Withered. What a compelling image that word conjures! Shriveled. Diminished. Weak. No longer able to be what it once was, or do what it was created to do. All around us in our gathering every Sunday are people who are withered. Withered lives, withered hope, withered souls, withered marriages, withered homes, withered futures. They sit all around us, blending in, not wishing to draw attention to themselves or to their withered-ness. Many have given up hope and have settled for a withered, shriveled, diminished existence.
Isn't it interesting that the Pharisees knew that Jesus would heal the man? They knew He couldn't resist it! That's just who Jesus is! Yet instead of watching to see if Jesus would bring renewed hope, healing, and restoration so they could glorify God and celebrate with the man, scripture says they watched "so that they might accuse Him." While the Pharisees merely watched passively as the man sat with his withered hand, week after week, Sabbath after Sabbath, Jesus actively did something to bring healing. He did what was in His power to do to bring restoration of what had been withered.
Watch Jesus as He calls the man forward. First, He requires the man to own the withered nature of his existence. "Come forward!" Never mind the onlookers who whisper and frown and crane their necks to see what you have tried to keep hidden, ashamed of how it looks compared to everyone else around you. But the man obeys the call of Christ to come. Jesus tell him to "stretch out your hand;" Offer to Me what has been withered by sin and brokenness. This will completely expose the man in front of all who are watching so intently, calling attention to the very thing he would rather keep hidden. But in the very act of obeying Jesus' command, something amazing happens: "his hand was restored." Restoration. The opposite of withered.
Jesus is the same today in our gathering as He was all those years ago in that synagogue. People had gathered for worship. Christ was in their midst. He called to the withered soul and offered restoration. Some watched looking to criticize, but that didn't stop the man from obeying His call to offer what sin has withered to Him to be restored.
Ridgers, Jesus wants to restore what has withered this Sunday! Will you come? Will you hear His call? Will you obey His command? Will you let Him heal you? Or will you play the part of Pharisee, sitting back, disengaged, critical and suspicious of the work that Jesus is doing in our midst? Here's the crazy part: He lets you choose!
Here are the songs we will sing together in our gathering as we present our withered selves to Jesus to be restored by His touch:
