Mark 3:4
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. 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.
In a synagogue on the Sabbath before a man with a withered hand, while the Pharisees watched to accuse, Jesus knew healing would be called transgression yet broke through traditional requirements and had the afflicted man stand forth before asking whether it is lawful to do good or evil, to save life or to kill. His question met the rabbis on their own ground, since their own maxim held that failure to do good when one has opportunity is to do evil and neglect to save life is to kill. They held their peace because they knew He spoke the truth and feared getting into trouble before the multitude, and their refusal to answer left the principle unanswered to condemn them and grieved Him by their hardness of heart. Doing good and saving life are lawful on the Sabbath, while doing evil, allowing harm, or killing are contrary to its purpose, so that refusing mercy when it is needed stands on the side of evil. The question contrasts His healing the sick and bringing happiness to multitudes in love and mercy with the Pharisees hunting His life with hatred and plotting to put Him to death on God's holy day. By that act of mercy He honored the Sabbath and upheld the fourth commandment as God meant it to be kept, showing that kindness, compassion and benevolence are lawful every day and that the Sabbath calls for caring for the sick and relieving suffering rather than restrictive superstition, useless inactivity or harmful neglect.
Context and Question
The setting is a synagogue on the Sabbath, with a man with a withered hand present and the Pharisees watching to find cause for accusation. Knowing that to heal would be called transgression, Jesus broke down the wall of traditional requirements and had the afflicted man stand forth openly before putting His question to them. The question meets the rabbis on their own ground, for among the Jews it was a maxim that to fail to do good when opportunity offered was to do evil, and to neglect to save life was to kill.
Their holding their peace leaves that principle unanswered and condemns them. Refusing mercy when it is needed is thereby set against doing evil, and allowing harm is set against the purpose of the day. Their unwillingness to answer and hardness of heart in refusing grieved Him.
The spies would not answer before the multitude because they knew He spoke the truth and feared getting themselves into trouble. Their silence showed they would leave a man to suffer rather than break their traditions. Yet they would relieve an animal to avoid loss to its owner, thus giving greater care to a brute than to a man made in the image of God.
Mercy Honors the Sabbath
Doing good and preserving life are lawful on the Sabbath, while doing evil, allowing harm, and killing are contrary to its purpose. To refuse mercy and withhold good when it is needed stands on the side of evil, for neglect to save life is to kill. The question put to the watchers of the man with the withered hand exposes misuse of Sabbath restrictions, and the silence that followed with the healing reveals the contrast between merciful action and hard-hearted opposition.
The question sets healing the sick, saving life, and bringing happiness to multitudes against hunting a life with hatred and plotting to put to death. It shows it is better and more righteous to heal the afflicted in love and mercy than to have murder in the heart on God's holy day. Love toward all shown in kindness and deeds of mercy cures sufferers, while hatred and murderous intent even on that day violate its spirit.
By healing, the Sabbath is shown not to be governed by restrictive superstition, for charity and benevolence are lawful on every day. Kindness and compassion matter more than external observance or traditional restrictions.
That act of mercy honored the Sabbath and upheld the fourth commandment while correcting restrictions that burdened the day. The charges were for not keeping the Sabbath according to human traditions, but it was kept as God wanted it to be kept.
The Sabbath therefore permits and calls for doing good, including caring for the sick, relieving pain and suffering, and meeting urgent needs of people afflicted by Satan, and it is not a day for harmful neglect or useless inactivity. Ordinary work for livelihood, pleasure, or profit is to cease and would neglect the day sanctified by God, while worship, healthful rest, and holy deeds belong to it. The Sabbath miracles met human need rather than serving as displays of power.
Opposition and Vindication
His healing of the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath was doing good on the Lord's day and relieving suffering, yet it provoked great malice among His opponents and enraged the Pharisees that He had performed this good work. The Pharisees and scribes were angry that He healed the withered hand on the Sabbath, despite their claim to God's favor. Jesus and His disciples then withdrew to a more favorable place to labor, and He continued healing the sick and casting out demons.
The Pharisees tried to use these Sabbath miracles, which were works of mercy that relieved the afflicted, as grounds to condemn Him as a Sabbath-breaker. All the miracles He did on the Sabbath were works of mercy for the relief of the afflicted, not the deeds and words of a Sabbath-breaker or blasphemer, as the multitudes who saw His works of mercy and heard His pure and holy teachings knew. Still seeking to condemn Him for doing good on the Sabbath and to cut Him off from influencing the people, they tried to arouse the Herodians against Him as seeking to set up a rival kingdom and consulted with them how to destroy Him. They tried to excite the Romans against Him as subverting their authority, until in desperation they decreed that any man who professed faith in Jesus should be cast out of the synagogue.
His accusers feared that examining His work on that day would reveal His healing miracles and undermine their attempt to condemn Him. The charge that He broke the Sabbath could not be sustained, for if it could have been sustained they would not have needed false witnesses against Him. The story of the healing in the synagogue illustrates His power to heal the soul.