Mark 3:1-6 – Getting on People’s Bad Side

¹  And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.

² And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.

³ And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.

⁴ And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.

⁵ And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.

⁶ And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.

In today’s passage, Jesus now really finds Himself getting on people’s bad side. As Jesus was in the Synagogue, a man with a withered hand was also there. Jesus asked the people if it was also wrong to heal someone on the Sabbath, since they had criticized Him for gathering food on the same day. The Pharisees, of course, were looking for any excuse to criticize Jesus and what He was doing. Jesus went ahead and healed the man, so the Pharisees went to the Herodians, who were a group of Jews who just wanted to keep peace with Rome no matter what, and tried to figure out a way to “destroy” Jesus! What was Jesus’ crime? He healed a man on the Sabbath, and that was enough to put Him on People’s bad side to the point where they wanted to destroy Him.

As a Christian, when we try to do the right things, there are going to be people who just don’t like it. Sometimes there is no way to avoid getting on someone’s bad side. When you take a stand for what is right, people who only want to do what’s wrong won’t like it. That’s okay! As Christians, we do not have to get everyone to like us. Jesus was the Son of God and, in today’s passage, the Pharisees are trying to figure out how to destroy Him! Don’t worry if people like or don’t like you. Just do what God says and He will take care of the rest.

Life Step: Think about it…

In what situations do people get mad at Christians who stand up for something right?

What should our response be when people get mad at us for wanting to do what is right?