So why were the Pharisees so upset about good being done on the Sabbath? I don’t think the issue is really the fact that Jesus is healing a man on the Sabbath as much as he is challenging their authority as enforcers of the law. Jesus has already told and showed them that he has authority to forgive sins, blasphemy if he is not God. However, his claim is not without evidence as he heals the paralytic.
Jesus continues with his confrontation with the Pharisees as he tells them that he has authority over the Sabbath, again blasphemy if he is not God. This authority is now however backed up again by a miracle of healing a man’s hand on the Sabbath. The Pharisees are faced with admitting that Jesus has the authority he claims, which only belongs to God, or claiming that he is doing these things because he is from Satan.
A heart ready to see God in action would see Jesus as God. A heart full of pride will deny Jesus to eternity, denying the evidence of the Spirit, the unforgivable sin. This hardness of heart angers and grieves Jesus at the same time. He has anger because pride is a repulsive sin to a holy God. He is grieved because he loves these evil men to the point of sacrificing his life for their pride.
How did the Pharisees, who have been reading and studying God’s word all their life, get to this place of a heart so hard they could not recognize their Lord when he stood in front of them? Pride lifts one over God. They could not see their God in front of them because they were their own God. We all have pride. It is the original sin that clings to our flesh even as we continue to depend on Jesus to sanctify us. It is a daily battle.
Mark 3:5
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