The Man with a Withered Hand: Mark 3:1–6 Sermon

The Lord Jesus entered again the synagogue, and it's most likely the same synagogue in Capernaum Mark and Luke's gospel narrate the incident in close connection with the time when he went up the mountain and he prayed all night.

And then he chose his disciples, his 12 disciples.

So it is set in Capernaum on the north shore of the lake of Tiberias.

And in that area, it wasn't a big area.

There were approximately 2,000 people living there.

So most people knew each other.

But what's amazing, this is the beginning of the Lord Jesus' ministry.

It's very early in his ministry and his earthly ministry.

Because we know the Lord Jesus is eternal.

He came as a man to earth.

So this is the beginning of his earthly ministry.

And already the Pharisees and Sadducees are against him.

They had come all the way from Jerusalem.

They hadn't come to receive.

They had come to find fault.

They had come to criticize.

They were seeking and watching him carefully.

They wanted to trap him.

How did they know? Well, it's possible that they had heard some of the reports of John the Baptist, that he claimed to be the Messiah.

And they thought, we're going to go and check this report out.

And all Judea and the surrounding region, people came from all of these areas.

And so Jesus Christ would have preached in these areas.

He preached everywhere.

In every area, every village, every town, they would have certainly heard a report.

Just before we move on, what did he preach? Well, he must have preached, of course, he preached the scriptures.