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MARK 3:2 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Mark 3:1Mark 3:3
“And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.”
Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath — the watchers are looking for grounds for a legal accusation, not evidence of divine activity. The same miracle that would move an open-hearted observer to praise God becomes, for the hostile observer, potential evidence for prosecution. The watching closely (paratēreō) is the word for surveillance — deliberate, sustained observation with a predetermined conclusion. The theological irony is complete: people are in the synagogue on the Sabbath watching for grounds to accuse the one who is about to demonstrate that the Sabbath's purpose is restoration, not restriction.

Church Fathers on Mark 3:2

After confounding the Jews, who had blamed His disciples, for pulling the ears of corn on the sabbath day, by the example of David, the Lord now further bringing them to the truth, works a miracle on the sabbath; shewing that, if it is a pious deed to work miracles on the sabbath for the health of men, it is not wrong to do on the sabbath thing necessary for the body.

Theophylact · 11th century

For, since He had defended the breaking of the sabbath, which they objected to His disciples, by an approved example, now they wish, by watching Him, to calumniate Himself, that they might accuse Him of a transgression, if He cured on the sabbath, of cruelty or of folly, if He refused.

Bede · 8th century · in Marc., 1, 14

But some one may wonder how Matthew could have said, that they themselves asked the Lord, if it was lawful to heal on the sabbath-day; when Mark rather relates that they were asked by our Lord, 'Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath-day, or to do evil?'

Augustine · 4th century · de Con. Evan., ii, 35
Read all 7 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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