“He looked around at them in anger and deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts…” (Mark 3:5 NIV)
Jesus had gone to synagogue on a Sabbath and as He crossed the threshold, He stepped into a set up. There was a man with a withered hand in attendance that Saturday and the leadership was lying in wait; what would Jesus do in the face of such suffering? Would He heal even on the Sabbath?
Of course, the Pharisees didn’t utter a word of this aloud. Instead, when confronted, they gave Jesus the silent treatment. He asked them a direct question and they just failed to respond. It’s so ludicrous it’s almost laughable. We cannot shut God out. He knows the inclinations of our hearts. He was aware of their conniving. He knew this was a trap.
None of their intentions were unseen Jesus. He could read the Pharisees most inward thoughts. He knew their plots and the depths of their depravity and it made Him both angry and deeply distressed. Let’s personalize this: we can’t block out God by any measure and our stubbornness in His presence hurts His heart. He always knows what is going on inside. This is why we must begin our reform internally first.
“For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.” (Matthew 12:34-35 NIV)
The inside is the source. We can look all cute and clean and dolled up for church, but it’s the inside that truly counts. God alone knows and hears what is happening under the surface.
These men stood with accusation against God in their heart, even though they didn’t speak it. And then, when pressed, they shut God out completely. And it made God sad. We know that sin makes Jesus sad, but do we realize that even a hardened heart hurts Him?
In this text, the sadness of Jesus is yet another way He is revealed as the Son of God. Hard hearts always hurt the Father. In the Old Testament, it was referred to as stiff-necked.
“I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people.” (Exodus 32:9 NIV)
I can still remember being a kid and reading about stiff-necked people. I imagined them to be thick about the neck and shoulders, struggling to turn their heads to better hear and obey God. To have a stiff neck is to be unyielding, unbending, inflexible and unreachable. Stiff-necked people are so set in their own ways that they cannot seem to give way to God. They ignore His agenda and authority, forsaking Him for themselves.
Several years ago my older brother elected to have a brain stimulator surgically installed. My brother suffers from severe tremors and the stimulator turns down the volume on his violent shaking. It’s quite tremendous technology: four neural sensors burrow into his cerebral cortex, electrical leads held in place by plastic washers at the skull with the small power cords collecting at the neck and running to a battery pack (pacemaker) in his chest. The stimulator proved life-altering and his recovery was quick.
This all worked rather fantastically until it became infected two months post-op. We knew it was infected because my brother’s neck suddenly became stiff. He lost all range of motion. He couldn’t turn his head because of the swollen and angry tissue around the cording between his brain and chest.
Thankfully, we caught it in time. We rushed the Mayo Clinic where my brother had emergency brain surgery to flush the device of all infection. The neurosurgeon was able to salvage his work and and the stimulator continued to function.
The entire ordeal reminds me of scripture and how sin makes us stiff-necked. Sin is an infection, right? A sickness in our soul that limits our range of motion for obedience. We get stuck in our own agenda and thinking and it makes God sad.
I had these shirts mad and we all really enjoy them. 🙂
What is the antithesis of stiff-neckedness? Humility. Tenderness toward God. Compliance. Yielding to His instruction and leading. This is not our natural state, friend. We must learn to lose our neck and respond to our God graciously. And thankfully, He has promised to help. He is well aware of how hard this is for us.
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezekiel 36:25-27 NIV)
Dear Lord, thank You for noting our condition and extending great compassion. Help us perceive our stubborn nature and confess it aloud. Loosen our necks, Lord. We long to live for You and our flesh makes it a fight. Breathe Your Spirit into our frames and let us learn to walk with You; fully surrendered to Your love and leadership. Amen.