The Pharisees didn’t like Jesus because He healed someone’s hand on the Sabbath* (Mark 3).
My Western ears think this is ludicrous. The reasoning goes like this: Healing someone of a sickness is a good thing to do in most circumstances. Jesus healed people. Therefore, Jesus did a good thing. A further argument might go like this: Anyone who does a good thing shouldn’t be condemned unless it hurts another person or persons without any warrant for doing so. Jesus did a good thing and didn’t hurt anyone without warrant. Therefore, He shouldn’t be condemned by anyone. Emotionally, most Western minds think how in the world could I be upset with someone who instantly healed a man’s hand? We might further think anyone who heals a person simply with his words is probably a good person.
Their Eastern ears understood the problem. This has to do with world views. The Middle Eastern mindset is used to dealing more with the supernatural. Supernatural events, such as a physical healing, don’t necessarily translate into thinking he is probably a good person, because he healed that guy’s hand. Bad people can work supernatural miracles as well from a Middle Eastern mindset.
The Pharisees thought Jesus was a bad person for the following reasons. They saw Jesus healing people all over the place. In fact, what they saw was a tired man. The biblical accounts seem to suggest that there were times when Jesus had to get away from it all. Crowds almost suffocated him, at times. He would get into a boat and cross the lake. The crowds would run around to the other side to catch up with Him. Our Western minds might think why would healing people with His words, cause Jesus to be tired? Jesus was tired however, because of the long days he spent with people constantly beckoning His time and resources. I’m sure He was a tired man.
The Pharisees saw Jesus working on the Sabbath and probably saw He was tired. In their worldview, anyone who exerts oneself on the Sabbath isn’t a good person because he is violating the Law of God through working on the holy Sabbath day of rest. Because they believed that both good and bad people could work supernatural miracles, their logical conclusion was that Jesus was sinning against God (even though it was an amazing miracle) and should be stopped. Their line of thinking was: If someone works on the Sabbath, then they should be condemned because they are violating the Law of God. Jesus was working on the Sabbath. They thought He should be condemned. Elsewhere, the biblical account is more specific and it says that they thought he was doing these supernatural things under the authority of the Prince of Demons.
Legalists (such as the Pharisees, extreme right-wing Republicans, extreme left-wing Democrats, and arrogant people in general) are prone to demonizing those who do good works. It is the only way they can make a good work into an evil thing. They challenge the source.
Jesus’ response: “The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath. So, [I, Jesus am] Lord even of the Sabbath” (Mark 2). He put the focus back on God's glory and His love for His people through the gift of the Sabbath. This opposes a focus on maintaining the Law through keeping the Sabbath at all costs, even healing someone.
*[The Sabbath is the gift of a holy day of rest each week that God has given human beings for their benefit and His glory.]
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