Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1485
Delivered on Thursday Evening, May 22, 1879
“And, behold, there was a man which hadhis hand withered… Then says He to the man, Stretch forth your hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.” Matthew 12:10,13.
NOTE well the expression. Jesus “went into their synagogue and, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered.” A mark is set, as it were, in the margin, as if it were a notable fact. That word, “behold” is a sort of note of exclamation to draw attention to it. “Behold, there was a man which had his hand withered.” In many congregations, if there should step in one of the great and mighty of the land, people would say, “Behold, there was a duke, an earl, or a bishop there.” And although there were, occasionally, some great ones in our Savior’s congregation, I find no notes of admiration about their presence, no, “beholds,” inserted by the Evangelists as if to call attention to their appearance. No doubt if there were, in a congregation, some person of known intelligence and great learning who had earned a high degree, there are persons who would say, “Did you know that Professor Science or Doctor Classic was present at the service?” There would be a, “behold,” put to that in the memories of many!
There were persons well learned, according to the learning of the day, who came to listen to Christ, but there are no “beholds,” about their having been present. Yet in the synagogue there was a poor man whose hand had been withered and we are called upon to note the fact! It was his right hand which was withered, the worse of the two for him, for he could scarcely follow his handicraft or earn his bread. His best hand was useless! His breadwinner failed him. I have no doubt he was a very humble, obscure, insignificant individual. He was probably in great poverty because he could not work as his fellow craftsmen could. And he was probably not a man of any rank, or learning, or special intelligence. His being in the assembly was, in itself, nothing very remarkable.
I suppose he had been accustomed to go to the synagogue as others of his townsmen did. Yet the Holy Spirit takes care to mark that he was present and to have the word, “behold,” hung out like a sign that it might be regarded as a special subject for consideration that the crippled man was there! And tonight, dear Friends, it matters very little to the preacher or to the congregation that you are here, if you are some person of note or consequence, for we make no note of dignitaries here and attach no special consequence to anyone in this place where the rich and the poor meet together!
But if you happen to be here as a soul needing a Savior. If you happen to be here with a spiritually withered hand so that you cannot do the things that you would and you are needing to have that hand restored to you, there shall be a “behold,” put to that—and especially shall it be doubly emphatic if, tonight, the Master says to you, “Stretch out your withered hand”—and if Divine power shall restore that hand and a deed of Grace shall be accomplished! What our Lord needed on that particular Sabbath morning was somebody to work upon, somebody whom He might heal and so defy the traditional legality of the Pharisees who said that it was wrong to heal on the Sabbath!
Christ did not want their health that morning—He looked for their sickness that He might illustrate His healing power. He did not want any greatness in anybody there—but He did want some poor needy one in whom He could display His power to heal. And that is just the case tonight. If you are rich and increased in goods and have need of nothing, my Master does not want you! He is a Physician and those who practice the healing art look out for sickness as their sphere of operation. If we were to tell a wise physician of a town where nobody was sick and everybody enjoyed perfect health, he would not settle there unless he wished to retire from his practice. My Master does not come into the assemblies where all feel themselves quite content with themselves—where there are no blind eyes, no deaf ears, no broken hearts, no withered hands—for what do such folks need with a Savior?
He looks around and His eyes fix themselves upon pain, upon necessity, upon incapacity, upon sinfulness, upon everything to which He can do good—for what He wants in us mortals is the opportunity to do us good—and not a
pretense on our part that we can do Him good! I begin with this because my talk tonight will be very simple and it will only be meant for those of you who need my Lord and Master. Those of you who do not need Him can go. But you that need Him, it may be you shall find Him tonight and there shall be the record kept in Heaven, not of those who were here, who said, “We see,” nor of those who said, “Our hand is strong and deft for labor,” but there shall be a register of blind ones who shall say, “You Son of David, open our eyes,” and of withered ones who shall, tonight, stretch out their withered hands in obedience to His Divine command!