So why have I called this “The Parable of the Withered Hand”? Because I intend to allegorize this event as another illustration of the saving grace of God. That was not the Spirit’s original intent, but I believe that I can bring enough related scripture together to once again take our minds back to the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But let’s begin by thinking about our hands – please hold one of them out and consider it for a moment. I want you to know that hands are one of the marvels of God’s creation – they are miracles. Evolutionists may try, but they have a hundred unanswered problems when it comes to explaining the existence of the hand. There are 27 bones in the average hand, although some have a few extra. Every one of them is essential for its proper function; ask the man with a single broken hand bone. There are natural differences between male and female hands. There is a marvelous mathematical and artistic relationship between the bones in each finger. If there was one less bone in each finger, it would loose at least 50% of its usefulness. There are three major nerves serving the hand; the loss of any one would render the hand useless. There are tendons which connect each finger bone to the muscles which make them move. Each finger bone has more than one muscle working for it, in order to make it do what it does. And those muscles are not in the finger itself or the hand, but up in the arm. Those of you with short sleeve shirts can move a finger and watch your arm move. I could go on, but these few things mean that in order for the hand to function, all the various parts must work as a team. The man whose hand was withered, could have been crippled in any of several different ways. But more importantly, the human hand had to have been created as a complete and functioning unit. It could not have evolved over millions of years, with each part developing accidentally or independently. If one of the nerve bundles had not been created at the same time as the other two, there would have been no useable hand, and evolution would have shut the project down. If the muscles of the hand had been like the other muscles of the body – right there in the hand – then it would have been too bulky to do the things that are required of it. The human hand is one of the miracles of God – a miracle first seen in the first man, Adam.
Now think about THIS CRIPPLED MAN.
“When he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue: And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they (the Pharisees) asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him.”
What does this tell us about the man with the withered hand? Not very much. Rather it tells us that this is more about the Pharisees than the suffering man. Once again, this is all about the sabbath question. Like some Christians today, the Pharisees had their pet doctrine, their favorite sin, their latest conspiracy, and that was the only thing that they could think about. The sabbath was one of the key ingredients in the controversy between the religious leaders and Christ. As the scripture says, the Pharisees were looking for an excuse to condemn Jesus. They were already convinced that He was not the Messiah, and they were struggling for proof – for things with which they could accuse Him.
The man with the withered hand was only and incidental part of the equation. While it is true that the salvation of a sinner is huge – it is the most important thing in any person’s life – yet it must be kept in mind there is an even larger issue. While we tend to think that the world revolves around us, it in fact does not. This controversy is all about Jehovah – His sovereignty, His glory and His worship. The Pharisees, as representatives of the Devil, were attempting to dethrone the Son of God. Satan had said, “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” But in order to do that, he must successfully carry out a Heavenly coup-de-tat. The Devil was trying to use these foolish religious leaders to bring down the Second Person of Trinity. The man with the withered hand is only a pawn on the larger chess board.
We know nothing about him other than his condition. Had this been because of a birth defect – had he never been able to use his hand? Or had an ax cut through one of the nerves which controlled the use of his hand? Had he fallen as a child and jammed his arm in such a way that there was lack of blood flow which caused the death of hand? Was it the result of a massive injury where a dozen of the bones had been broken and they couldn’t heal themselves correctly? We may never know, and it doesn’t really matter as far as the miracle is concerned.
But what about some of the other parts of this man? For example, what was his attitude? Despite the fact that he was in the local synagogue, was he angry with the Lord for his condition? Or had the accident occurred so many years ago that he had become content and learned to cope with only one hand? There he was in the synagogue on the sabbath, as he should have been. Was he there in order to meet the Lord in worship? Was he looking for deliverance? Did he expect Christ to affect some sort of cure, or was he satisfied with his limited existence?
For the sake of my allegory, I’m going to make some assumptions and then some natural implications. I’m going to say that he was born this way. In the same way that he was born a sinner, he was born with the use of only one hand. For a minute, let’s permit the lesser thing illustrate or represent the more important thing. I know that in our day we are supposed to be responsible for our deeds alone, but that idea is not always realistic, logical or Biblical. A baby may have a drug addiction, because his mother was addicted while she was carrying him. But at some point that child becomes responsible for buying or stealing drugs to make himself feel good. God’s Apostle Paul, in Romans 5 gives us a lengthy revelation about our sinful condition before God. Essentially, we were born with a sin addiction, or born with only one hand – or no hands at all. Paul says that because of the sin of Adam, our first Father, we are born sinners and doomed to die. Romans 5:17 – “By one man’s offence, death reigned by one.” “By the office of one judgment cam upon all men to condemnation.” “As by one man’s disobedience many (meaning everyone) were made sinners.” There are other scriptures, but we don’t have time to examine them. Suffice it to say that the man with withered hand is an allegory of all the rest of us – born as sinners. We are all crippled by sin, condemned to die because of our sin, doomed to eternal judgment because of the sin of our progenitor – Adam. That is what the Bible says. Whether we like it or believe it, that is the truth – a fact. When you were born – when you were first conceived – you began a journey towards Hell, and you will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire unless the Saviour delivers you.
In this poor man’s case, there were things which he could not do. Our hands are perhaps the most important tools belonging to our bodies – they can work. One of the last things I did Wednesday evening was to shake the hand of our Illinois visitors – our hands represent some aspects of fellowship between us. Or let’s say that I had a hundred dollars that I wanted to give to you, how would you take it from me? Would you open your mouth and ask that I put five old, filthy twenty-dollar bills on your tongue? Wouldn’t you rather stretch our your hand or at least use your hand to pull open your pocket? Hands also are symbols of generosity – I’d have to use my hand to put that money in your pocket. Allegorically, this man’s ability to work, to share, to fellowship and even to receive God’s gift was lost by his handicap which we might use to illustrate his sin. The sinner has nothing by which to serve or even to receive anything from God.
In that light consider the SAVIOUR’S COMMAND.
I should spend more time on Christ this morning, but I’ll rely on what you already know about Him. Suffice it to say that Jesus is the Lord of the sabbath, and can use that day as He sees fit. He was not the least bit concerned with what the Pharisees might think about miracles on Saturday. Also, as Creator of the human body, the correction of this man’s infirmity was not a problem for Him. If the man had a massive coronary, or a cerebral hemorrhage and instantly died, the Creator of life, could have remedied those problems immediately. There is nothing, great or small, that Christ Jesus could not have done while here on earth – except for sin. If it had been a cold day, He could have ordered a second sun to instantly heat the earth. “God can do anything, anything, anything, God can do anything but fail” – and that includes the Son of God
As the Book of Luke tells us, even though the man with the withered hand was not initially the focus of attention, Jesus told Him to “stand forth.” If he was seated, he was told to stand; if he was standing, he was told to step forward. And then he was told to “stretch forth thine hand.” I don’t know, because I wasn’t there that Saturday morning, so I can’t tell you what that moment was like. Was his arm stiff and drawn to his body, so that ordinarily he couldn’t extend it? Was his hand limp, just hanging off the end of his arm, but in obedience he raised it for the first time? Or did it appear like any other hand but without the ability to move – until he obeyed the Lord? For the sake of my allegory, let’s take the second option – his hand was a lifeless lump of shriveled up flesh at the end of his arm. I am told that Greek word “withered” speaks of “dry, shrunken, wasted.” However you look at it, the Lord loves to work on our inabilities. We are completely unable to save ourselves, and therefore Christ is greatly glorified when we are saved. The only people whom Christ saves are completely dead and helpless in their sins.
What the Lord commanded the man to do was to believe Him and to obey. It was to believe Him about something which he had never done before. Not only was it something he had never done, but something which he knew he was incapable of doing. This illustrates what the Lord requires of us as sinners. He requires the impossible – repent before God and trust the Saviour.
Think about the MAN’S OBEDIENCE.
But first, what was it that he didn’t do? He didn’t shy away in any sort of false humility. As I have said, we don’t know anything about his state of mind. We don’t know if he often hid his face in the light of laughing children. We don’t know if he had grown accustomed to his malady, so that it didn’t bother him what other people might have thought. We don’t know if he had become belligerent and mean in an effort to overcome his handicap. Whatever his attitude, he didn’t try to tell the Lord that it was all right; he didn’t have to have that hand anyway. Nor did he try to make excuses thinking that Jesus didn’t know that he couldn’t stretch forth his hand. He didn’t offer any suggestions to Christ, nor did he offer any substitutions.
There are so many sinners who try to tell the Lord how they think that He should handle their sin problem. “Lord, if you’ll let me be baptized, then I’ll be one of your disciples.” “In fact Lord, it would be so much easier for my children, if you would wash away their sins in baptism while they are still babies.” Some people suggest to God that generosity with their money would be a good way to cover their sins. They have ideas about reformation, church membership, communion and a hundred other things. “Perhaps,” some of them suggest, “perhaps, it would be easier just to leave salvation alone until after I’m dead, and then burn out my guilt in Purgatory.” Who are these people to offer God any suggestions?
This man with the withered hand simply did what he was told. He totally ignored the embarrassing spot-light which all of this had laid upon him. And he ignored what had been previously impossible – “Christ told me to extend my hand.” It didn’t matter if he had imagined that there would be some pain to obey the Lord. In a sense there is some pain to believe and to obey the Lord in salvation. It’s the pain and embarrassment of repentance – the pain of a broken heart. The man did what he was told to do, believing that the Lord had good reason to make the command.
That is, he had, at least a tiny bit, of faith in the Lord Jesus. What he had heard about Jesus earlier miracles had encouraged him to trust the Lord on that day. That Christ had been a blessing to bind men, crippled men, feverish women and even to dead children, gave him all the more confidence to trust in Him. And his faith gave him the ability to obey.
What is the command that Christ has given to those cripples which we call “sinners”? We could uselessly spend some time looking for commands which He never gave. More profitable would be our time looking at the things which He did command. For example, there is Jesus’ command to “repent.” Agree with God about your sin, your sinfulness, your inabilities and your crippledness. But agree, not merely intellectually, agree emotionally as well – weep over your condition. And acknowledge that you can’t stretch out your hand – it is crippled. You can’t even hold out the palm of your hand to receive the Lord’s gift – you are spiritually dead. The only other command which the Lord has left us in regard to our sins is – “believe me; believe on me.” “I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” “This is the work (that God requires of you), that he believe on Him who he hath sent.” “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.”
As the Apostle John says, “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believe ye might have life through his name.” If you want to be freed from your crippled condition, repent of your sin before God and trust Christ to accomplish His miraculous work. “Stretch forth thine soul.” towards the Saviour.
And what was THE RESULT in this case?
First, there was an instantaneous cure. The Creator recreated the limb which was withered. Would you expect anything less from the Creator? And as the sinner stretches out his dead spirit, the Creator/Saviour can infill it with life. The Bible calls it a “new birth” – a second birth – a birth from above – it is a “regeneration.” Don’t worry about the problems involved in saving your soul – leave that to the omnipotent Saviour. Just stretch out your soul to Him, and let Him infuse it with life. The first result of this man’s faith was a God-given cure.
Although it is not mentioned, a second result was the anger of the Pharisees. Once again, the Lord had worked a miracle on their holy sabbath, fouling it with something wonderful and miraculous. This was another step toward the day that they will pick up stones in an attempt to crush the skull of the blessed Son of God. What fools we can be in the midst of our traditions and false doctrines. The subject of salvation by the sovereign grace of God without any input from sinners, is not a popular doctrine – even in the best of religious circles. The salvation of God is an hated subject, and raises the anger of Pharisees even yet today.
The third result of this man’s cure was what it was all about in the first place – the glory of God. I don’t know if the man’s soul began shouting, “Glory to God, glory to God, in the highest.” I don’t know if man’s spouse can children began praising God. I would like to hope that there were godly citizens of that community who immediately recognized that the power of the infinite God was at work there that day, and their hearts began to swell to nearly bursting. This miracle was all about the power and the glory of the infinite God – the infinite Son of God.
And the same is true when a sinner is delivered and saved from his sin today. Just as that crippled man had been incapable of using his hand, and probably couldn’t even stretch it out, the lost sinner is spiritually dead. The sinner can no more repent or trust Christ, than he can fly to the moon in a row boat. In a miraculous fashion the Lord gave that man the ability to stretch out his hand, and He gives the sinner the ability to believe and trust Him.
You may be that man with the withered hand this morning, as all of us have been at some point in our lives. You must trust Christ or forever remain a cripple. If you die in your spiritually crippled state you will spend eternity under God’s judgment. Forget about your past lack of faith, just believe the Lord right now and cling to Him. Lay aside your past lack of sorrow over sin, repent before him right now. Walk away healed and whole, as that man who once had a withered hand.