“And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.”
He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, stretch out your hand. He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored — the double emotional description is unique in Mark: anger (orgē) and distress (syllypeō, deep grief). The anger is righteous anger at the hardness of heart; the distress is grief for the condition that the hardness of heart produces in people. Jesus feels both simultaneously — the combination of indignation and sorrow that characterizes the prophetic response to human resistance. The healing is immediate and complete. The man stretched out his hand in obedience to the command, and the restoration happened as the act of obedience was performed.
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