GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 3:2
Sitting in the Right Place
As Jesus traveled through Galilee, people followed him. Some wanted to hear him teach, some wanted healing, and some looked for an opportunity to prosecute him. St. Mark said, “And they watched him closely, if on the Sabbath he will heal him, in order that they might accuse him.” (3:2) Later, this critical group was identified as Pharisees. It appears that they were dispatched from Jerusalem, about 75 miles south, to watch Jesus and find an avenue of attack.
On this particular Sabbath, there was a man in the audience who had a withered hand. An early Christian document, the Gospel of the Hebrews, which only survives in a few fragments claims that this man was a mason. St. Jerome, quoting from this document, said the man asked for help, saying, “I was a mason, seeking my living by manual labor. I beseech thee, Jesus, to restore to me the use of my hand, that I may not be compelled to beg my bread.” St. Luke said the man’s right hand was disfigured. (Luke 6:6) The wording of the text suggests that the hand was deformed either by an accident or disease; it was not congenital.
The wording says that the critics were “watching closely.” The word here takes “watch” and adds a prefix that intensifies the word. So the critics were watching for any little speck, any misstep that they might use to accuse Jesus. On the other hand, there was the man who was earnestly seeking Jesus’ help. One has to decide which group one want to sit with—the audience, the supplicant, or the critics.
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