Mark 3:5 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

NIV: He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.

NASB: After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He *said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

CSB: After looking around at them with anger, he was grieved at the hardness of their hearts and told the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

NLT: He looked around at them angrily and was deeply saddened by their hard hearts. Then he said to the man, 'Hold out your hand.' So the man held out his hand, and it was restored!

KJV: 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.

NKJV: And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.

The point of the Ten Commandments is to honor God and man. The Mosaic Law explains how to worship God and respect other people. But instead of giving priority to God and others, the Pharisees give priority to laws for the sake of laws. They build a fence of extra regulations around God's statutes. They seek to ensure no one will even come close to breaking the law. In their zeal for the letter of the law they forget the purpose of the law.

The Sabbath presents an ideal example of the difference between these two concepts. God gave the Sabbath as a rest from work, intended to both glorify Him and refresh His followers. Instead, the Pharisees' legalism binds the people. Their approach suffocates man with overly minute prohibitions, which destroy both the joy and the rest the Sabbath was meant to provide. As a result, and here in particular, the Pharisees reject God's gift and lead others to reject it as well.

This attitude both angers and grieves Jesus. He is described with the Greek words orgēs and syllypoumenos. The first is a common word referring to wrath or fury. The second is based on a less-common term which implies a "giving" or "sharing" of grief. Jesus is both angry and saddened, for the sake of the people around Him, that the Pharisees are reacting in this way.

The word "hard" comes from the Greek root word porosis, and means "to be so calloused as to be dull or numb." "Heart" comes from the Greek root word kardia, and represents the inner source of life, discernment, and will. The Pharisees' discernment is covered with a hardened callous that puts a shield between them and God.

With a few simple words, requiring no sacrifice from Jesus, and only the Holy Spirit's work, Jesus provides blessed relief to a man in need. The man accepts the restoration and is healed, providing a gracious but unheeded example for the religious scholars who should know better. The man's healing parallels God's work of salvation. Salvation is the work of God that we cannot earn or achieve through our own efforts (John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8–9). We merely need to set aside our pride and accept it.

Mark 3:1–6 relates a story of Jesus healing a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. Continuing from chapter 2, this passage is usually grouped as the last of five events which show Jesus' authority. This incident specifically reinforces His lordship over the Sabbath. At the same time, this event can also be considered the first of five stories about the different reactions people have to Jesus' early ministry, seen in chapter 3. Since the beginning of Jesus' ministry, the Pharisees' antagonism has slowly grown. Now, Jesus' provocative actions push the religious teachers over the edge, and the Pharisees ally with the Herodians to plot Jesus' destruction. Matthew 12:9–14 and Luke 6:6–11 record parallel accounts of these events.

The bulk of chapter 3 deals with how different people react to Jesus' teaching and His assumption of authority. The Pharisees' confusion transitions into plotting. The crowds that continually follow Jesus for healing become more frenetic and dangerous. Jesus' own family, afraid for His sanity, try to pull Him away. But true followers also show themselves. Twelve join together to become a core group, while a slightly bigger crowd, more interested in Jesus' teaching than miracles, earn the honor of being called His true family.

The Gospel of Mark emphasizes both Jesus' servanthood and His role as the promised Messiah: the Son of God. This is done through a concise, action-packed style. Mark provides relatively few details, instead focusing on actions and simple statements. This relates to the Gospel's authorship, which is believed to be based on the memories of the apostle Peter. These include many of Jesus' miracles, in contrast to other Gospels which include many more of Jesus' teachings and parables. Mark also makes frequent mention of Jesus' ministry being misunderstood by others.