Jesus Heals the Man with the Withered Hand

We are continuing in our series of daily meditations on the topic of the supernatural power of Jesus. Here’s another example of Jesus’ miraculous power:

⁶On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled.⁷The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. ⁸But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Get up and stand in front of everyone." So he got up and stood there. ⁹Then Jesus said to them, "I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?" ¹⁰He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did so, and his hand was completely restored. ¹¹But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus (Luke 6:6-11). 

The Lord Jesus did not comply with all the rules the Pharisees had made for keeping the Sabbath. In the synagogue that morning was a man with a right hand that was withered. The word translated as withered was used of something that was shriveled up or atrophied, as in a dried-up plant or fruit. Luke 6:7 tells us that the Pharisees and teachers (scribes) were watching Him closely. I wonder if the Pharisees deliberately brought the man in order to find an occasion against Jesus by seeing if they could catch Him healing on the Sabbath? The teachers of the law and the Pharisees seem to be there just as a man with a withered hand was brought to Jesus on the Sabbath day.

The Lord was angry with all the silly little laws that made life difficult for His people. It loaded them down with burdens that took away the joy of simple life. He took the opportunity to face down His adversaries, and He compassionately healed the man.

Jesus did not just heal him immediately, He called the man to stand in front of everyone and then questioned the Pharisees’ theology about God. He challenged them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” (v. 9).To Jesus, to withhold healing just because the day was a Sabbath day was absolutely cruel and spoke more of evil than good. The Lord was willing to break tradition and rules for the sake of mercy and compassion. The Pharisees represented God as being law-centered and not caring for His people. Jesus didn’t touch the man but told him to stretch out his hand, and as he did so, he was wonderfully healed in full view of all. The Lord defiantly healed the man after silently looking around the room expecting for people to see reason (6:10). How infuriated were the rule–keepers! Where was the love and mercy of God in them! You’d think they would be full of wonder and joy for the man with the withered hand; instead, they were absolutely crazy with anger at the result of the Lord’s action. The original Greek language tells us they were filled with unreason, describing a hot-headed impulsive hostility toward the Lord for healing the man and belittling them at the same time. “But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus” (v. 11). Doesn’t it seem amazing that the Pharisees did not see their own hypocrisy as they were walking away and thinking thoughts of murder?  

We need to be careful that, as Christians, we do not become legalistic ourselves and lose sight of what is really important. The Pharisees knew the Word of God, and yet they did not know the God of the Word. They thought more of the recipe book than the meal itself. The Bible tells us how to have a living relationship with the God of the Bible. Let’s be careful to seek the heart of God who wrote the book.

These thoughts were taken from the more complete study in Luke 6:1-11, found in the middle column in study 11 from the Gospel of Luke, found in the All Studies box on the Home Page. Keith Thomas.