What do we do with our powerful emotions? I mean the ones that drive us to action. How do we handle them? We all have powerful emotions. Some of us learned that expressing those emotions can be dangerous, physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. If we showed our emotions, we were disciplined even more harshly, so we learned to stuff them or turn them off completely.
We read in our passage today that Jesus was angry and deeply distressed. These are very human emotions, common to every one of us. This is the only in the New Testament where it directly says Jesus is angry. It obviously doesn’t happen very often for Jesus. And perhaps it should happen very often for us as well.
What gives rise to this anger? The stubborn hearts of His opponents bring out His anger. He wants everyone to respond to His message of forgiveness and mercy. To anyone who wants God’s will, healing someone is the right thing to do, no matter what day it is. And yet, the right thing is exactly what these religious leaders think they are defending. Their definition of right is very different from Jesus’.
So how do we get a stubborn, hard heart? If these leaders got one, and we don’t want one, we had better know how to avoid it. These leaders had been exposed to God’s Word all their lives, and yet, they had not responded in faith. They had not trusted in God’s faithfulness. Just like the Israelites when they left Egypt, the miraculous signs were all there, signs of the LORD’s presence, and ye the missed them. Instead of responding by trusting Him more, they responded in grumbling and complaining.
Jesus sees and hears their insensitivity to this man’s plight. They would know exactly what this handicap meant to this man, and yet they want him to stay in that condition. I can imagine they would feel very differently if it was their hand that caused them to be an outcast. If it were their son, I am pretty sure they would want action now, rather than later.
Jesus was angry at their lack of compassion for this man. Their hearts are revealed in this moment. They would rather kill Jesus than admit that their narrowly focused application of the Law was wrong. They could do rule-keeping. They had difficulty believing.
Grace prevails in this man’s life. Jesus speaks the word and his hand is restored. But it is more than his hand. His whole life is restored. We would say, he gets his life back. Aren’t there times when you would like to get your life back?
And the reaction from the religious leaders is simple. They want to kill Jesus. They are willing join forces with the Herodians, people who have collaborated with Rome, the enemy of the Jewish people, the taxer of Israel’s citizens, the crucifier of dissidents. They are willing to sleep with the devil to get their way.
The Arnold Journey 