Faith Like A Pharisee

Mark chapter 3 is probably one of those chapters that we’ve all built pictures around. Okay, that is if you’re weird like me and watch too many action movies and have a cuh-ray-zay imagination. Just indulge me for a moment.

The stage is set. The crowd is gathered. Enter left: Jesus and His crew. Enter right: the Pharisees with their flowing robes and chins in the air. They take their seats at the front of the synagogue, set apart from the common people.

Flash back to the sitting room of one of the Pharisees, say his name is Phineas. Three of four other top Pharisees are at this coded meeting:

PHINEAS:         That insurgent won’t be able to resist, it’s in his nature.

        AMOS:              I’m sure he won’t. He just can’t help himself.

CAIPHAS:          Yes he can’t help himself. (Gives an evil chuckle). He will help us wrap the noose around his own neck!

Back to the present scene. Jesus is doing His thing, probably reading from a scroll or teaching. All the extras are taking their cues from the director off the cameras and nodding and scratching their chins, as if discerning for the first time, the secrets of the universe.

Enter centre: the man with the shrivelled hand.

Flash back to Phineas’ living room again:

STEPHANUS:     We know that dude with the freakish hand likes to hang behind the crowds outside the synagogue.

AMOS:              Yes, he never goes in but he never misses Sabbath either.

PHINEAS:         I’ll make sure to rebuke him sternly on my way in for not ever dropping an offering in the bowls. He’ll be forced to go in. Guilt-tripping works like magic all the time!

STEPHANUS:     Even though God knows he’ll have nothing worth putting in the bowl. (Wrinkles his nose in distaste).

        PHINEAS:         And our dear little healer will be there to see him.

AMOS:              And everything will fall neatly into place! (Rubs his hands together as an evil smile steals across his face).

Back to the present scene. Jesus looks up from the scroll and stops mid-sentence. He looks at the man shuffling up the aisle, head down, withered hand hidden under his cloak. The poor dude looks like he wishes the floor would open up and swallow him. The crowd now turns with Jesus to stare at this man. Everyone goes quiet as if on cue. The only sounds in the synagogue are from the man’s shuffling feet. Some high-tension sound track starts playing. Camera zooms in on Jesus’ intent face. Then it picks out Phineas’ gloating, triumphant one from the front of the synagogue. It goes back to Jesus, then zooms in on the man as he comes closer and closer. We get a shot of Amos’ clenched fist in his lap, like he’s trying to use some Jedi mind trick on Jesus to make Him perform the miracle. The tension builds and the volume of the ominous sound track increases…..

…You know, sometimes, we need to have faith like the Pharisees. Yup. Those guys had such unshakeable faith in Jesus’ ability to heal the man with the shrivelled hand. Their entire plot to trap Jesus in a faux pas was hinged on this one fact. I wonder how many of us believe half as much as they did that Jesus can meet our every need, move our every mountain. Just food for thought. Sorry guys that I took you through all that drama just to tell you what I could have said in about four sentences. E ma binu! #okbye