Traditions: Mark; Luke Motif: Healing becomes a Sabbath confrontation Connection verdict: Related healing account with differing emphasis Article status: Expanded Date: 2026-10-30
Summary
Jesus calls a man with a withered hand forward and asks whether doing good is lawful on the Sabbath.
Read the two scenes
Jesus calls a man with a withered hand forward and asks whether doing good is lawful on the Sabbath. Mark depicts anger and grief at hardened hearts and a plot to destroy him; Luke details the watchers’ accusation and their fury. The man is not merely a prop for argument: his restored hand demonstrates the stakes of refusing to help. Both versions stage a public choice, but give different emotional detail.
What connects—and what does not
Mark depicts anger and grief at hardened hearts and a plot to destroy him; Luke details the watchers’ accusation and their fury.
The man is not merely a prop for argument: his restored hand demonstrates the stakes of refusing to help. Both versions stage a public choice, but give different emotional detail.
Why read them side by side?
An ethical question about healing takes on force because the vulnerable person remains in the room.
Sources and reading notes
- Mark 3:1-6 — Read the named verses in their literary context and compare translation choices.
- Luke 6:6-11 — Read the named verses in their literary context and compare translation choices.
Research limit
A named parallel can establish literary reuse or related tradition; a general resemblance alone cannot prove borrowing. Linked editions and translations vary. Where a source is identified as secondary orientation, the comparison does not claim direct close reading of that tradition’s primary text.