Jesus was angered by the hard hearts of the Pharisees who criticized Him for healing a man on the Sabbath.
"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." (Mark 3:5)
A poor man in the synagogue had a withered right hand and Jesus had compassion on him. He chose to heal the man on the Sabbath and the reaction of the Pharisees revealed their hardness of heart.
Writing to the Christians in Ephesus, the Apostle Paul warns them: "So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed." (Ephesians 4:17-19)
Many Jews wanted a restoration of the glory days of David and Solomon. Their notion of the kingdom to come involved military victory and a Messianic age that did not require repentance and the embrace of the Way of the Cross. They had rejected God’s call for repentance in preparation for the promised Kingdom. Some went out to John the Baptist in the wilderness, but according to Luke 7:30, “the Pharisees and lawyers rejected God’s counsel against them, being not baptized of him..."
Hardness of heart does not happen all at once. It comes from bitterness, ambition, greed, and a rejection of the glorious presence of God. The hard of heart are unable to notice the virtue and the beauty in others. They lack compassion while they pretend to care. They exhibit ossified hearts while they signal virtue. They are blind to the moment of true glory because the glory they seek is temporal and fleeting.
Kingdoms rise and fall. The most popular rulers and political leaders hold their positions for a brief moment. Those who love the praise of others and positions of power do not have their minds set on the eternal. As the Apostle Paul explained, “. . . the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Cor 4:18).
What Paul describes applied to the Jerusalem elite whose power was threatened by the coming of Jesus Messiah.
At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. “If you are the Messiah,” they said, “tell us.”
Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I asked you, you would not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.” (Luke 22:66-72)
At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. “If you are the Messiah,” they said, “tell us.”
Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I asked you, you would not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.” (Luke 22:66-72)
That right hand is the place of infinite glory, power, and beauty. That place is not reached through ambition and the praise of men, but by the Cross.
Many Jews wanted a restoration of the glory days of David and Solomon. Their notion of the kingdom to come involved military victory and a Messianic age that did not require repentance and the embrace of the Way of the Cross. They had rejected God’s call for repentance in preparation for the promised Kingdom. Some went out to John the Baptist in the wilderness, but according to Luke 7:30, “the Pharisees and lawyers rejected God’s counsel against them, being not baptized of him..."
If miracles could soften the hard heart surely the Israelites in the wilderness would have repented of their callousness and ingratitude, but they did not. Neither did the Pharisees in the synagogue repent that day when Jesus healed the man with the withered hand. The hard heart always dismisses the glory of God shown forth in mercy.
Today let us search our own hearts and ask the Holy Spirit to expose the bitterness, anger, resentment, and pride that rob us of His glory.
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