Good or Evil

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MARK

GOOD OR EVIL

Mark 3:1-6

3:1 Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 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.

NIV

In this exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees we are shown all about the rules and regulations getting in the way of true faith in God. Jesus was trying to bring them along in the path of true righteousness, but their stubborn belief in the law was far too ingrained for them to see the truth. This was not about the man and his need to be healed, but about the Pharisees and their need to understand. So often we allow our denominational doctrines, dogmas, rules and regulations, our lists of do’s and Don’ts, our perceived or learned notions of the truth to stand in the way of us truly getting what Jesus teaches about faith. These people were living by so many rules, especially rules about the Sabbath they could not see the true love of God at work. Do we come to church on Sunday for the expressed purpose of doing good or evil? Maybe we do not intent to do evil, but by simply attending church for our own benefit, to fulfill some need in our life, to be seen by others as a good Christian, “See I am here in church” attitude, or some other self-fulfilling purpose might be on the side of evil rather than good. Could we say that by doing good on Sunday we attend church to serve the needs of others? That would not mean we are involved in some “Ministry” but that we talk to others, we encourage them, we allow them the share any needs, we pray with them, we show genuine concern and compassion toward others, we love them, and not just our little cliché but those who we may have never ever taken the time to ask their name. This may well be the truth between doing evil and doing good on the Sabbath. The Pharisee were all about themselves and not about others, except trying the control them.  Jesus was about others, even on the Sabbath. If we are going to follow Jesus, than we need to be about others even on Sunday in church. We cannot afford to simply pass by each other on the foyer not even acknowledging the other is there. Sure we may not be able to bosom buddies with everyone, but we surely should not be strangers and if we don’t know their names, the truth is we are strangers and that is not good. But then of course there are some we do know their names, but carry around a little bad attitude about, and that surely is doing evil on the Sabbath. Is it not better to heal on the Sabbath? Good or evil, which shall we do?