“Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. ² They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. ³ And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come forward.” ⁴ Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. ⁵ He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. ⁶ The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.”  Mark 3:1-6

I find it interesting that the Pharisees are waiting in the synagogue to “see” if Jesus will heal the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath. It is amazing to me that the “people of the law” were so mired in their beliefs and their ways and their traditions, that when the miraculous occurred right in front of them, when a physical healing such as this, something that you and I will never see let alone someone living in the first century would expect to see, when this wonderful event occurred in their presence, all they could do was worry about whether this healing broke the commandment of honoring the Sabbath.  Personally, if I watched a faith healer restore a withered hand, I would be completely astounded, and amazed, and would give glory to G-d.

Do we get so mired in the details of our daily lives and our faith lives that we miss the wonderful, miraculous ways that G-d is breaking into our lives?

Pastor Dave

“Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. ¹⁶ How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

¹⁷ And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked,because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”

¹⁸ Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” ¹⁹ And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. ²⁰ But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”  Exodus 33:15-20

The Lord said, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”  YHWH is a particular G-d—one who can not be put into a box. And yet even our G-d will only allow Moses, the greatest of the Prophets, the Prophet’s prophet, to see only a part of G-d – and that part is his back. It foreshadows, dare I say, the saying of Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:9 – 10, “For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end…Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” 

We are fully known—this is our faith. We believe that G-d made each one of us, individually, and perfectly—and knows us fully. As such, we must be satisfied that we will only know G-d in part–but that is enough.

Pastor Dave