Today, from Chuck Swindoll, to the legalist, religion is keeping the rules, obeying the regulations, and following the rituals. To Jesus, the rules and rituals are irrelevant. To him, hear this: the most important thing in the world is not correct performance of a ritual. It is the spontaneous response of mercy to the cry of human need. In a crowded synagogue one Sabbath morning, a man sat with a withered hand.
Can you imagine the challenges that man must have faced in his daily life? Most people never noticed him, but one did. While suspicious eyes watched for a rule to be broken, Jesus saw a life that needed restoring. What happened next enraged the legalists and revealed the very heart of God. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll shows us what compassion looks like when no one else is willing to care.
Teaching from Mark three, Chuck titled his message, "Mercy Under Suspicious Eyes." Lord, deliver us from a phony religion, um, kind of a veneer of piety. Where we talk one way and we are thinking another. Where we are at our worst, like the Pharisees, who really didn't care a thing about the man with the withered hand. He was a point they would use to entrap the Master, and we see that clearly in in this narrative and. What we see here is not just that, but we see ourselves in the mirror of truth.
We take a real risk when we sit before the open word, and we we risk the exposure of wrong motives and pious words and deeds. That are done for another reason than others would think. I pray that you would do a work in our heart, like your son did with that man's hand, that you'd cut through all the nonsense of of our trying to be what everybody expects us to be, and face ourselves as we really are. And once we're there. Help us with the remedy.
Thank you on this damp and and cool morning to realize that you never change. You're the same yesterday and today and forever. All glory, Lord, and honor to you. We extol you. We magnify your name.
May we, in the process, Lift up the cause of Christ in the name of the One who is eternal, Jesus. We pray, we give. Everyone, say, Amen. You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into the Gospel according to Mark, be sure to purchase a copy of our Searching the Scriptures Bible Study Workbooks by going to insight dot org slash offer.
Chuck titled today's message "Mercy Under Suspicious Eyes." There's a serious need in the synagogue that had been overlooked by most of the people, perhaps all of them except one. There was a man there whose hand. Was withered. Tradition tells us he was a brick mason, so he could no longer do his trade. The point is, all of us need both hands, and the man is what we would call disabled.
We read that Jesus entered into the synagogue, and a man was there whose hand was withered. The they of verse two, thanks to Matthew and Luke, we know refers to the Pharisees. They watched him from the moment he stood to teach, all the way to the end of his act of healing. They were watching him. They were watching him.
They couldn't care one whit about the withered hand of the man. He was simply a point of reference for them to use to see if Jesus would break their rules regarding the Sabbath. In fact, it says so that they might accuse him. What does all of that mean? They said if you made an effort toward curing, as in this case, a withered hand, its work.
And that must wait until the passing of the Sabbath. You were not to do that on the Sabbath. They were watching him so that they might accuse him. Isn't it interesting the irony of all this? The authorities are denying Jesus the right to do good on the Sabbath, while they and their hearts are conspiring evil.
That is called hypocrisy. It's a classic example. Oh, you can't break the rules, but inside their hearts, we're going to kill him if he does.
Now then, you got the picture. Let's stop and consider some of the options, okay? Jesus could have, in seeing the withered hand, decided to delay until the next day. That way, we don't offend anybody. We please the people.
We make the Pharisees like us more. After all, we can heal. I can heal the man any time, and he's lasted this long without it being that great an issue.
So one more day wouldn't matter. He could delay it. And if you want to please people, that's what you would do. And there are a lot of folks who would do that. It's called not making waves.
Let's don't ruffle the feathers. Let's not make the Pharisees more angry. They're angry enough.
So that's one possible. Second, he could have whispered to the man, "Meet me by the seashore this afternoon when we're alone, and and I'll do this in secret. It'll be between you and me. You'll still get healed, and the synagogue won't be disrupted. It'll be fine.
That's called a compromise." And there are many who would have done that. He could have healed by the seashore that afternoon. No one would have seen, and it would have been done in secret. The third option is the one he chose. There is an issue at stake, and to quote Luther, "Here I stand.
I can do no other." And the issue is more than a withered hand. It is that, but it is more. There is everything right about this healing. I refuse to give in to those who were suspicious of me and my motives. I will do what is right.
Do you have any idea how rare those kind of people are? We are trained from earliest years to be politically correct, to do what is acceptable. Um. And so we learn to play it safe and not offend. We learn to be popular rather than right, and we also learn to leave the defenseless without an advocate.
Two timeless principles at work here, if I may take the time for that. The first is this: a litmus test of true versus false religion is its response to injustice. A litmus test of true or false religion is its response to injustice. In the face of the disabled person's need, the official authorities remain silent. Into verse four tells us.
Here's the second. The primary test of all theology and morality is either passed or failed. By one's response to the weakest and most defenseless member of society, maybe that went by a little too quickly. Let me repeat it: the primary test of all theology and morality is either passed or failed by one's response to the weakest and most defenseless member of society. For Jesus, it's time to do something about this.
It's time to deal with this. In the process, it's time to teach these who sit there in their self-righteous robes to learn something beyond. People will do more than just obey your rules. I love what he does. Here we see a merciful heart at work.
By the way, the difference between him and them is in one word: compassion. We read this. He said to the man with the withered hand, "Get up and come forward." By the way, no extra charge for this. Learn to speak to people who are in wheelchairs. Talk to them.
Acknowledge them. Visit with them. They've learned things in their life that you and I will never know. They have a lot of wisdom. They will help us in our lives.
And and so I've I've learned to to speak. In fact, I spoke to the woman and which made the line longer. People behind me were crazy about that. I was visited with her a few minutes. thanked her for coming in and shopping and all that was involved in doing that in a wheelchair.
I said, "You people like you just amaze me." She said, "Amaze?" She looks up, amazed. I said, "Yeah." I'm very impressed. It's wonderful that you'd be out doing something like this. Second thing I notice, he addresses his critics before he heals the disabled. You notice that?
He says, "Get up and come forward." Look at verse four. And he said to them, "Well, it was great, wasn't it?" They're sitting over there like this, and all of a sudden he said, "Oh, by the way, you, all y'all." Is it lawful to do good or do harm on the Sabbath? Obviously, it's lawful to do good. They know that. And then he goes to the root of their motive and says, "Is it lawful to save a life or kill it?" He knew what was in their heart.
Luke chapter six verse eight tells us that. He knew what they were thinking. He exposes the wrong, and I love that about Christ. And he he exposes the wrong and the heart of the hypocrite because they were the ones planning to kill, and we read they kept silent. John Dryden in the in the seventeenth century wrote this line: "Secret guilt by silence is betrayed.
Secret guilt by silence." Is betrayed. I notice the third thing: he was angry that they esteemed their own ritual above God-ordained concern for the one for another's welfare. We read after looking around at them with anger. It means exactly what it says: anger and grieved at their hardness of heart. We Christians don't quite know what to do with with anger.
I I was raised to sort of you know restrain it, kind of sit on it. And as I grew up, I kind of learned the rules of religion that all anger is carnal, and which is not true at all. There is a place for righteous indignation. I, for one, don't think many believers are angry enough at the things they should be angry at, and they're too often angry at the things they ought to. Overlook.
I like G.K. Chesterton's words. He's often kind of shocking in what he writes.
Solemn supermen and imperial diplomats are proud of restraining their anger. Jesus never restrained his anger. He flung furniture down the front steps of the temple. And I love this additional comment. When a man is discussing what Jesus meant.
Let him state first of all what Jesus said, not what the man thinks he would have said if he had expressed himself more clearly. Isn't that right? Please let it say anger. Let it say grieved. The text can handle itself.
And then he says to the man, "Stretch out your hand." Stretch out your hand, and we read, "He stretched it out, and his hand was restored." Look, look! You imagine his heart at that moment? It's like Ludwig von Beethoven saying, "I can hear, I can hear the symphony." Johnny, Eric, Santada saying, "I can walk, I can walk." Look, it's like my own grandson with autism and Tourette's saying, "I can talk, and they can understand me, and I can stand calmly beside my granddad without flailing my arms." This is magnificent. You know what Luke tells us about the Pharisees? Luke six eleven.
They were filled with rage. You say, "Well, maybe it doesn't mean rage, really." I checked. The word is anoyos. Interesting. We get our word annoyed from it, but it's much worse than that.
Annoy us. Noos is the word for mind. The a privative negates that, so it's the idea of being out of one's mind with rage. They were enraged. How dare he do that?
What do they enraged him? He broke our rule. Oh, break our rule! You gonna pay for that, buddy? Where is the rejoicing over the miracle?
The man is home rejoicing with his family. I mean, he spends his time just doing this, just moving his hand around. Oh, man, it's been a long time since I've been able. Look at this. Where are the bricks?
I can lay bricks now. I can shake hands. I can feel. I can touch. I can write.
To the legalist, religion is keeping the rules, obeying the regulations, and following the rituals. To Jesus, the rules and rituals are irrelevant. To him, hear this: the most important thing in the world is not correct performance of a ritual. It is the spontaneous response of mercy to the cry of human need. May God help us to learn that.
How do we respond to others? I want to be delicate with this because it is a bit of a delicate subject. How do we respond in ways that please God? Three categories of responses. First, to the disabled.
Isn't it great that in the process of working our way through Mark, we come to the man with the with the with the withered hand today? I didn't plan it that way. It's just great how it came. I love it that chapter three follows chapter two. Wow, wonderful!
It's great. You know why I love it? Because I don't have to make up a talk. It's all right here in the scriptures. A wonderful thing about exposition: if you just get out of the way, it'll say it for you.
And here it says it for us. Toward the disabled, what do we learn? Pay attention to them. Notice them. Talk to them.
Never shun them. Even if you don't know them, it's great just to pause and and talk to them for just a few seconds. No one, very few people ever do that. Give honor to them. Help them.
Show mercy to them. Not a little compassion. A show. And may I say, stand in their defense. If you need to.
Be in defense of the helpless. God honors that. Second, toward the mercy givers. Let's speak now to the caregivers. And God help every one of you who care for those in a personal way.
I have a daughter who lives with this twenty four seven. She and her husband together, and the whole family, and our precious grandson Jonathan. We just said to her the other night as we visited with her, how grateful we were for her being there, year after year, year after year, faithfully there, faithfully caring. Faithfully interpreting his words so that we all can understand, loving him, stroking him, hugging him.
So to the mercy givers, be grateful. Find ways to encourage them, to stand alongside them, help relieve their burden at times when you're able to do it. The burden is constant. One of the great things we do here at Stonebriar. Listen to this: we have a We have a night when we ask the parents of special needs children to bring them to the church.
We have volunteers here who meet with those who are brought, and it gives the caregivers, usually a mom and dad, or often the marriages are broken up, the mom or the dad. It gives them a night that can be pre, other responsive. It's just wonderful. I love that ministry of our special needs. Folks, it's a way of caring for the mercy givers.
Now, toward the hard-hearted, I gotta be careful here.
Okay, first of all, we need to pray that they'll change their hearts. We need to pray that they will change their hearts. And God has a way of doing that—that they will come to their senses, that they will realize how blind they have been, and, if I may, to be passionate about their hardness if they're not moved over it to the point of anger. It just isn't right. Don't forget to grieve over the hardness.
There was a spirit of grief that swept over us in a former church when we went through that. It just kind of hung over us like a cloud. I ask that you hit the return button and we went way back. I'm going to punch one that goes way forward. I'm going to go to the judgment of the Gentiles according to the.
Twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew. That's the one that says, as Jesus separates from him the sheep and the goats, and he says to the sheep, "Stand here." He wants to reward them. He said, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. Remember that. I was in prison and you took me in." And they said to him, "When were you hungry?
We gave you something. When were you thirsty? We gave you something to drink. When were you in prison? We came and visited you." He said, "Oh, listen to this.
Inasmuch as you've done it, what to the least of these my brothers you've done it to me. I just have to tell you this. In the Greek, I just have to tell you, it is so good." There is a particular construction in the sentence that emphasizes the adjective. It's called a restrictive attributive. And when you read through this sentence and you come to it, it's like stands out.
Here is the way you can read it: Inasmuch as you have done it to these of mine, even the least, you have done it unto me. I love to do that kind of thing. Inasmuch as you have done even the least, you have done it unto me. Why? Because that's the emphasis.
It's the least of these, and we most like Christ when we deal with the least of those about us. Wow! God help us all. Let's pray. I don't know what all of this is saying to you, but I know it's it's a message that takes a while to sink in.
And the only reason I can figure out that there would be a hard heart is that there, just as it's a relationship with the living God, that's understandable. I invite you to begin that relationship today. It's amazing when we are rightly related to the living God; we become rightly related to others, even the least, even the least.
So I would invite any of you who have never trusted in Christ personally to do so right now. You do that all on your own, just as you were born all alone. You'll be born anew, all alone, and the Lord will come in like a flood and take over your life. Lord, I want to thank you for speaking to us in such tender tones and in personal ways as we look at this narrative and try to relive it. We're surrounded by withered hands, broken hearts, broken lives, broken people, broken dreams, and there's a bomb.
There's a healing agent that comes through your power, and I pray that you will use us as instruments of your peace and healing and hope in the lives of those who can't take care of themselves, and those caregivers who are exhausted, and those who are hard of heart, simply because they're not aware. Or they've turned away. Use us in a special way, I pray, in this needy time in the world that's lost its way. For the glory of Christ, I pray. Everyone, say, Amen.
We're all surrounded by withered hands and broken hearts. Maybe you're carrying one yourself today. But there's a balm, a healing agent that flows from the power of God, and whether you're the one in need, the caregiver worn thin, or someone whose heart has grown hard, mercy is available in Jesus Christ. This is insight for living. Our Bible teacher Chuck Swindoll titled his message, "Mercy Under Suspicious Eyes." Well, if you've been out running errands lately, you've seen it—the lights, the evergreen trees, the store shelves that seem to leap straight from Halloween to Christmas.
The season comes at us real fast, and in all the rush, the very thing we're supposed to be waiting for can slip right past us.
So this year, we'd love to help you slow down and make room. Everlasting Light is a 25-day Advent devotional published exclusively by Insight for Living. It's designed to draw you out of the frenzy and into a quieter rhythm of waiting, reflection, and expectancy. Each day sets scripture before you to anchor your heart and a thoughtful reflection to carry into the hours ahead. It's a beautiful hardcover book, and it's ready to ship today, so it arrives in plenty of time to walk with you from December first to Christmas morning.
Ask for the book called Everlasting Light when you include a contribution to support the ministry of Insight for Living. Just go to insight.org/donate. And here is the beauty of a gift like this: the light you receive is a light you can pass along. As it steadies your own heart this season, let it also be the thing that draws your family together and even overflows to a neighbor who could use some hope. You can make a contribution right now by going to insight.org/donate.
You can also write to us at Insight for Living, Post Office Box five thousand, Frisco, Texas seven five zero three four, or call us at eight hundred seven seven two eighty eight eighty eight. When you give, remember to request the twenty five day Advent devotional called Everlasting Light. Are you running on empty? I'm Bill Meyer. Don't miss Chuck Swindoll's hope-filled message for the weary-hearted Thursday on Insight for Living.
The preceding message, "Mercy Under Suspicious Eyes," was copyrighted in 2010 and 2026, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2026 by Charles R. Swindoll Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
