<p>3:5- see on Mk. 1:41.</p><p><em>And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man-</em> The way the Lord didn&rsquo;t just ignore the Jewish leaders, as we might ignore trouble makers at a public meeting or correspondence course students who ask endless questions... this is really quite something. He grieved for the hardness of their hearts, and finally broke down and wept over Jerusalem, in an agony of soul that they would not respond. The apparently foolish catch questions of Mk. 3:21-29 are answered in some depth by the Lord, and He concludes with pointing out that they are putting themselves &ldquo;<em>in danger </em>of eternal damnation&rdquo; (although, notice, not yet condemned). One senses the urgency with which He put it to them. He was angry i.e. frustrated?, &ldquo;being grieved for the blindness of their hearts&rdquo; (Mk. 3:5). Are we just indifferent or evenly smugly happy that men are so blind&hellip;? Or do we grieve about it to the point of angry frustration? Remember how Moses and Paul would fain have given their eternal life for the conversion of Israel, this is how they felt for them.</p><p>Almost every reference to Israel's hardness s.w. &quot;blindness&quot; of heart is to their hearts having been made hard / blind. Their attitude of mind was confirmed by the work of God's Spirit; just as Pharaoh hardened his heart, and had it hardened by God in response. But the Lord grieved for this condition, whatever the cause.</p><p><em>Stretch out your hand. He stretched it out, and his hand was restored</em>- Matthew uses the same word to describe how the Lord Himself stretched forth&nbsp;<em>His</em>&nbsp;hand in order to heal, save and welcome (Mt. 8:3; 12:49; 14:31). Again we are encouraged to perceive a sense of mutuality between the Lord and His people.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>AV adds: &quot;Whole as the other&quot;. This detail is recorded in Matthew, Mark and Luke. It is another touch of the eye witness- the man would've held out both his hands and everyone would've looked from the one to the other, observing they now looked so similar.&nbsp;</p>