Don't Get It Twisted: Stretch

What does it mean to show up broken? In Mark chapter 3, we encounter a man with a withered hand sitting quietly in the synagogue, and his silent presence becomes one of the most powerful statements of faith in all of Scripture. This message challenges us to rethink what it means to worship. We do not have to have everything together to walk through the doors of the house of God. The church is not a showroom for polished people but a hospital for the wounded. The man never cried out, never pressed through a crowd, never climbed a rooftop. He simply kept showing up. And sometimes that is the most profound act of faith we can offer. There is a difference, we are reminded, between being broken and being withered. Broken things can be set and splinted. But withered means the flow stopped somewhere at the source. Many of us are not broken in ways people can see. We are withered in ways we have learned to hide, manage, and work around for years. This message calls us to examine those hidden places and ask whether we have confused covering something with being cured of it. The invitation extended to us through this text is the same two words Jesus spoke to that man: stand forth. Come out of hiding. Stop managing what God wants to heal. Our showing up, even in our withered condition, is itself a declaration that we still have something left to give.