The events recorded here and in Matthew 12:9-10 took place on another Sabbath than the one in the previous verses, Luke 6:1-5 / Mark 3:1-5 / John 5:10 / John 7:23. The legalistic Pharisees are here more concerned over the violation of their Sabbath laws than the healing of this man.
Such manifests the hypocrisy of religion that is based on an outward manifestation of a legal presentation of religiosity without concentration on the heart for spiritual change.
The Pharisees here seek another opportunity to accuse Jesus of violating their laws of the Sabbath, Luke 6:6-11 / Matthew 12:9-13 / Mark 7:6-9. They do such in order to accuse Him before the people that He violates the law. Mark records that at this time, Jesus was angered by their hardened hearts, Mark 3:5.
It seems that they didn’t doubt that Jesus could miraculously heal the withered hand, Luke 6:7 / Mark 3:2. They wanted to see if He would do such on the Sabbath. If He did such work on the Sabbath, then they could accuse Him of working against their laws of the Sabbath, Luke 6:7 / Mark 3:2.
Notice Jesus asks the man ‘to stand up in front of everyone’, Luke 6:8 / Mark 3:3. Jesus wanted to make a point to these teachers of the Law; He didn’t hide what He was doing.
By asking, ‘Is it lawful?’ Luke 6:9 / Matthew 12:10, Jesus was saying that it was always right to do good, Galatians 6:10. It was simply right to do good on the Sabbath in reference to human interests because men are more important than sheep, Matthew 12:11-12.
The real conflict here is between the legal and earthly interests of the Pharisees as opposed to the human interests of Jesus. Jesus pointed out that if the Pharisees’ material interests were in danger on the Sabbath, they would do what was necessary to rescue a sheep.
However, they were here critical of Jesus because of His human interest in healing on the Sabbath. Jesus then told him to stretch his hand out, Luke 6:10 / Matthew 13:13 / Mark 3:5.
Apparently, He neither touched him nor did any other physical thing; He merely asked the man to reach his hand out. When he did, it was healed, Luke 6:10 / Matthew 12:13 / Mark 3:5. Jesus’ critics were furious and began plotting to assassinate Him, Luke 6:11.
In Luke 6:9, Jesus asks is lawful on the Sabbath, to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it? In Mark 3:4, Jesus asked His opponents, ‘Should one save a life or kill on the Sabbath?’ They chose not to reply, which showed that they were not interested in truth but only wanted to discredit Him.
It is always easy to find fault, but it’s much harder to give a positive recommendation. Normally, Christ healed men by laying His hands on them or performing some other physical sign. If He had accompanied the healing by physical action, in this case, they would have attacked Him for doing medical work on the Sabbath, something contrary to their tradition.
This time, however, Jesus did nothing; He merely told the man to reach his hand out, Luke 6:10 / Mark 3:5. Even Jesus’ enemies didn’t believe it wrong to stretch out their hand on the Sabbath. Thus, He outsmarted His opponents, and they were furious, Luke 6:11.
When a man in an argument begins to get angry, it is a sure sign that he is losing. As it turned out, Jesus’ enemies are the ones who plotted to kill on the Sabbath, because He had done good. The Pharisees and the Herodians, who actually were enemies of each other, joined forces to get rid of Jesus.
The Pharisee’s actions show the hardness of heart of those who profess a legal-oriented religion. The Pharisees cared nothing for the man with the withered hand.
Their concern was for their doctrinal strictness in keeping their traditions in reference to the keeping of the Sabbath. By upholding their legal practices in reference to the Sabbath, they were maintaining their arrogant positions of leadership among the people.
At this time in the controversy between Jesus and the religious leaders, the tension begins to grow. The Pharisees at this time in the ministry of Jesus schemed to remove Jesus, Luke 6:11 / Matthew 12:14 / Mark 3:6. He was in competition with their positions of leadership, their hypocritical lives and inconsistent beliefs.
They were infuriated because He manifested the inconsistencies of their theology and the callousness of their hearts. Because these religious leaders couldn’t consistently argue with Jesus through correct reasoning from the Old Testament Scriptures, they were frustrated to the point of killing Him.
Religions that are developed with an emphasis on outward appearances and ceremonial worship are often hypocritical in the sense that people can be members of such religions without changed hearts.
The religious leaders in this context manifested the hypocrisy of such religions by planning evil when professing a form of righteousness, Luke 6:11 / Matthew 12:14 / Mark 3:6 / John 5:18 / John 10:39 / John 11:53.
We can only imagine the joy in the heart of the heart whose hand was healed. We can only imagine how Jesus changed this man’s life forever. We can only imagine the awe that everyone must have been in when Jesus healed him.
It’s a sad fact that the miracle which just took place often gets overlooked because of the attitude of these religious leaders who couldn’t and didn’t deny the miracle but chose to focus on their traditions, rather than celebrating with the man who was now healed.