Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse:  Day 243

August 30;   Mark 3:2;   31/260(II);   ‘They Knew He Could’

Mark 3:2 So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him.

Wherever the Lord Jesus went, the Pharisees were sure to follow.  They were constantly looking for things that Jesus did, so that they could accuse Him of violating religious traditions. They were good at legalistically holding to the Law without the slightest hint of love and compassion. Their ultimate desire was to destroy Jesus (Mark 3:5).  Pride is the foundation for all sins.  Since Jesus came on the scene, the allegiance of the people had changed from the Pharisees to Jesus.  The jealous hearts of the Pharisees, reinforced by the devil, drove them to the only conclusion that was acceptable to them, killing the One who quickly had become the recipient of the attention of the people.  This verse says something that is terrifyingly true.  The Pharisees knew that Jesus could heal.  That meant that they had to know Jesus had power to do what they could not do.  Is it possible, that the religious leaders knew, deep down, that Jesus was the Messiah and yet their pride and arrogance would not allow them to acknowledge this?  If this is indeed true, the Pharisees were eternally sealing their fate, for the popularity of this temporary world.  Every confrontation the Pharisees had with Jesus revealed the hardness of their hearts, and they always were astounded at the answers Jesus gave.  Jesus’ love and forgiveness towards the woman caught in adultery (John 8), as opposed to their hypocritical ‘holier than thou’ desire to stone her, shamed them into walking away from the encounter.  Christianity, being like Jesus, is what the world needs.  Religion is a cruel, demonic counterfeit.  Let’s let others see Jesus in us.