A short little excerpt that jumps out at me while reading today ...

"Just Walk Across the Room" - Bill Hybels, pages 72-74

Serving a Withered World

At one point during Jesus' earthly ministry, the Pharisees had grown so tired of him correcting, silencing, and disregarding them that they birthed a plot to have Jesus caught breaking their beloved Law. According to Mark 3, Jesus was teaching in the synagogue one day while a man with a deformed hand was sitting there. The Pharisees got excited once they noticed that Jesus was going nuts trying to teach the Scriptures while a sick person helplessly sat ten feet from him. Surely he'd stop his talk and heal the guy! And on the Sabbath, no less - what a controvery this would cause! This is going to be perfect! the Pharisses thought as they watched with bated breath.

Pure spectulation at this point, but can't you imagine the scene? A handul of Pharisees are seen traipsing about town to hunt down some pooor, unsuspecting person. Suddeny, they spot their man, a guy is sitting there on a bench, his withered hand in plain sight.

The Pharisees spring into action. "This is your lucky day, sir! Come with us! Right this way; we have a front-row seat reserve for you in the synagogue, and Jesus is up today ... what are the chances?" They bring this man in and sit him down, and Jesus takes center stage to begin teaching. As he surveys his audience, he notices this man with a withered hand. He glances over at the religious leaders, noticing that they are all poised on the edge of their seats, wondering if the snare they ahd set that day was going to do the trick.

Jesus sized up the whole twisted situation. Mark 3-5 says that he looked around at them with anger, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts. Here were these "leaders" - men who were known as the religious elite - behaving mercilessly as they completely disregarded a broken man's misery.

Jesus knew that the Pharisees permitted healing on the Sabbath in life-threatening cases but that this man's condition was not life-threatening. He knew that the Pharisees couldn't care less about this crippled man or his family or his future or his eternity. He also knew what was at stake should he choose to heal him.

Without any hesitation, Jesus suddenly speaks to the man with the withered hand. "Stand up!" he says. "Stretch out your hand and come forward."

The man does a double-take. Me? Really? You're really going to heal me? Jesus heals the man on the spot, thereby sealing his own fate with the Pharisees, who notify the Herodians of Jesus' indiscretion - the same people who eventually have Jesus arrested and killed.

The story of the withered-hand man ends there in Scripture, but don't you wonder what it was like in those quet moments after everyone had fled the synagogue and only Jesus and the good-as-new man stood there? In my imagination, I picture the guy looking at Jesus, his Great Healer, and saying, "Uh, did I get you into trouble or something? I mean, it seems like thre was some tension in the room just then."

And I envision Jesus saying, "Nah, don't worry about it. Listen, now that you have tow good hand, what are your plans? Juggling? Piano? What is it you dream about doing, my friend?"

In my imagination, they chat about this man's long-awaited passion pursuits. And possibly the man then turns to Jesus and says, "Well, what are your dreams? I mean, you asked me about mine, and so I guess it's only right that I ask you about yours."

And against the backdrop of him resolving a crippling situation to the dismay of a few legalistic leaders, I imagine Jesus articulating his dream with words that are absolutely captivating to me:

"You know, I dream that someday, places of worship will be filled with people who lay awake at night concerned about the human beings my Father created. Who care about broken bodies and broken souls and hopeless futures and hell-bound eternities. I dream of the day when people who gather in my name are so filled with the love of the Father that they go out and spread his love and extend healthy hands to withered hands - praying, coaching, and encouraging them to walk in fullness of life. I dream of worship centers filled with radically loving, outwardly focused, Christ-sharing people. That's what I dream about."

I have to wonder, is this what you dream of too?

It's a curious form of thought exercise - replete with the thought of Jesus bringing up juggling in casual conversation. But it makes a wonderful point that resonates a bit. Part of seeking God's will in our lives is asking, just as in Hybels' example, what it is that God's dream is for this world ... and then finding our place in that story.