Doing Good or Evil

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

DOING 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

This question that Jesus posed to the others in the synagogue really put them on the spot and they were not going to answer him because they knew he was right, but their disdain for him was growing with each and every encounter they had with him. So, this question is about is it lawful to do “good” on the Sabbath may have more meaning than what we read in these words. According to the concept the Pharisees were using, is that if one has the opportunity to save someone’s life and do nothing, they would be guilty of murder. Of course, in other gospel accounts the question about whether if one of their animals was in danger on the Sabbath, say stuck in the mud and would die if they did not pull it out of the mud, they were allowed to do that kind of “good” on the Sabbath. So they were right smack in the middle of their own rules and knew whichever way they would answer, Jesus would have then cornered. There is no way they would say that it is right to do evil on the Sabbath, nor to kill on the Sabbath, so then they would have to say it was right to do good and heal this man. So how do we bring this truth into our lives in this modern era of the church? What good are we supposed to do, even on Sunday? There was a time not too long ago that most businesses were closed on Sunday and it was considered respectful to attend church. Times have changed and Sunday is just another day for many companies and many people are required to work on the Sabbath. Yet is it lawful to do good on Sunday? What good could we do? What evil could we do on Sunday? It would seem the evil could be seen as going to church while having some dispute, or ill feelings with someone. That would be like being angry with them, or as the law would make that into the same as murder, just the New Testament repeats that sort of sore feelings with a brother. Now, as to the good that we could do, that could be seen in many ways. First, the main good that we could always do, including on Sunday’s is telling someone about the gospel. On the other hand, if we neglect to tell them, and they are condemned on the last day, the question is whether we have killed on the Sabbath, or any other day for that matter. Then we also have to consider that if we have someone in church on Sunday that is in need of a healing, such as a shriveled hand, or other ailment and we just go about our normal worship and not heal them, but allow them to continue to suffer, have we done good or evil on the Sabbath? Questions we have to really do some extensive pondering on. Are we really doing any good? Are we really doing any evil?