1/22 Mark 3:5

⁵ And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

The religious leaders were watching Jesus to see if there was something He would do that would violate their rules. They believed that their oral tradition was handed down to them from Moses and was as important as the laws God gave to Moses. Jesus must have had a reputation for not bowing to those oral traditions or they wouldn't be watching for Him to break one of them. The real problem was these leaders' jealousy of the crowd's respect for Jesus.

There was a man in the synagogue that Sabbath day who had a withered hand. I wonder if he was planted there by the leaders or if he had come hoping to be healed. The news of Jesus' gift of healing had already been spread abroad (Mark 1:45).

Jesus knew what was going on. There was no compassion among the leaders for this man who couldn't earn a living because of his disability. They were only concerned with whether or not Jesus would heal a non-life-threatening affliction on the Sabbath.

Jesus looked on these leaders with anger. They had given the crowds the impression that God was a heartless, demanding dictator. Jesus could have waited to avoid the confrontation, but He was not intimidated. He knew all things were in His Father's hands. It was better to show the people the true heart of God than to give in to the pressure of these hypocritical leaders. They all witnessed the amazing restoration of the man's hand. Imagine the wonder and praise of the people in the synagogue. But the religious leaders' response was to go to the secular leaders to plot the destruction of Jesus.

Consider: Many who call themselves Christians think along the same line as those religious leaders. They give the world the wrong impression of the heart of God. How important it is that we show God's compassionate heart so that the world might have a true impression of the loving God we serve! Don't be intimidated. Show God's love.