Mark 3:5

Mar_3:5

Being grieved for the hardness of their hearts.

The anger of Christ

I. But is anger a passion which it was right for Christ to show and to feel? And if it were right for Christ, is it equally right for us? The answer to the first question is simple enough. As the Holy One, the very presence of evil must be abhorrent to Him. He may be reconciled to the sinner, but He can never be reconciled to sin. His whole nature revolts from the evil thing. It was not then the mere ebullition of passion. It was not a sudden outburst of rage. It was righteous wrath. It was the emotion which stirred His whole being, just because sin is the utterly opposite of Himself. The trained eye is offended with that which is distorted and ugly; the trained ear is pained beyond expression with that which violates the very elements of harmony; and the perfect heart loathes and cannot but be angry with sin. Can there be any doubt that Christs anger with sin in these men also glanced at their relations with other men? No man liveth unto himself. He was angry at the blighting influence of the mens lives. Yet there was no sin in Christs anger, although Christ was angry with sin. While His anger was strong His pity was yet Divine. He was sorrowful at the thought of what it all meant, and would yet Himself rescue them from the snare. Anger and grief were blent together in the same mind, just because in His mind there was perfect holiness, and there was perfect love; for it is not the stirring and agitation of the waters that troubles and defiles them, but the sediment at the bottom. Where there is no sediment, mere agitation will not create impurity. There was none in Christ. His anger was the anger of a holy Being at sin, at the devils corruption of Gods creature. His grief was for man, Gods offspring. He hated the thing which alienated the sons from the Father. The anger may well make us tremble, but should not the pity make us trust?

II. If it were right in Christ to be angry with sin, is it equally right and becoming in us? We are always right in being angry with sin. But just here is the difficulty. We are angry not so much at sin as at something in it which affects and inconveniences us. It is not that which is opposed to the holy law of God which most commonly makes us angry, but that which brings us some petty discomfort and trouble. We see how sin injures others. Purity will bring its own anger. Remember, however, that anger with sin is not something permitted; it is an emotion demanded. Ye that love the Lord, hate evil. But our anger must be interblent with pity. Christ sought to give these hard-hearted men another chance. He did not permit them to hinder His work. He would have won them if only they would have opened their hearts to the truth. It is Christs great love alone which can fill our souls with unwearied compassion for sinners. Beware, then, of thinking that anger with sin is enough. It is but one-half of our work. Pity is the other half. (J. J. Goadby.)

Anger against sin blended with pity

It should be so trained in us by our docile obedience to Christ, that sin should always, and upon the instant, fire the righteous indignation of our hearts. It is not to be like that anger which one of the ancients describes as the fire of straw, quickly blazing up, and as quickly extinguished. It is rather to become an unquenchable fire. The other ball of our duty is equally binding that we pity the sinner, and do our best to free him from his thraldom. It is here that so much yet needs to be done. One may cheaply earn, to our own satisfaction, a passing praise for righteousness, by anger against sin; but the best proof that it is the hateful thing to us which we proclaim it to be, is this, the efforts we make to get rid of it, the sacrifices we cheerfully bear to snatch men from its bondage, and the earnestness and persistence of our endeavours to secure their freedom. (J. J. Goadby.)

Rules to be observed, that our anger against sin may be good and warrantable

1. We must not be too hasty and sudden in giving way to our anger, without duly considering that there is just cause for it.

2. We must distinguish between the offence done against God and any personal indignity we may have suffered. When these two are combined, as often happens, our anger must be directed chiefly against the sin; the offence against ourselves we must forgive.

3. Our anger must be properly proportioned, according to the degree of sin.

4. We must be impartial, being displeased at sin wherever and in whomsoever we find it; as well at our own sins, as at the sins of others; as well at the faults of friends as of enemies.

5. Our anger must be joined with grief for the person against whose sin we are offended.

6. Our anger against the sin must be joined with love to the sinner, making us willing and desirous to do him any good we can. (G. Petter.)

Christs anger not like ours

There was in Christ real anger, sorrow, and the rest of the passions and affections as they exist in other men, only subject to reason. Wherefore anger was in Him a whetstone of virtue. In us (says F. Lucas) anger is a passion; in Christ it was, as it were, an action. It arises spontaneously in us; by Christ it was stirred up in Himself. When it has arisen in us it disturbs the other faculties of the body and mind, nor can it be repressed at our own pleasure; but when stirred up in Christ it acts as He wills it to act, it disturbs nothing-in fine, it ceases when He wills it to cease. (Cornelius a Lapide.)

Christs indignation

The anger here mentioned was no uneasy passion, but an excess of generous grief occasioned by their obstinate stupidity and blindness. From this passage the following conclusions may be drawn:

1. It is the duty of a Christian to sorrow not only for his own sins, but also to be grieved for the sins of others.

2. All anger is not to be considered sinful.

3. He does not bear the image of Christ, but rather that of Satan, who can either behold with indifference the wickedness of others, or rejoice in it.

4. Nothing is more wretched than an obdurate heart, since it caused Him, who is the source of all true joy, to be filled with grief in beholding it.

5. Our indignation against wickedness must be tempered by compassion for the persons of the wicked. (T. H. Horne, D. D.)

The disposition of a wise minister

This conduct and these dispositions of Christ ought to be imitated by a wise minister.

1. He ought to have a holy indignation against those who, out of envy, oppose their own conversion.

2. A real affliction of heart on account of their blindness.

3. A charitable and constant application to those whom God sends to him, notwithstanding all contradiction.

4. He must incite them to lift up, and stretch forth, their hands toward God, in order to pray to Him; toward the poor, to relieve them; and toward their enemies, to be reconciled to them. (Quesnel.)

Hardness of heart

II. Let us show what is meant by hardness of heart. A hard-hearted man, in the current use of language, means a man void of humanity; a man of cruel habits. In the Bible it is a compound of pride, perverseness, presumption, and obstinacy. It is said of Nebuchadnezzar, that when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took away his glory from him.

II. The causes of hardness of heart.

1. By neglecting the word and ordinances of God. There is a salutary power in Divine truth of which it is not easy to give adequate ideas (Psa_81:11-12).

2. By our slighting and despising the corrective dispensations of Providence. When painful events do not rouse to seriousness, and fiery trials do not melt to tenderness, we generally see increased levity and obstinacy.

3. By cherishing false opinions in religion.

4. By persisting in any known course of sin (Deu_29:19).

III. The awful consequences of hardness of heart.

1. It provokes God to leave men to their own errors, base passions, and inveterate passions.

2. It involves men in utter and irretrievable ruin. He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.

Learn:

1. How much guilt there is in hardness of heart.

2. Take the warnings of Scripture against hardness of heart.

3. Take those measures which are absolutely necessary to guard you against hardness of heart. (J. Thornton.)

Hardness of heart

I. The heart-figuratively the seat of feeling, or affection.

II. It is said to be tender when it is easily affected by the sufferings of others; by our own sin and danger; by the love and commands of God-when we are easily made to feel on the great subjects pertaining to our interest (Eze_11:19-20).

III. It is hard when nothing moves it; when a man is alike insensible to the sufferings of others, the dangers of his own condition, and the commands, the love, and the threatenings of God. It is most tender in youth. It is made hard by indulgence in sin; by long resisting the offers of salvation. Hence the most favourable period for securing an interest in Christ, or for becoming a Christian, is in youth-the first, the tenderest, and the best days of life. (A. Barnes, D. D.)

Hardness of the heart

Stones are charged with the worst species of hardness-as stubborn as a stone; and yet the hardest stones submit to be smoothed and rounded under the soft friction of water. Ask the myriads of stones on the seashore what has become of all their angles, once so sharp, and of the roughness and uncouthness of their whole appearance. Their simple reply is, Water wrought with us; nothing but water, and none of us resisted. If they yield to be fashioned by the water, and you do not yield to be fashioned by God, what wonder if the very stones cry out against you? (Pulsfords Quiet Hours.)

Hardness of heart

In that Christ mourned in Himself for this hardness of their hearts, we may learn that it is a most fearful and grievous sin, and to be greatly lamented in whomsoever it is found. It is that sin whereby the heart of man is so rooted and settled in the corruption of sin, that it is hardly or not at all withdrawn or reclaimed from it by any good means that are used to that end. Two kinds are to be distinguished.

I. When the obstinacy and perverseness of the heart is in some measure felt and perceived by those in whom it is, and also lamented and bewailed and resisted. This kind of hardness may be, and is, found more or less in the best saints and children of God (Mar_6:52; Mar_16:14).

II. That hardness which either is not felt at all, or, if felt, is not resisted. This is found only in wicked men. It is a fearful and dangerous sin; for-

1. It keeps out repentance, which is the remedy for sin.

2. God often punishes other heinous sins with this sin (Rom_1:28).

3. God also punishes this sin with other sins (Eph_4:18).

4. In the Bible we find fearful threatenings against this sin (Deu_29:19; Rom_2:5). (G. Petter.)

Signs whereby men may know whether their hearts are hardened

1. If they are not moved to repentance and true humiliation for sin, by seeing or hearing of the judgments of God inflicted on themselves or others; or if they are a little moved for the time, yet afterwards grow as bad or worse than before.

2. If the mercies of God, shown to themselves and others, do not affect them and persuade their hearts to turn to God (Rom_2:4).

3. If the word preached fail to humble them in the sight of God; but the more the hammer of the Word beats on their hearts, the harder they become, like the smiths anvil. These are all evident signs of great hardness of heart, in whomsoever they are found. And it is fearful to think how many there are of this rank and number. Let them consider how fearful their case is, and fear to continue in it. Let them be humbled for it, and lament it. (G. Petter.)

Remedies for hard-heartedness

I. Pray earnestly to God to soften our hearts by the work of His Spirit, to take away our stony hearts and to give us hearts of flesh. He only is able to do it, and He has promised to do it if we carefully use the means (Eze_36:26).

II. Be diligent and constant in hearing the Word of God. This is the hammer which will break the stone; the fire to melt and thaw the heart frozen in sin.

III. Meditate much and often upon Gods infinite and unspeakable mercy toward penitent sinners (Exo_34:6).

IV. Meditate seriously upon the bitter sufferings of Christ. It is said that the blood of a goat, while it is warm, will break the hardest adamant; so the blood of Christ, apprehended by faith, and applied to the conscience, will break the hardest heart in pieces, with godly sorrow for sin.

V. We are to use Christian admonitions and exhortations one to another: if we see others fall into any sin, point it out to them in a loving manner, and beseech them to repent of it; and if others admonish and exhort us, let us hearken to it.

VI. Be careful to avoid the causes of hardness of heart; viz.

1. Habitual sin; for, as a way or path, the more it is trodden and trampled upon, the harder it gets, so the more we inure ourselves to the practice of any sin, the harder our hearts will grow. It is said of Mithridates, that through the custom of drinking poison, he became so used to it that he drank it without danger; so the wicked, by habitual indulgence in swearing, uncleanness, etc., make these sins so familiar to them, that they can swallow them without any remorse of conscience.

2. Take heed of sinning against knowledge and the light of conscience.

3. Guard against negligence and coldness in religious exercises, such as prayer, hearing and reading the Word, etc. If we either begin to omit, or else carelessly to perform these duties, by which our hearts should be daily softened and kept tender, then by little and little we shall become dangerously hardened. (G. Petter.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mark

WORKS WHICH HALLOW THE SABBATH

THE ANGER AND GRIEF OF JESUS

Mar 3:5.

Our Lord goes into the synagogue at Capernaum, where He had already wrought more than one miracle, and there He finds an object for His healing power, in a poor man with a withered hand; and also a little knot of His enemies. The scribes and Pharisees expect Christ to heal the man. So much had they learned of His tenderness and of His power.

But their belief that He could work a miracle did not carry them one step towards a recognition of Him as sent by God. They have no eye for the miracle, because they expect that He is going to break the Sabbath. There is nothing so blind as formal religionism. This poor man’s infirmity did not touch their hearts with one little throb of compassion. They had rather that he had gone crippled all his days than that one of their Rabbinical Sabbatarian restrictions should be violated. There is nothing so cruel as formal religionism. They only think that there is a trap laid-and perhaps they had laid it-into which Christ is sure to go.

So, as our Evangelist tells us, they sat there stealthily watching Him out of their cold eyes, whether He would heal on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse Him. Our Lord bids the man stand out into the middle of the little congregation. He obeys, perhaps, with some feeble glimmer of hope playing round his heart. There is a quickened attention in the audience; the enemies are watching Him with gratification, because they hope He is going to do what they think to be a sin.

And then He reduces them all to silence and perplexity by His question-sharp, penetrating, unexpected: ‘Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath day, or to do evil? You are ready to blame Me as breaking your Sabbatarian regulations if I heal this man. What if I do not heal him? Will that be doing nothing? Will not that be a worse breach of the Sabbath day than if I heal him?’

He takes the question altogether out of the region of pedantic Rabbinism, and bases His vindication upon the two great principles that mercy and help hallow any day, and that not to do good when we can is to do harm, and not to save life is to kill.

They are silenced. His arrow touches them; they do not speak because they cannot answer; and they will not yield. There is a struggle going on in them, which Christ sees, and He fixes them with that steadfast look of His; of which our Evangelist is the only one who tells us what it expressed, and by what it was occasioned. ‘He looked round about on them with anger, being grieved.’ Mark the combination of emotions, anger and grief. And mark the reason for both; ‘the hardness,’ or as you will see, if you use the Revised Version, ‘the hardening’ of their hearts-a process which He saw going on before Him as He looked at them.

Now I do not need to follow the rest of the story, how He turns away from them because He will not waste any more words on them, else He had done more harm than good. He heals the man. They hurry from the synagogue to prove their zeal for the sanctifying of the Sabbath day by hatching a plot on it for murdering Him. I leave all that, and turn to the thoughts suggested by this look of Christ as explained by the Evangelist.

I. Consider then, first, the solemn fact of Christ’s anger.

It is the only occasion, so far as I remember, upon which that emotion is attributed to Him. Once, and once only, the flash came out of the clear sky of that meek and gentle heart. He was once angry; and we may learn the lesson of the possibilities that lay slumbering in His love. He was only once angry, and we may learn the lesson that His perfect and divine charity ‘is not easily provoked.’ These very words from Paul’s wonderful picture may teach us that the perfection of divine charity does not consist in its being incapable of becoming angry at all, but only in its not being angry except upon grave and good occasion.

Christ’s anger was part of the perfection of His manhood. The man that cannot be angry at evil lacks enthusiasm for good. The nature that is incapable of being touched with generous and righteous indignation is so, generally, either because it lacks fire and emotion altogether, or because its vigour has been dissolved into a lazy indifference and easy good nature which it mistakes for love. Better the heat of the tropics, though sometimes the thunderstorms may gather, than the white calmness of the frozen poles. Anger is not weakness, but it is strength, if there be these three conditions, if it be evoked by a righteous and unselfish cause, if it be kept under rigid control, and if there be nothing in it of malice, even when it prompts to punishment. Anger is just and right when it is not produced by the mere friction of personal irritation {like electricity by rubbing}, but is excited by the contemplation of evil. It is part of the marks of a good man that he kindles into wrath when he sees ‘the oppressor’s wrong.’ If you went out hence to-night, and saw some drunken ruffian beating his wife or ill-using his child, would you not do well to be angry? And when nations have risen up, as our own nation did seventy years ago in a paroxysm of righteous indignation, and vowed that British soil should no more bear the devilish abomination of slavery, was there nothing good and great in that wrath? So it is one of the strengths of man that he shall be able to glow with indignation at evil.

Only all such emotion must be kept well in hand must never be suffered to degenerate into passion. Passion is always weak, emotion is an element of strength.

‘The gods approve

The depth and not the tumult of the soul.’

But where a man does not let his wrath against evil go sputtering off aimlessly, like a box of fireworks set all alight at once, then it comes to be a strength and a help to much that is good.

The other condition that makes wrath righteous and essential to the perfection of a man, is that there shall be in it no taint of malice. Anger may impel to punish and not be malicious, if its reason for punishment is the passionless impulse of justice or the reformation of the wrong-doer. Then it is pure and true and good. Such wrath is a part of the perfection of humanity, and such wrath was in Jesus Christ.

But, still further, Christ’s anger was part of His revelation of God. What belongs to perfect man belongs to God in whose image man was made. People are very often afraid of attributing to the divine nature that emotion of wrath, very unnecessarily, I think, and to the detriment of all their conceptions of the divine nature.

There is no reason why we should not ascribe emotion to Him. Passions God has not; emotions the Bible represents Him as having. The god of the philosopher has none. He is a cold, impassive Somewhat, more like a block of ice than a god. But the God of the Bible has a heart that can be touched, and is capable of something like what we call in ourselves emotion. And if we rightly think of God as Love, there is no more reason why we should not think of God as having the other emotion of wrath; for as I have shown you, there is nothing in wrath itself which is derogatory to the perfection of the loftiest spiritual nature. In God’s anger there is no self-regarding irritation, no passion, no malice. It is the necessary displeasure and aversion of infinite purity at the sight of man’s impurity. God’s anger is His love thrown back upon itself from unreceptive and unloving hearts. Just as a wave that would roll in smooth, unbroken, green beauty into the open door of some sea-cave is dashed back in spray and foam from some grim rock, so the love of God, meeting the unloving heart that rejects it, and the purity of God meeting the impurity of man, necessarily become that solemn reality, the wrath of the most high God. ‘A God all mercy were a God unjust.’ The judge is condemned when the culprit is acquitted; and he that strikes out of the divine nature the capacity for anger against sin, little as he thinks it, is degrading the righteousness and diminishing the love of God.

Oh, dear brethren, I beseech you do not let any easygoing gospel that has nothing to say to you about God’s necessary aversion from, and displeasure with, and chastisement of, your sins and mine, draw you away from the solemn and wholesome belief that there is that in God which must hate and war against and chastise our evil, and that if there were not, He would be neither worth loving nor worth trusting. And His Son, in His tears and in His tenderness, which were habitual, and also in that lightning flash which once shot across the sky of His nature, was revealing Him to us. The Gospel is not only the revelation of God’s righteousness for faith, but is also ‘the revelation of His wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.’

‘It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.’ The ox, with the yoke on his neck, lashes out with his obstinate heels against the driver’s goad. He does not break the goad, but only embrues his own limbs. Do not you do that!

II. And now, once more, let me ask you to look at the compassion which goes with our Lord’s anger here; ‘being grieved at the hardness of their hearts.’

The somewhat singular word rendered here ‘grieved,’ may either simply imply that this sorrow co-existed with the anger, or it may describe the sorrow as being sympathy or compassion. I am disposed to take it in the latter application, and so the lesson we gather from these words is the blessed thought that Christ’s wrath was all blended with compassion and sympathetic sorrow.

He looked upon these scribes and Pharisees sitting there with hatred in their eyes; and two emotions, which many men suppose as discrepant and incongruous as fire and water, rose together in His heart: wrath, which fell on the evil; sorrow, which bedewed the doers of it. The anger was for the hardening, the compassion was for the hardeners.

If there be this blending of wrath and sorrow, the combination takes away from the anger all possibility of an admixture of these questionable ingredients, which mar human wrath, and make men shrink from attributing so turbid and impure an emotion to God. It is an anger which lies harmoniously in the heart side by side with the tenderest pity-the truest, deepest sorrow.

Again, if Christ’s sorrow flowed out thus along with His anger when He looked upon men’s evil, then we understand in how tragic a sense He was ‘a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.’ The pain and the burden and the misery of His earthly life had no selfish basis. They were not like the pain and the burdens and the misery that so many of us howl out so loudly about, arising from causes affecting ourselves. But for Him-with His perfect purity, with His deep compassion, with His heart that was the most sensitive heart that ever beat in a human breast, because it was the only perfectly pure one that ever beat there-for Him to go amongst men was to be wounded and bruised and hacked by the sharp swords of their sins.

Everything that He touched burned that pure nature, which was sensitive to evil, like an infant’s hand to hot iron. His sorrow and His anger were the two sides of the medal. His feelings in looking on sin were like a piece of woven stuff with a pattern on either side, on one the fiery threads-the wrath; on the other the silvery tints of sympathetic pity. A warp of wrath, a woof of sorrow, dew and flame married and knit together.

And may we not draw from this same combination of these two apparently discordant emotions in our Lord, the lesson of what it is in men that makes them the true subjects of pity? Ay, these scribes and Pharisees had very little notion that there was anything about them to compassionate. But the thing which in the sight of God makes the true evil of men’s condition is not their circumstances but their sins. The one thing to weep for when we look at the world is not its misfortunes, but its wickedness. Ah! brother, that is the misery of miseries; that is the one thing worth crying about in our own lives, or in anybody else’s. From this combination of indignation and pity, we may learn how we should look upon evil. Men are divided into two classes in their way of looking at wickedness in this world. One set are rigid and stern, and crackling into wrath; the other set placid and good-natured, and ready to weep over it as a misfortune and a calamity, but afraid or unwilling to say: ‘These poor creatures are to be blamed as well as pitied.’ It is of prime importance that we all should try to take both points of view, looking on sin as a thing to be frowned at, but also looking on it as a thing to be wept over; and to regard evil-doers as persons that deserve to be blamed and to be chastised, and made to feel the bitterness of their evil, and not to interfere too much with the salutary laws that bring down sorrow upon men’s heads if they have been doing wrong, but, on the other hand, to take care that our sense of justice does not swallow up the compassion that weeps for the criminal as an object of pity. Public opinion and legislation swing from the one extreme to the other. We have to make an effort to keep in the centre, and never to look round in anger, unsoftened by pity, nor in pity, enfeebled by being separated from righteous indignation.

III. Let me now deal briefly with the last point that is here, namely, the occasion for both the sorrow and the anger, ‘Being grieved at the hardening of the hearts.’

As I said at the beginning of these remarks, ‘hardness,’ the rendering of our Authorised Version, is not quite so near the mark as that of the Revised Version, which speaks not so much of a condition as of a process: ‘He was grieved at the hardening of their hearts,’ which He saw going on there.

And what was hardening their hearts? It was He. Why were their hearts being hardened? Because they were looking at Him, His graciousness, His goodness, and His power, and were steeling themselves against Him, opposing to His grace and tenderness their own obstinate determination. Some little gleams of light were coming in at their windows, and they clapped the shutters up. Some tones of His voice were coming into their ears, and they stuffed their fingers into them. They half felt that if they let themselves be influenced by Him it was all over, and so they set their teeth and steadied themselves in their antagonism.

And that is what some of you are doing now. Jesus Christ is never preached to you, even although it is as imperfectly as I do it, but that you either gather yourselves into an attitude of resistance, or, at least, of mere indifference till the flow of the sermon’s words is done; or else open your hearts to His mercy and His grace.

Oh, dear brethren, will you take this lesson of the last part of my text, that nothing so tends to harden a man’s heart to the gospel of Jesus Christ as religious formalism? If Jesus Christ were to come in here now, and stand where I am standing, and look round about upon this congregation, I wonder how many a highly respectable and perfectly proper man and woman, church and chapel-goer, who keeps the Sabbath day, He would find on whom He had to look with grief not unmingled with anger, because they were hardening their hearts against Him now. I am sure there are some of such among my present audience. I am sure there are some of you about whom it is true that ‘the publicans and the harlots will go into the Kingdom of God before you,’ because in their degradation they may be nearer the lowly penitence and the consciousness of their own misery and need, which will open their eyes to see the beauty and the preciousness of Jesus Christ.

Dear brother, let no reliance upon any external attention to religious ordinances; no interest, born of long habit of hearing sermons; no trust in the fact of your being communicants, blind you to this, that all these things may come between you and your Saviour, and so may take you away into the outermost darkness.

Dear brother or sister, you are a sinner. ‘The God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, thou hast not glorified.’ You have forgotten Him; you have lived to please yourselves. I charge you with nothing criminal, with nothing gross or sensual; I know nothing about you in such matters; but I know this-that you have a heart like mine, that we have all of us the one character, and that we all need the one gospel of that Saviour ‘who bare our sins in His own body on the tree,’ and died that whosoever trusts in Him may live here and yonder. I beseech you, harden not your hearts, but to-day hear His voice, and remember the solemn words which not I, but the Apostle of Love, has spoken: ‘He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth upon him.’ Flee to that sorrowing and dying Saviour, and take the cleansing which He gives, that you may be safe on the sure foundation when God shall arise to do His strange work of judgment, and may never know the awful meaning of that solemn word-’the wrath of the Lamb.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3:5-6 Jesus’ opponents’ hard hearts would not listen to sound reason, so instead of having changed attitudes, they began to plot how to kill him (see also 11:18; 12:12; 14:1-2, 10-11).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mar 3:5. Περιβλεψάμενος, looking round) The expressions of Christ’s countenance teach us many lessons, Mar 3:34 [comp. ch. Mar 10:21; Mar 10:27].—συλλυπουμένος, being grieved) In the case of the Pharisees, their grief was malignant; Jesus grieves with holy affection, individually for individuals. Along with His just grief was combined just anger; see note Mar 3:2.—πώρωσει, the hardness) The habitual disposition of the heart renders the perception of the truth, and of its conclusions, either difficult or easy.—πωρωσις, hardness, which destroys the use of the senses, for instance, the sight and the touch. It is blindness, not to sec; hardness, not to perceive; Joh 12:40.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar 3:5 . περιβλεψάμενος , having made a swift, indignant ( μετʼ ὀργῆς ) survey of His foes. συλλυπούμενος : this present , the previous participle aorist, implying habitual pity for men in such a condition of blindness. This is a true touch of Mk.’s in his portraiture of Christ. τῆς καρδίας : singular, as if the whole class had but one heart, which was the fact so far as the type of heart (hardened) was concerned.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. [414][415][416][417][418] etc. omit ὑγιὴς ὡς ἡ ἄλλη, which comes from Mat 12:13 and has little support here.

[414] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[415] Codex Alexandrinus. 5th cent. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to King Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. The whole Gospel. Photographic facsimile, 1879.

[416] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[417] Codex Ephraemi. 5th cent. A palimpsest: the original writing has been partially rubbed out, and the works of Ephraem the Syrian have been written over it; but a great deal of the original writing has been recovered; of Mark we have Mar 1:17 to Mar 6:31, Mar 8:5 to Mar 12:29, Mar 13:19 to Mar 16:20. In the National Library at Paris.

[418] Codex Bezae. 6th cent. Has a Latin translation (d) side by side with the Greek text, and the two do not quite always agree. Presented by Beza to the University Library of Cambridge in 1581. Remarkable for its frequent divergences from other texts. Contains Mark, except Mar 16:15-20, which has been added by a later hand. Photographic facsimile, 1899.

5. περιβλεψάμενος. Mk five times mentions the fact of Christ’s “looking round” on those who were near Him (here, Mar 3:34, Mar 5:32, Mar 10:23, Mar 11:11), and only once (Mar 9:8) does he record this of anyone else. Excepting Lk. in this passage, no other N.T. writer uses the verb. There was someone who remembered this frequent looking round. Cf. Mar 10:21; Mar 10:27. Here He may have looked round to see if anyone would answer His question; and hence His anger when He found that no one had the moral courage to do so. On the combination of participles see Mar 1:15.

μετʼ ὀργῆς, συνλυπούμενος. Peculiar to Mk. Nowhere else is anger attributed to Jesus; but see Mar 10:14 and cf. Rev 6:16-17. He was “not easily provoked.” The anger accompanied the look (μετά as in Heb 12:17), and the momentary (aor.) glance of anger is contrasted with their continued silence and His continued grief. Anger may be a duty (Eph 4:26), and Christ’s anger is never personal. His love is sometimes personal (Mar 10:21; Joh 11:5), but not His wrath. Mk’s fondness for detail is here conspicuous; also his readiness to record the human emotions of the Messiah: σπλαγχνισθείς (Mar 1:41), ἐμβριμησάμενος (Mar 1:43), ἐστέναξεν (Mar 7:34), ἀναστενάξας (Mar 8:12), ἠγανάκτησεν (Mar 10:14), ἐμβλέψας αὐτῷ ἠγάπησεν αὐτόν (Mar 10:21). The pres. part. συνλυπούμενος expresses lasting distress; but the συν- can hardly point to sympathy with those who had the πώρωσις, for they felt no λύπη. It points rather to the inwardness and intensity of the distress; see on Mar 4:7 and cf. σύνοιδα, συνείδησις, συντηρέω, συνκύπτω, συνκαλύπτω. The compound is found here only in N.T.

ἐπὶ τῇ πωρώσει. Vulg., A.V., and R.V. fluctuate as to the rendering of this noun and the cognate πωρόω. Vulg. nearly everywhere prefers the idea of blindness; caecitas, caecatum, excaecati, obcaecatum, and once (2Co 3:14) obtunsi. Here A.V. has “hardness,” with “blindness” in the margin; R.V. has “hardening.” Eph 4:18, A.V. has “blindness,” with “hardness” in the margin; R.V. has “hardening.” Rom 11:7; Rom 11:25, A.V. has “blinded” and “blindness,” with “hardened” and “hardness” in the margin; R.V. has “hardened” and “hardening.” Mar 6:52; Mar 8:17, both have “hardened.” In all these places both renderings are possible, but in some “blindness” or “blinded” seems to be preferable; see on 2Co 3:14. Here and elsewhere πήρωσις or πηρόω is found as a variant, but everywhere the evidence for πώρωσις or πωρόω is decisive. See Sanday and Headlam on Rom 11:7; J. A. Robinson on Eph 4:18. Mt. omits the look, the anger, and the grief, probably as suggesting a low conception of Christ; cf. Mar 6:56, Mar 8:12, Mar 10:14; Mar 10:21. Loisy admits that these very human details, qui n’ont aucune signification pour la Christologie, give the impression of coming from an eye-witness.

ἐξέτεινεν. The man’s obedience proved his faith, and the wish and endeavour to obey won the power to obey.

ἀπεκατεστάθη. The cure was immediate and complete. Cf. Mar 8:25 and note the double augment, which this verb always has in N.T. Here [582][583][584][585][586][587][588] against [589] In the Testaments (Symeon ii. 13) a withered hand is restored, and the same verb is used as here.

[582] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[583] Codex Alexandrinus. 5th cent. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to King Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. The whole Gospel. Photographic facsimile, 1879.

[584] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[585] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mar 1:1 to Mar 10:15; Mar 10:30 to Mar 15:1; Mar 15:20 to Mar 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mar 16:8 and Mar 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

[586] Codex Guelpherbytanus. 6th cent. Contains Mar 1:2-11; Mar 3:5-17; Mar 14:13-24; Mar 14:48-61; Mar 15:12-37.

[587] Codex Oxoniensis. 9th cent. Contains Mark, except Mar 3:35 to Mar 6:20.

[588] Codex Sangallensis. 9th or 10th cent. Contains the Gospels nearly complete, with an interlinear Latin translation. The text of Mark is specially good, agreeing often with CL. At St Gall.

[589] Codex Bezae. 6th cent. Has a Latin translation (d) side by side with the Greek text, and the two do not quite always agree. Presented by Beza to the University Library of Cambridge in 1581. Remarkable for its frequent divergences from other texts. Contains Mark, except Mar 16:15-20, which has been added by a later hand. Photographic facsimile, 1899.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As though their heart had been so closed up, and grown together, that wholesome doctrine could prevail no more with them.

Men, when they have wrong done unto them, are angry, but not without vice, but Christ is angry without vice, neither is he sorry so much for the injury that is done to his own person, as for their wickedness: and therefore he had pity upon them, and for that cause is he said to have mourned.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 5. With anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts] These words are not found in any of the other evangelists. For πωρωσει hardness, or rather callousness, the Codex Bezae, and four of the Itala, read νεκρωσει, deadness; the Vulgate and some of the Itala, caecitate, blindness. Join all these together, and they will scarcely express the fulness of this people's wretchedness. By a long resistance to the grace and Spirit of God, their hearts had become callous; they were past feeling. By a long opposition to the light of God, they became dark in their understanding, were blinded by the deceitfulness of sin, and thus were past seeing. By a long continuance in the practice of every evil work, they were cut off from all union with God, the fountain of spiritual life; and, becoming dead in trespasses and sins, they were incapable of any resurrection but through a miraculous power of God.

With anger. What was the anger which our Lord felt? That which proceeded from excessive grief, which was occasioned by their obstinate stupidity and blindness: therefore it was no uneasy passion, but an excess of generous grief.

Whole as the other.] This is omitted by the best MSS. and versions. Grotius, Mill, and Bengel approve of the omission, and Griesbach leaves it out of the text.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. with anger] Not merely did He look upon them, He “looked round” upon them, surveyed each face with “an all-embracing gaze of grief and anger.” Feelings of “grief” and “anger” are here ascribed to Him, who was “very God and very Man,” just as in another place we read that “He wept” before the raising of Lazarus (Joh_11:35), and “slept” before He stilled the storm (Mar_4:38), and was an hungred (Mat_4:2), and was “exceeding sorrowful even unto death” (Mat_26:38).

being grieved] The word here used occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, and implies “a feeling of compassion for,” even in the midst of anger at, their conduct.

hardness] The word thus rendered denotes literally (1) the process by which the extremities of fractured bones are re-united by a callus; then (2) callousness, hardness. St Paul uses the word in Rom_11:25, saying, “I would not have you ignorant, brethren, … that hardness (see margin) in part is happened to Israel;” and again in Eph_4:18, “Having the understanding darkened … because of the hardness of their heart” (see margin again). The verb, which = “to petrify,” “to harden into stone,” occurs in Mar_6:52; Mar_8:17; Joh_12:40; 2Co_3:14.

whole as the other] This is one of the instances where our Lord may be said to have wrought a miracle without a word, or the employment of any external means. It also forms one of seven miracles wrought on the Sabbath-day. The other six were, (1) The demoniac at Capernaum (Mar_1:21); (2) Simon’s wife’s mother (Mar_1:29); (3) the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda (Joh_5:9); (4) the woman with a spirit of infirmity (Luk_13:14); (5) the man who had the dropsy (Luk_14:1); (6) the man born blind (Joh_9:14).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And when he had looked round about on them,.... In the several parts of the synagogue; for there were many of them on every side of him; which he might do, to observe their countenances, which might justly fall, upon such a close question put to them, and what answer they would return to him: and his look upon them was

with anger, with a stern countenance, which showed indignation at them, though without sin, or any desire of revenge, for the evil they were meditating against him; for at the same time he had pity and compassion for them,

being grieved for the hardness of their hearts: or "the blindness of their hearts", as the Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions render it; being troubled in his human soul, both at their inhumanity and cruelty to a miserable object, whose cure, in their opinion, would have been a breach of the sabbath; and to himself, having a malicious design against him, should he perform it; and at their stupidity and ignorance of the law of God, the nature and design of the sabbath, and of their duty to God, and their fellow creatures: wherefore as one not to be intimidated by their evil designs against him, or prevented thereby from doing good,

he saith unto the man, stretch forth thine hand; that is, the lame one; and such power went along with his words, as at once effected a cure:

and he stretched it out, and his hand was restored whole as the other. This last clause, "whole as the other", is not in the Vulgate Latin, nor in the Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions; and may be added from Mat 12:13; see the note there; since it is wanting in the Alexandrian copy, and in Beza's most ancient copy, and in others.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

5 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.

Ver. 5. With anger, being grieved] A sweet mixture of sinless passions, συλλυπουμενος, simul dolens. It is difficult to kindle and keep quick the fire of zeal without all smoke of sin.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. Looked round about on them with anger — Before proceeding to the performance of the miracle he makes a full pause as they stand in a silent circle before him. They are fixed in the obdurate silence of hatred. For one moment the Saviour is a Judge. There is one glance of that eye which in the final day will rive his adversaries. Some have wondered that the Lord should be angry. But justice has its rightful wrath for guilt. Right is terribly hostile to wrong. God is angry with the wicked every day. All government as it sits upon the judgment seat has this true wrathful anger. Our Lord looked full upon these malicious beings as they stood using their powers in the cause of evil and consecrating themselves to the eternal service of the devil, and he felt that they were sinners deserving of God’s just judgment. Grieved — And so the pure and Holy Spirit of God may be grieved, vexed, made angry, and caused to depart. Sorrow and pity for their wilfulness and their ruin mingles with the stern recognition that they deserve the ruin they incur. Hardness of their hearts — A determination to allow no proof to convince and no good to soften them.

Stretch forth thine hand — The bodily healings performed by our Lord were ever a symbol of the cures he works as great physician on the fountain malady in the soul — sin. Depraved man is withered in every limb of his soul; impotent by fallen nature. Yet just as this man is commanded to put forth his strengthless hand, so is the strengthless soul commanded to put forth a powerful act. How? Because the grace that gives he command therewith supplies the underlying power “to will and to do.” Yet as the man was not made either to will or do the act, as the performance though empowered was not secured, but left to free agency, so does the grace of God simply enable the act, but not absolutely secure its performance.

Whole as the other — Both hands testified to the reality of the miracle. But the reality of the miracle is not denied. In the very charge that it is done by diabolical power it is admitted to be done.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

When he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved sullupoumenov) the word has a touch of "condolence" in it at the hardening of their heart. All this is very characteristic of St. Mark, who is careful to notice the visible expression of our Lord"s feelings in his looks. The account is evidently from an eye-witness, or from one who had it from an eye-witness. He looked round about on them with anger. He was indignant at their blindness of heart, and their unbelief, which led them to attack the miracles of mercy wrought by him on the sabbath day as though they were a violation of the law of the sabbath. We see hero how plainly there were in Christ the passions and affections common to the human nature, only restrained and subordinated to reason. Hero is the difference between the anger of fallen man and the anger of the sinless One. With fallen man, auger is the desire of retaliating, of punishing those by whom you consider yourself unjustly treated. Hence, in other men, anger springs from self-love; in Christ it sprang from the love of God.

He loved God above all things; hence he was distressed and irritated on account of the wrongs done to God by sins and sinners. So that his anger was a righteous zeal for the honour of God; and hence it was mingled with grief, because, in their blindness and obstinacy, they would not acknowledge him to be the Messiah, but misrepresented his kindnesses wrought on the sick on the sabbath day, and found fault with them as evil. Thus our Lord, by showing grief and sorrow, makes it plain that his anger did not spring from the desire of revenge. He was indeed angry at the sin, while he grieved over and with the sinners, as those whom he loved, and for whose sake he came into the world that he might redeem and save them. Stretch forth thy hand. And he stretched it forth: and his hand was restored. The words "whole as the other" (uJgih) are not found in the best uncials. They were probably inserted from St. Matthew. In this instance our Lord performed no outward act. "He spake, and it was done." The Divine power wrought the miracle concurrently with the act of faith on the part of the man in obeying the command.

"Stretch forth thy hand!

I CHRIST SOMETIMES ENJOINS WHAT SEEMS TO BE IMPOSSIBLE.

II FAITH IS SHOWN IN DOING WHAT HE COMMANDS, EVEN WHEN IT SEEMS TO BE IMPOSSIBLE.

III WHERE THERE IS THE "OBEDIENCE OF FAITH," POWER WILL BE GRANTED. M.

The Saviour"s view of sin.

Describe the scene in the synagogue; the wickedness of the plot formed by the Pharisees; the compassion of our Lord, breaking through it as a mighty tide over a flimsy barrier; the nobility of his teaching concerning the right use of the sabbath; the healing of the man with the withered hand, etc. Our text graphically describes the feeling with which our Lord regarded his adversaries, and this deserves earnest consideration. At first the bold declaration, "He looked round about on them with anger," startles us; for it seems in contradiction to his meekness and patience, which were perfect. But the explanation follows, Being grieved for the hardness of their hearts." This shows the nature of his feeling. It reminds us of another occasion, (Luk_13:34) when he spoke of Jerusalem in a tone of reproachful indignation; but at once added the gentle words, "How often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings!" On both occasions there was a blending of feelings which too often appear to us contradictory and incompatible. But it is possible to be "angry and sin not." Christ looked on the Pharisees, and was indignant at their hypocrisy and unscrupulous hatred; but at once the feeling softened into pity as he thought of the insidious process of "hardening," which (as the Greek implies) was still going on, to end in hopeless callousness. With him warning was mingled with weeping; as his disciple Paul afterwards spoke with tears of those who were "enemies of the cross of Christ". (Php_3:18) In this, as in all things else, Christ has left us an example; therefore we will endeavor first to

I UNDERSTAND THE COMPLEX FEELING HERE EXEMPLIFIED. We see in it two elements:

1. Indignation against sin. We are constantly coming in contact with the faults and sins of men. Our newspapers contain accounts of murders and cruelties, of thefts and treasons. Overreaching and fraud meet us in business; slander and enmity lurk in society. Sensibility to such sins is not only not wrong, it is right and Christ-like, and will become more keen as we grow in likeness to our Lord. It is an evil day for a man when he becomes callous even to those wickednesses which will never affect him personally; for this is distinctly contrary to the feeling which moved the Saviour to effect the world"s redemption. As his disciples, we must never be good naturedly easy about sin; we must not put on an air of worldly indifference; we must not attempt to hush feeling to rest, as if men were committed by a resistless fate to do "all these abominations". (Jer_7:10) The presence and prevalence of sin should stir within us strong moral indignation.

2. Indignation tending to pity. Anger should be swallowed up in grief. Indignation against wrong-doing, whether it affects ourselves or not, must not make us forget the deepest commiseration for the wrongdoer. Instead of this, too often, proud of our own virtue, we stand on our small moral pedestal, and look with scorn on those below it. Respected and honored ourselves, with our robes to outward appearance unstained, we gather them about us, and sweep past some fallen brother or sister, and say, "Come not near unto me; for I am holier than thou!" The evil effects of this are manifold. We may drive others into deeper sin, because despair takes the place of hope in them; and we weaken ourselves in the service of our Lord. We can never benefit one whom we despise, or over whose fall we secretly exult; for nothing but love can so grasp the sinner as to lift him out of the horrible pit. Nor is it enough that we are indignant and angry with sin, so. that as passionate parents or denunciatory preachers we administer hasty reproof or indiscriminate punishment. Our faults will never conquer the faults of others. We must seek to deal with others as our Lord did. He loved the sinner, even when he hated the sin. His "gentleness hath made us great.

II INCULCATION OF THE DUTIES HERE SUGGESTED. Let us point out a few considerations which may help us to cultivate the temper of mind we have discussed.

1. Remember what sin is and what sin has done. It caused the loss of Paradise; it brought about the sickness and sorrows we suffer; it made our work hard and unproductive; it created discord between man and his fellow, between man and his God; it seemed so woeful in itself and its results, to him who knows all things, that the Son of God gave himself as a sacrifice to save us from its power; it is so stupendous in its nature and awful in its issues that it is not a subject for selfish irritation, but one respecting which pity should blend with indignation. He who has done you a wanton wrong has injured himself far more than he can injure you. Therefore, beware of peevish anger and sinful revenge, remembering the words of the Master, "Blessed are the meek,.. the merciful,.. the peacemakers,.. the persecuted for righteousness" sake.

2. Reflect on what sin might have done for you. How far character and reputation are affected by circumstances we cannot tell. But if we all have the same passions and evil propensities, our moral victory or defeat may depend largely on the degree of temptation which is permitted to assail us. We cherish a vindictive feeling against one who has offended his country"s laws, but possibly our own criminality might have been as great but for the good providence of God. Certain classes of sin are so harshly and indiscriminately condemned that she who commits them is only left to plunge more deeply into sin and misery. But perhaps temptations were great, and home defences were few and frail, and the first wrong step was taken ignorantly; and then there seemed no going back. The story of the weeping penitent at our Saviour"s feet is a rebuke to the want of pitifulness shown too often by the Christian Church.

3. See the nobility of the feeling here portrayed. To look with scorn, or with indifference, or with pleasure on sin, indicates a very low state of moral feeling. To burst forth with indignation against it is higher, but it is a sign of the youth of one"s virtue, the manhood of which is seen in Jesus Christ. Forbearance and gentleness are among the higher Christian graces. We expect them of the cultured nation rather than of a savage horde, of a mature man than of a half-disciplined child. "He who ruleth his own spirit is greater than he that taketh a city." To control angry feeling within ourselves is the best means of helping us to control the evil deeds of others in our home and in the world. A.R.

"Stretch forth thy hand!

There was no kind of pain which Jesus could not relieve, no kind of grief he could not assuage. Those who were regarded as unclean were welcomed, and those whom none could cure he healed. Like the heavenly Father, of whom he was "the express Image," he was "kind to the unthankful and to the unworthy." We will regard the restoration of the man with the withered hand to health and soundness as a typical example of what our gracious Lord is ever doing. It reminds us of the following truths respecting him:

I OUR LORD GIVES STRENGTH FOR DAILY LABOUR. The apocryphal "Gospel according to the Hebrews" says that this sufferer was a mason by trade, and represents him as beseeching the Saviour to heal him in order that he might no longer be compelled to beg his daily bread. Be this as it may, he presented a piteous spectacle, for his limb was wasted, all power in it was gone as completely as if death had seized it, and he was without hope of cure. It was no small blessing to have that limb made in an instant "whole as the other;" for henceforth honest industry was possible. We too may thank God if what we have has been sweetened by the toil which has made it our own. He gives us power to get wealth. It is his kindly providence which saves us from eating the bitter bread of charity and dependence.

II THE LORD GIVES STRENGTH FOR CHRISTIAN SERVICE. Until we feel his touch and bear his voice, we are towards religious work what this man was towards daily work. Many in our congregations in this sense have their hand withered. Some cannot put forth their hand to give to the poor, to minister to the sick, to lead others to the Saviour, to "subscribe with their hands to the Lord," or even to lay hold on salvation. Their hand is withered. This paralysis or incapacity has its source in sin, in the selfishness which lives without love, in the pride which refuses to alter old habits, in the avarice which will hoard all it grasps, in the distrust of God that will make no venture. Only when God reveals the sin, and by his grace destroys it, can such be fit to serve him. But if Christ"s voice is heard, there will come the stirring of new strength, the uprising of a new purpose in life, and the question will rise to heaven, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?

III THE LORD OFTEN EFFECTS THIS IN HIS OWN HOUSE. As once Jesus was found in the synagogue, so now he is often found in the assembly of his people. After his resurrection he appeared amongst the praying disciples, and it was on those who had assembled together with one accord for prayer that the Holy Spirit came on the day of Pentecost. How often since, in our congregations, the power of the Lord has been present to heal us! Sin-laden souls have been relieved; the perplexed have been guided aright; those morally weak have renewed their strength by waiting upon God; hungry souls have been satisfied; and those dead in trespasses and sins have been quickened to new life. Therefore, let us go to his house constantly, reverently, expectantly, and he will bless us "above all that we ask or think.

IV THE LORD CONNECTS HIS HIGHER BLESSINGS WITH PROMPT AND FEARLESS OBEDIENCE TO HIS WORD. Directly Jesus saw the man with the withered hand, he said, "Stand forth!" It was a simple command, but not easy under the circumstances to obey. Jesus was a comparative stranger; the position of a crippled man, who was made the gazing-stock of a congregation, would be painful; and the Pharisees might be angered by obedience. But on the man"s part there was no hesitation. To the voice of authority he yielded at once, perhaps not without the stirring of new hope in his heart. This first act of obedience made the second more easy. After a few words to the Pharisees, our Lord spoke to him again, saying, "Stretch forth thy hand!" He might have urged that it was impossible for him to do that, and that the attempt would only cover him with ridicule. But faith was growing fast and courage with it. He made the effort, and with the effort came the strength; believing that through Christ he could do it, he did it, and his band was restored" whole as the other." Many fail now through their want of this obedience of faith. They get no blessing because they neglect to obey the first command that comes to them. They want the assurance of salvation, the certain hope of heaven, and wonder that it does not come, though they have not obeyed the command. "Bow down in penitential prayer," or "give up the sin you love." Because they do not "stand forth in the midst," they do not hear the command, "Stretch forth thy hand!" Be true to the impulse God gives, and then to him that hath, to him shall be given yet more abundantly." In that synagogue Christ was both a Stone of stumbling and a sure Foundation, over which some stumbled and others rose to higher things. We too may leave his presence, like the Pharisees, hardened, or like this man who, believing and obeying, became ready for the work God gave him to do. Which shall it be? A.R.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Looking round upon them with anger, being grieved - Angry at the sin, grieved at the sinner; the true standard of Christian anger. But who can separate anger at sin from anger at the sinner? None but a true believer in Christ.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Observe here, 1. The Pharisees’ sinful and graceless disposition, and that was hardness of heart. The heart of man is naturally hard, and full of obstinacy and enmity against Christ: but there is an acquired hardness, which continuance in sin occasions; the Pharisees laboured under both.

Observe, 2. A double affection which this hardness of heart found in the Pharisees did stir up in Christ: namely, anger and indignation, grief and commiseration: He was grieved for the hardness of their hearts.

Learn hence, 1. That human passions are not sinful, and that the christian religion doth not destroy natural affections.

2. That anger at sin, either in ourselves or others, if kept within its due bounds, is not only lawful but commendable. This passion of anger was found in him, in whom was no sin.

3. That our anger against sin ought to be accompanied with grief and compassion towards sinners. We should pour out our tears of compassion, when men pour forth their abominations.

4. That all sins, hardness of heart and unbelief are most grievous and offensive, nost displeasing and provoking to Jesus Christ: He looked about with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts.

Obsreve, 3. The sudden aned instantaneous cure which our Saviour wrought upon the man that had the withered hand: our Saviour did not touch him, but only said to him, Stretch forth thy hand, and it was presently cured.

Learn hence, That Christ’s having absolute power over all bodily diseases and infirmities to cure them miraculously without means, only by a word speaking, is one argument that proves him to be truly and really God.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. Looked on them with anger. Indignation. Hardness of heart. Shown by their fault finding, evil thoughts, and silence by his questions.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

He looked around

"Jesus looked around"

was grieved

"was deeply saddened"

by their hardness of heart

This metaphor describes how the Pharisees were unwilling to have compassion on the man with the withered hand. AT: "because they were unwilling to have compassion on the man" (See: Metaphor)

Stretch out your hand

"Reach out with your hand"

his hand was restored

This can be stated with an active form. AT: "Jesus restored his hand" or "Jesus made his hand the way it was before" (See: Active or Passive)

began to plot

"began to make a plan"

the Herodians

This is the name of an informal political party that supported Herod Antipas.

how they might put him to death

"how they might kill Jesus"

translationWords

anger

heart

Pharisee

die

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

5.] συνλ … αὐτῶν, peculiar to Mark.

συνλ. probably implies sympathy with their (spiritually) miserable state of hard-heartedness: but see note on Rom 7:22. On πώρωσις, see note, Eph 4:18, and Fritzsche on Rom 11:7.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. ἐσιώπων—they kept silence. This is a case in which the imperfect denotes the continuance of a previous state. μετʼ ὀργῆς—Anger is legitimate in the absence of the personal element. Anger caused by wrong done to me, and seeking to retaliate on the person doing it, is clearly wrong. But anger against wrong simply as wrong, and without evil design or wish against the perpetrator, is a sign of moral health. συλλυπούμενος—The preposition in composition may denote merely the inwardness of the act, as in σύνοιδα, to be conscious, i.e. to have inward knowledge; or it may denote what is shared with others, as the same word σύνοιδα may mean to know with others, to be privy to. Probably it is the latter here, denoting the sympathetic character of his grief. He was grieved because they hurt themselves. ἐπὶ τῇ πωρώσει τῆς καρδίας—at the hardness of their heart. The expression does not denote, as with us, the callousness of their feelings, but the unsusceptibility of their minds. They were hardened by previous conceptions against his new truth. The collocation of anger and sympathetic grief excited by the same act is significant of the nature of Christ’s anger, showing how compatible it was with goodwill. ἀπεκατεστάθη1—it was restored.

ἀπεκατεστάθη instead of ἀποκατεστάθη, Tisch. Treg. WH. א ABL etc. Omit σου after τὴν χεῖρα Tisch. (Treg.) WH. marg. BEMSUV Γ II2, 126, etc. Doubtful. Omit ὑγιὴς ὡς ἡ ἄλλη Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. א ABC* D etc. mss. of Lat. Vet. Vulg. Memph. Syrr. etc.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Being grieved [συλλυπουμενος] . Why the compound verb, with the preposition sun, together with? Herodotus (vi., 39) uses the word of condoling with another's misfortune. Plato (" Republic, "462) says," When any one of the citizens experiences good or evil, the whole state will either rejoice or sorrow with him [ξυλλυπησεται] . The sun therefore implies Christ 's condolence with the moral misfortune of these hardhearted ones. Compare the force of con, in condolence. Latin, con, with, dolere, to grieve.

Hardness [πωρωσει] . From pwrov, a kind of marble, and thence used of a callus on fractured bones. Pwrwsiv is originally the process by which the extremities of fractured bones are united by a callus. Hence of callousness, or hardness in general. The word occurs in two other passages in the New Testament, Rom 11:25; Eph 4:18, where the A. V. wrongly renders blindness, following the Vulgate caecitas. It is somewhat strange that it does not adopt that rendering here (Vulgate, caecitate) which is given by both Wyc. and Tynd. The Rev. in all the passages rightly gives hardening, which is better than hardness, because it hints at the process going on. Mark only records Christ 's feeling on this occasion.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.