In 2:1-12 we have the case of a paralytic, the case of someone fully paralyzed. But in 3:1-6 we have the case of someone with a withered hand. This is the case of a person who is partially free, but is not wholly free. Are you fully free? You may find this question difficult to answer and say, “On the one hand, I cannot say that I am wholly free. On the other hand, it would not be true to say that I am not free at all. I must answer by saying that I am partially free.” Like the man with the withered hand, we need to be fully liberated. This man was not dying. He could move about and do things with one of his hands. Yet the other hand was withered. This indicates that he needed to be set free.
It is significant that the case of the man with the withered hand is the last of the five cases in 2:1—3:6. In the first incident (2:1-12) we have the forgiveness of sins; in the second (2:13-17), the entering into the enjoyment of God; in the third (2:18-22), joy through the living Christ as the Bridegroom, the One who has a garment with which to cover and beautify us and who has the divine life with which to fill us; and in the fourth (2:23-28), satisfaction through the Lord’s feeding. Now in the fifth incident we have complete freedom. Here we see a person who is wholly free.
If we put these five incidents together, we shall see a complete picture of a fully saved person, the picture of someone enjoying salvation in the fullest way. According to this picture, the Lord’s salvation includes forgiveness, enjoyment, joy, satisfaction, and freedom. May we all experience these five aspects of the Lord’s salvation.
Mark 3:5 says, “And looking around at them with anger, being greatly grieved at the hardness of their heart, He says to the man, Stretch out your hand! And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.” Toward the opposers the Savior’s anger was exercised, and He was greatly grieved at their hardness of heart. But toward the sick His compassion was exercised, and He restored the withered member. His anger and grief may be considered the expression of the genuineness of His humanity, whereas His compassion and healing were a merging of His human virtue with His divine power. Thus His deity was again expressed in His humanity. The restoration of the withered hand displayed the power of the Slave-Savior’s deity.
The Lord gave the man the word, “Stretch out your hand!” In the Lord’s word was the enlivening life. By stretching out his hand, the man took the Lord’s life-giving word, and his withered hand was restored by the life in His word.
In 3:6 we have the conclusion of this incident: “And going out, the Pharisees immediately took counsel with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.” In the eyes of the religious Pharisees, for the Lord to break the Sabbath was to destroy the covenant of God with the nation of Israel, that is, to destroy the relationship between God and Israel. Hence, the Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians concerning how they might destroy the Lord Jesus. The breaking of the Sabbath caused the Jewish religionists to reject the Slave-Savior. As the religionists of the old and lifeless religion, the Pharisees were motivated by Satan and used by him to oppose, resist, and frustrate the gospel service of the Slave-Savior throughout His ministry. Blinded by their traditional religion from seeing Him in God’s economy, they plotted to kill Him.