Scripture: Luke 6:6-12; Psalm 27
Theme: Stretching for the Impossible
This sermon focuses on the 1. The man who had the withered hand 2. His encounter with Jesus and 3. His healing.
INTRO:
Grace and peace this morning!
Have you ever heard the phrase - “you are too close to the forest to see the trees”?
At times, we can suffer from a type of tunnel vision and only be able see a small part of what going on around us.
That is what was happening in the passage of Scripture that we read this morning.
+The Pharisees were so laser focused on keeping the traditions of the Sabbath day that they couldn’t see what was going on around them.
They believed that one of the main reason that the Jewish People were under the bondage of the Romans was their lack of attention to Sabbath rules and regulations. They believed that one of best ways they could get God to free them was to make sure they were doing everything they could to keep the Sabbath day holy.
This caused them to create all kinds of extra Sabbath day rules. It also made it nearly impossible for them to be able to help anyone on the Sabbath. Any type of so-called assistance was labeled “work” and therefore unlawful/unholy.
Some have theorized that the only reason why Luke along with Mark and Matthew recorded this story was so that anyone reading it could see that Jesus was trying to teach a new way of looking at the Sabbath day.
The Sabbath day was to be more than a day of absence. The Sabbath was to be a day where we would bring God praise with our minds, hearts, souls, and bodies. It was to be a day where we would take some time to pause, reflect and rest. And it was to be a day that we would invest our lives in one another and in creation.
As I read and reread this story, I found myself going back to the man in the story with the withered hand.
Was he just a means to an end?
Was he just a man used to make a point about what to do and not do on the Sabbath?
I don’t think so.
I think there is more here than just meets the eye about a message surrounding the Sabbath day. I think we find a macro and micro story. Both are important.
I want us to spend some time looking at what many call the Micro Story – the Story about the Man with the Withered Hand. I believe we can discover something that will help us today.
I. We witness - The Man
The man was real. He was real flesh and bone.
This is not a parable. This was history. This really happened.
This man had a family and friends,
He was dealing with a serious health issue.
Church tradition tells us that he was a stone mason. He had made his living by laying bricks and stones and working in the construction business.
We know from the Gospels that not long after Jesus started his ministry he moved to the town of Capernaum where this story takes place. It was there that Matthew along with James, John, Peter and Andrew lived.
It is highly possible that Jesus knew this man with the withered hand and that they had even worked together. Carpenters in Jesus’ time not only worked with wood they would often work with bricks and stones as well.
So, while we have this macro story of how to deal with the Sabbath day, we have this micro story of a man being healed. A man whose ability to provide for his family was restored. A man who was made whole. We have a story of newness and celebration.
We know something had caused this man to be in this condition. He wasn’t born with a withered hand. Over the years there have been a lot of different notions:
+He harmed his hand at work. There had been an accident and some rocks or bricks had fallen on the man’s hand which caused severe nerve damage. As a result his hand withered up.
+The man contracted a form of polio that was known to have existed around Capernaum at that time and that is what damaged his hand.
+The man suffered from of a type of rheumatoid arthritis that caused what some today call a “Claw hand”.
The truth is we really don’t know.
And to tell you the truth, it really doesn’t matter whether his hand was damaged by an accident or a disease.
The fact of the matter is that this man was suffering. He was suffering physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. The reality was he needed help.
II. We witness - The Encounter
I am convinced this morning, that this man didn’t want to be the center of attention. I am sure he didn’t want to stand up and have everyone look at him.
Most people when they suffer from some physical issue, they do their best to keep it away from prying eyes.
We know if we use a cane, a walker, have a limp, have a skin disease or a million other things that all too often we can feel the stares of those that see us. And we may be asked to answer some interesting types of questions by curious people.
+What happened to your leg, your eye, your hand – the list could go on and on.
I am sure this man over the last few months or years had to retell his story repeatedly.
I have a feeling that most of the time he just tried to hide his hand. He wanted people to see him more than just a man with a withered hand.
I believe this morning; all he had wanted to do was to come and enjoy a simple synagogue service.
All he wanted to do was to hear the Torah read out loud, recite the prescribed prayers, and listen to the leader of the synagogue or some other elder share a lesson about God. I believe all he wanted to know was to how to live a life more pleasing to the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. This was at the heart of every faithful Jew at that time.
We don’t even know for sure that he knew that Jesus would be speaking that day. He might have known and with Jesus having been a carpenter/stone mason he might have chosen that day to be there just to see what Jesus would say.
What I am sure about is that he didn’t want to get into a chess match between Jesus and a bunch of Pharisees.
Not very many of us like to be the center of attention in this kind of encounter. It’s okay to be the center of attention when it is your birthday or when you are celebrating a special moment in your life.
It’s quite a different matter when people start arguing and begin to pull you into the middle of everything. If you are like most people, you do your best to become a part of the wall. You look for an exit. You look for somewhere to hide.
In this man’s case there was no exit. There was no where for him to hide. He was sitting with the men in the main synagogue room. The women and the children would have been seated i the side room and any non-Jewish person would be looking through the window made just for them.
I think he did what all of us would have done – when Jesus said “Stand Up” – He stood up not knowing what was going to happened next.
III. We witness - The Healing
Whatever would happen that day would cause a stir.
+If Jesus had touched the man and healed him, Jesus could be accused of breaking the sabbath.
+If Jesus asked the man to do anything then He and the man both could be accused of breaking the sabbath. Jesus for asking someone to do some work – “stretching out his hand” and the man for obeying.
+If nothing happened (no healing took place) then Jesus and the man would look rather foolish.
We have to understand that the Pharisees didn’t mind anyone being healed. That wasn’t the main issue.
They just thought it shouldn’t happen on the Sabbath day. There were six other days that people could be healed. The Sabbath day was to be a day dedicated to rest and worship.
Sabbath rules in those days were quite strict.
+You could only walk a short distance (about ½ mile).
+You couldn’t even clean your house.
+You had to have your meals pre-cooked.
+The only way you could take care of someone is if they were right at the brink of death. If it looked like they could make it until the next day, then you were required to just let them suffer.
I know, it all sounds rather silly and foolish to us today but that was the rules at that time lined out by the Pharisees and the scribes. Rules again that we to be the means for God to bless them for the obedience by overpowering the Romans, bringing the Messiah and freeing the people.
We must remember, they didn’t write all those rules to hurt people, but they were so focused on not disobeying God or displeasing God that they ended up making rules that made life miserable on the Sabbath.
Now, as I think about all of this, I have come to believe this morning that there was a twinkle in Jesus’ eyes and a smile on his face as he asked the man to stand up. I don’t think Jesus was trying to cause a fight or put down the Pharisees. I think he saw it as both a teaching moment and a freeing moment.
I mean think about what was happening. Here was the Son of God in the synagogue and a group of people were going to judge Him about the Sabbath day.
I mean when the whole Sabbath day was created in the first place it had been a decision made by the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. That means that Jesus had helped create the Sabbath day. Therefore, if anyone knew about the Sabbath day, it was one of the creators of the Sabbath day.
I think Jesus smiles as He asks the questions
- Can you do good on the Sabbath?
- Can you save a life on the Sabbath?
Jesus wants them and us to understand why humans were gifted the Sabbath day in the first place.
After all, God could have made the week to be just six days. Six days of continual work and commerce.
But He didn’t.
The Sabbath was specifically created as a day to honor God, do good and save lives.
+It’s so we won’t work ourselves to death.
+It’s so we won’t work others to death.
+It’s so we won’t work our animals and now our equipment to death.
+It’s so we won’t live with a mindset that everything begins and ends with us.
The Sabbath day enables us to rest in the LORD. It allows us to have faith that God is in control and that He will take care of us. The Sabbath day reminds us to spend some quality time with God, our families and with one another.
Jesus doesn’t get rid of the Sabbath. He puts it back where it belongs. The Sabbath was made for humans, not the other way around. The Sabbath was made for us to take a break, to enjoy God and life. It was made for us to do good and give life.
Jesus shows us that by asking the man to stretch out his hand.
And here is where we find another rub.
How do we stretch out something that has withered or is paralyzed or constricted?
How do we stretch out something that for the past few weeks, months and perhaps years we have only seen withered, dried up and unmovable?
How do we begin to do what we think is the impossible?
We do what man did.
This man just tried it; he just gave it a shot. He just took a leap of faith. He just looked into Jesus’ eyes and trusted Him. He may have thought what have I got to lose. I came in here with a withered hand and I never gave it a thought that I wouldn’t leave with a withered hand.
After all, I am not the one on the judgment seat – Jesus is.
He is the one who is going to be blamed if I am healed. All I am going to do is to do what he said – I am going to try to do the impossible.
Wouldn’t you have like to have been there.
Can you imagine the tension that filled the air when Jesus told the man to stand up?
Can you imagine the look on Jesus’ face, the man’s face, the Pharisees’ faces and all those around them?
I have a feeling people were whispering all around
+What’s going on? +What did Jesus say?
+Wow, he is really standing up.
+What happens if nothing happens?
+What happens if something happens?
Well, we know the story – the man’s hand is restored. He is able to go back to work. He is able to provide for his family. He is able to resume a healthy life.
When Jesus asks us to do the impossible we can expect the impossible to become reality. This man had a whole new lease on life.
He experienced something that radically transformed his life.
His life would never be the same because of Jesus and his own faith and obedience.
People will begin to hear his story. Some people will want him to share it. Some will be inspired by his healing while others will hate him for being healed. Life is just that way in our broken world.
He would forever be a testimony of his faith in Jesus and being restored to wholeness by Jesus.
Overall, the story is about the Sabbath – we know that. That’s the macro story.
But it is also about a life being changed. A life that was dealing with a brokenness that came because of a disease, an accident, or some other means.
It is a life that took a chance – a chance of standing up and obeying Jesus.
It is a life that was willing to take a leap of faith.
This man wasn’t the first person to come into a synagogue or a church who was suffering from a part of their lives drying up. This man wasn’t the first person to have to deal with a part of their life that was no longer functioning, was no longer healthy and whole.
There are many people that suffering from a case of the withering/drying up:
+A drying up of Hope; believing that there is nothing good to look forward to in their lives.
King David had the deal with the danger of losing hope many times in his life:
+When he was running for his life from King Saul
+When his child by Bathsheba became deathly ill
+When his son Absalom was killed in battle
The Bible tells us that David wondered if God was still there and listening to him. He wondered if life was worth living.
David did what this man did. He stretched out his hands and his faith to the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. He reminded himself that it was God who created him and it was God who promised to be forever be with him. He reminded himself that he can have hope and that is why we have many of David’s psalm including the one we read this morning, Psalm 27.
If you take the time to think about it – there are other things that people suffer from this morning that are very similar to the man’s withered hand. Things like:
+A drying up of Joy in their lives
Certain people believe that because of this loss or that loss that life is no longer enjoyable; that the days of being happy are over. That all they can look forward to is loss, of being lonely and ultimately to be forgotten.
When that happens to us or to someone around us, we must remind ourselves and them that there is Joy in the LORD – Joy Unspeakable and Full of Glory.
To counter act that withering or drying up of Joy we must help ourselves and others stretch out to the Lord and allow Him to fill us with His Joy through His Word, through Praise, Worship, Music, and Activity. It’s time for us to take the time and look around and see the wonders of the world around us – God’s creation.
God can give us back our Joy.
+A drying up of the ability to Forgive – Ourselves and/or Others
Some people believe that forgiveness is impossible. They believe that either something they did or something that was done to them can never be forgiven. They can’t be forgiven or someone else shouldn’t be forgiven.
If we are not careful, we become a never-ending recording of what people have done to us or what we have done to ourselves. We create all kinds of reasons why they or ourselves should never be forgiven.
When we do that, we are on a fast track to our souls becoming withered and dried up.
We must always remember Jesus’ words on the Cross – Father, forgive them, for they really don’t know what they are doing.
Those words were meant for more than the Romans and Jews of His day. They are words meant for all of us and for all of time.
Jesus died for our sins. Jesus forgives us of our sins; all our sins – past, present and even future.
When our ability to forgive ourselves or others begins to wither then its time for us to allow the Living Water of Jesus to flow into our lives.
What you have done – is under the blood.
What others have done – is under the blood.
That doesn’t take away justice, discipline or consequences.
It does mean that we can be forgiven and we can learn how to forgive.
There are of course many other areas of our lives that can suffer from a little withering/drying up:
+Our kindness +Our love
+Our patience +Our peace
+Our gentleness +Our self-control
+Our walk with the LORD +Our faith in God
+Our faith in ourselves +Our faith in other people
I am sure you could add some things to this list as well this morning.
And I am also sure that if we will allow Jesus to stretch us – we will find that He can restore us bit by bit.
This morning, I am going to invite us to take a moment and just be still in God’s Presence:
We are going to listen to the song – Something Beautiful – as you listen I would like for you to try something:
– To look at your hands – and to think for a moment if you are dealing with some withering, some drying in your life. If you are suffering even in a small way suffering like this man – it may not be physical, it could be emotional, social or spiritual.
-As you listen to the song – take the opportunity to stretch out your hand to Jesus; for Him to being a healing, a restoration to an area of dryness, withering – (patience, faith, love, forgiveness, gentleness, faith in ourselves and others, faith in God etc…).
This morning, allow the LORD to make something that was drying up, that was becoming withered in your life beautiful again. Let God take your brokenness and strife and bring it back to new life.
Song/Reflection/Prayer/Blessing
