Rejecting the Conspiracy to Silence Jesus

Scripture — Mark 3:1-6 (NRSV)

Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 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. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.” 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. 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. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

Devotion

This story from the Gospel of Mark begins with Jesus healing a man with a shriveled hand on the Sabbath. He did this even though his critics, the Pharisees, believed that it was wrong to heal on the Sabbath since healing was, in their estimation, a kind of work. And a faithful Jew was not supposed to do any work on the Sabbath, according to the Pharisees.

After Jesus healed the man with the shriveled hand, “the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus” (3:6). The Herodians were Jews who had allied themselves with the family of Herod. They were not so concerned as the Pharisees about matters of the Jewish law, such as keeping the Sabbath. But the Herodians saw Jesus as a threat to the social order and therefore to the political power of the Herodian family.

This is the first indication in Mark’s gospel that Jesus’s kingdom-centered ministry would lead to his death. In Mark 2, when Jesus forgives the sins of a paralyzed man whom he heals, the Jesus “teachers of the law” were incensed. They believed Jesus was blaspheming by claiming to forgive sins. Indeed, this was tantamount to saying, “I am God.” So the Jewish teachers weren’t entirely wrong in their estimation of Jesus. But we have no indication of any desire on their part to kill Jesus.

As the story of Jesus continues in the Gospel of Mark, various Jewish leaders are unhappy with Jesus for a variety of reasons. They don’t like it that he eats with “tax collectors and sinners” (2:16). They’re concerned that his disciples don’t practice ritual fasting, but they do pick heads of grain to eat on the Sabbath (2:18, 24).

But in Mark 3, the opposition to Jesus grows more serious. Why? The Pharisees and Herodians conspired against Jesus, not simply because he broke the Sabbath law, but mainly because his message and ministry threatened their authority and their vision of goodness for the Jewish people. They believed that the best way to get rid of Jesus was to kill him. (Little did they know what his death and resurrection would actually accomplish, but that’s getting ahead of where we are in the story.)

As I reflect on the conspiracy of the Pharisees and Herodians against Jesus, I’m almost inclined to think this is irrelevant to me, and to you, too, for that matter. But though I would never want to kill Jesus, I am part of a more subtle conspiracy, a conspiracy to minimize the impact of Jesus on my life. I think of times when Jesus says something that unnerves me, something I would rather not deal with. I find a way to avoid the uncomfortable teachings of Jesus, whether they have to do with loving my enemies, not serving two masters, or taking up my cross. There are plenty of other Christians who join me in this conspiracy to mute the words of Jesus, to smooth out their cutting edge. Perhaps you have experienced what I’m talking about here. I mean, does Jesus really expect me to love those whose political views are so different from my own? I won’t conspire to kill them. But I will despise them, criticize them, and do anything but love them. Hatred gets pretty close to what I feel about them sometimes.

Yet, I do want to follow Jesus. I want to take seriously what he teaches, even when it disrupts my life. I want to reject the conspiracy that makes Jesus inoffensive and comfortable. I want to be open to the ways Jesus challenges me, makes me uncomfortable, and asks me to do that which I’d really rather not do.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: The Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-3:6).