoration, not legality, is His business.
Jeff Hendricks
Respond
Pray for elder Bill Plate, our adult ministry teachers, and last names “J” in our church body.
