Welcome to A Word for Today

To stretch means to extend outward, upward or forward.  It can also mean an extension to or beyond ordinary limits.  Here we find Jesus in the synagogue on the Sabbath and the Pharisees and Scribes were plotting to "trap" Jesus because of his authority and simply because they didn't like him.  The Bible says in another verse that Jesus entered into THEIR synagogue which implies they were in control of this particular place they called worship.  However, Jesus had already had a run in with these same Pharisees on another Sabbath day when his disciples were in a field plucking corn and eating.  The Pharisees questioned Jesus because their law taught that no one should work on the Sabbath.  Jesus responded to their inquiry with the story of David who, when hungry, ate the shewbread that was designated only for the priests and he was not a priest or of their priestly order.  They couldn't say anything about that because they honored David.  So these Pharisees wanted to see if they could get him to perform "work" on the Sabbath on another occasion.  So Jesus entered into the church and the plot was put into play.  There was (in the midst of the people) a man who had a withered hand.  This man was handicapped in that his right hand was withered.  He was handicapped as a worker and it caused him to be dependent on other people.  His hand being withered made him feel self-conscious and possibly feel inferior.  It made him envy those with normal bodies. 

So as Jesus takes notice to the man, the Pharisees are taking notice to Jesus as to whether he would heal the man on the Sabbath.  The Scribes and Pharisees did not come to worship, they came to watch.  They didn't come to commune with God, but to confront Jesus.  They didn't come to find and receive the fruit of love, but to find fault.  And they sat there, waiting - knowing that Jesus, being moved with compassion, would surely do something which would violate the Sabbath Law.  But Jesus knew their hearts.  He knew their impure motives and their evil thoughts.  He was omniscient. The Pharisees had already decided to devise a plan to kill Jesus.  Here they were, on a Sabbath Day, laying a net to capture Jesus with the intent of killing him and yet THEY would allege sin against Jesus for healing a man on that same day. While Jesus was saving a life on the Sabbath, they were using the Sabbath to take counsel on how they might destroy him.  However, instead of attempting to justify and prove himself directly to the Pharisees, Jesus calls the man to the front.  He then turns his attention to his evil conspirators and asked them if it was lawful to do good or evil on the Sabbath.  The Sabbath Law was set in the Old Testament but with every law, amendments were attached.  The Pharisees had adjusted the Law of God in so many ways that it was no longer the Law of God but had become the Rules of the Pharisees.  The Rules of the Pharisees made the Sabbath question wholly a matter of doing or of not doing. But Jesus made it a matter of doing good and his question implied that a failure to do good, when one is able, is harmful and sinful.   Jesus thus announced the principle that the withholding of good that may be done is equivalent to doing harm and that refusing to save a life that could be saved is the same as destroying it. The Old Testament plainly taught that the life, even of a beast which had fallen into a pit, could be saved on the Sabbath; and Jesus extended the principle, as should have been obvious to the Pharisees, as applicable to men also.  

Here is where Jesus forgets about the man's reason for being there and the plot of the Pharisees, but focuses on the reason that HE was sent into the world; which was to heal the sick, bring sight to the blind and to save that which was lost.  Jesus already knew that it was a set up, a planned trap and a planted snare; but Jesus healed without any word or action of healing (merely ordering the man to stretch forth his hand) to which the Pharisees could find no legal ground for accusation. We must understand that God cannot be tempted by man because His ways are hidden from the understanding of man except He chooses to reveal them.

Now let's us turn our attention to the man with the withered hand.  "Wait a minute," the man could have said, "that’s easy for you to say. My hand is paralyzed. How can I stretch it forth?" The man could have argued with Jesus. After all, he knew more about his limitations than Jesus (or so it would seem).  Instead, however, he simply obeyed. He didn’t argue. He didn’t debate. He simply said, "OK," — and as he stretched out his hand, the Lord met him in that place because in the Lord’s declaration, there is dynamic.  When God speaks, power is released. In God’s commandments are God’s enablements. If you can grab that simple concept, the Word will become extremely exciting to you. To you who are saying, "I’m so depressed. I’m in need of inner healing.  I’ve had counseling.  I’ve read every self-help book, and followed every technique — all to no avail."  But the Scripture tells us, “Rejoice evermore.”  You can either argue your reasoning or you can say, ‘If the Word tells me to rejoice evermore, I will start rejoicing.’ And in the very act of beginning to rejoice, you’ll find motivation to continue to rejoice.
 
Every one of us is withered in some area of our lives. We know that. But the solution does not lie in seminars or books.  The solution is simply to obey the command of Christ.   And as you do, He’ll meet you at that point and give you the power to carry it out.  Stretch beyond what you THINK you are capable of being and doing into what God has given you the power to be and to do.  For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
 
Be Blessed!