Mk. 3:3-6 “Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone." 4 Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent. 5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.”
Can you imagine Jesus angry!? This is the only direct reference in the gospels that describes Jesus being angry that can be found in the Bible. Because of this it is important to notice where that anger was directed. You never see Him express anger at the sinfulness of the people He ministered to. You only see Him reaching out to them with a patient desire to bring them to repentance. The ones who awakened the anger of God were the hard hearted religious leaders who in their hypocrisy to protect the law placed the importance of the law over the value of human life.
Jesus’ ministry on earth was compelled by the love of God and as a result when He encountered these people it caused Him to burn with anger. Verse five states that he was “deeply distressed by their stubborn hearts.” They could not see the need of this man, nor could they see the compassion of God that He wanted to demonstrate towards this hurting man because it was packaged in a way that offended their religious mindsets. This makes me wonder how many miracles have passed us by because we could not let go of our preconceptions about how God works. Could you allow yourself to be late for church, or maybe even miss church because you were responding to a need that God sent your way? Or would your sense of religious duty cause you to miss the point of your religion!
Paul makes a clear and concise statement in his first letter to Timothy to removes any doubt as to Christ’s mission and establishes a significant measure of priority in directing us towards the values that we should elevate. In 1 Tim 1:15 Paul writes; “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” KJV It is hard to miss that simple statement! Jesus came for people! When we elevate adherence to religious tradition and practice above the value of a human life we have significantly missed the point. On numerous occasions Jesus stepped outside of the dictated protocol of religious observance; eating with sinners, talking to a Samaritan woman, healing on the Sabbath and more, all for the sake of rescuing people from darkness! He faced the harassment of those who were bound by their religious convictions all for the sake of changing lives and revealing the true priorities of the Father that had been distorted by centuries of accumulated religious baggage! As Jesus said to the Pharisees in Matt 9:13 “… go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
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