Wednesday 18 Jan 2023

January 18: Mark 3:1-6

Key Verse: Mark 3:3
Jesus said to the man with the shrivelled hand, ‘Stand up in front of everyone.’

Devotion:
Have you ever had to give a lecture or some other talk to a group of people? During my years at high school we started to have to learn how to get up in front of others a give an address of some sort with confidence; it’s a hard thing to do when you are looking in the face of a whole crowd of people, be it peers or strangers… The same was done in university where each of us had to stand up and talk for several minutes about a technical subject...

Talking to others about work or design of various kinds did not seem to phase me, but when, much later as an adult I had to stand up in front of a small group of teenagers and talk about Christ… well, that was nerve-wracking! But if we want to be a witness for Christ then we do have to stand up in front of others and be that witness. That may be a nightmare scenario for many of us, however being a witness does not have to be standing up in front of others and talking about things… Sometimes God just wants us to stand there so others can see what He is doing in our lives!

During this account Jesus was almost on trial by the temple elders. They had it in their minds they had to stop this person from saying they were the Messiah and to prove that they would try to trap Jesus into doing “work” on the Sabbath. What they defined as work and what God thinks work is are two very different things. Jesus wanted to share His love and mercy even on the Sabbath!

We could argue all sorts of things which should or should not be done on the Sabbath, or we can share in God’s love no matter what day or time it is. Jesus did not work according to the clock or the calendar, Jesus worked all the time as a witness of the truth; He wants us to be willing to do the same, to be His witnesses at all times!

Points to Ponder:
Do you get scared about doing something?

Will you try to simply show the truth?