The healing concerns more than a withered hand. Jesus uses this healing to draw the man to him and to give him eternal life by faith. For he chooses a special form of healing. He does not order the hand to move again, but he orders the man to stretch out to him his paralyzed right hand (Luke 6:6; cf. Galatians 2:9). While the Pharisees remain silent and plan to attack Jesus, this man stretches out his hand to him according to Jesus’ word. And that hand is healthy: through obedience to Jesus! This healing is, after the word that was spoken before, a sign: he who obeys Jesus and stretches out his hand to him shall receive from him life’s salvation. Jesus’ concern is for the man’s soul via his hand, and for this he does not evade a death sentence.1
5 And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.