Again he entered the synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered hand. 2 They watched him closely to see if he would cure him on the sabbath so that they might accuse him. 3 He said to the man with the withered hand, “Come up here before us.” 4 Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” But they remained silent. 5 Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and his hand was restored. 6 The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death.
Mark places this scene in the synagogue, where worship and the listening to God’s word should form the heart. Into that setting comes a man “who had a withered hand” (v. 1). Mark gives no details about how it happened or how long he has lived with it. The point is not curiosity about the condition. The point is what Jesus will do in the presence of those who are watching Him.
The tension is stated plainly. “They watched him closely” to see whether He would cure on the sabbath, “so that they might accuse him” (v. 2). The issue is not whether Jesus has power to heal. By this point in Mark, His healings are already public and undeniable. The conflict is about authority: who decides what honors God’s law and what violates it, and whether mercy can be treated as a violation at all.
Jesus does not keep the moment private. He calls the man forward: “Come up here before us” (v. 3). The man is placed in the open, where everyone can see. Jesus makes the man’s need visible, and He makes the question unavoidable.
Then Jesus speaks to those who are watching. His question is framed as a moral contrast, not a technical debate: “Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” (v. 4). This is the hinge of the passage. If the sabbath is God’s gift for rest, worship, and the good of His people, then mercy cannot be treated as a betrayal of it. Jesus’ question lifts the discussion out of narrow rule-keeping and forces the deeper issue into view: does God’s law serve life, or can it be used as a reason to withhold good?
Mark adds a striking detail: “But they remained silent” (v. 4). Silence here is not reverence. It is refusal. They will not answer because any honest answer collapses the accusation. If it is lawful to save life, then refusing to do good is exposed as a kind of harm. Their silence shows that the issue has become more than a disagreement. It has become resistance.
Verse 5 shows Jesus’ interior response: He looks around “with anger” and is “grieved at their hardness of heart.” Mark does not present Jesus as emotionally indifferent. His anger is not uncontrolled emotion; it is anger at hardness of heart, and grief that mercy is being refused. And His grief shows that hardness of heart is not only an offense; it is a tragedy. A heart can become so closed that it cannot rejoice when someone is restored.
Only after that does Jesus speak again to the man: “Stretch out your hand” (v. 5). The command is simple, and the action requires no medical work. The man stretches out his hand, and “his hand was restored” (v. 5). Mark’s style is direct. Jesus heals in a way that highlights His authority and mercy without spectacle. The restoration itself becomes the answer to the question Jesus asked. Doing good and restoring what is broken is not a violation of God’s day. It reveals what God desires.
Then Mark turns the corner sharply. “The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death” (v. 6). The word “immediately” matters. Mark wants us to see the speed of the reaction and the escalation. He also wants us to see the irony. Groups with very different interests can unite when they share one aim: stopping Jesus. The dispute has moved beyond synagogue criticism into coordinated opposition involving religious leaders and political allies.
The healing is not only a work of mercy. It becomes a flashpoint that reveals the deeper conflict. Jesus acts as one who has authority to reveal God’s will and to bring restoration on God’s holy day. His opponents do not deny the restoration. They answer mercy with a plan for death. Mark is already pointing forward: the path toward the cross begins, not because Jesus does evil, but because He does good with divine authority and will not be controlled by those who oppose Him.
Lord Jesus, soften what is hard in me. Teach me to love what is good, to rejoice when others are restored, and to receive Your mercy with humility and gratitude. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The Holy Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition (2011).
- Faculty of the University of Navarre, The Navarre Bible: Mark (Four Courts/Scepter), p. 171.
- José Enrique Aguilar Chiu et al., eds., The Paulist Biblical Commentary (2018), p. 984.
- Raymond E. Brown et al., The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1990), p. 603, para. 19.
- The New Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century, 3rd fully revised ed. (2020), pp. 1249-1250.
- The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament (Ignatius Press), p. 70.
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