Sticking Your Neck Out

I was reading the passage in the Gospel of Mark (Chapter 3:1-6) where Jesus cures a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath.  He tells the man “Stretch out your hand” and when he did, Jesus restored his hand.

So this got me to wondering where the phrase “stick your neck out” came from.  I know, I have weird word associations, but I can’t help it, they sort of sound alike to me—“Stretch out your hand/stick your neck out.”  Being a curious person and all, I had to look it up. This is what I learned about the neck phrase; then I’ll get back to the gospel.

According to one site I found, like most of us, the article thought it referred to taking a chance of getting in trouble or risk being criticized.  Apparently, there are a few possible references to the phrase:

You might “stick your neck out” when you take a risk, and this comes from turtles.  Yup, turtles.  “When a turtle sticks its neck (and head) out, it becomes more vulnerable (in the open) to predators. But a turtle must leave the safe haven of its shell to eat and such.”

The other possibility may come from American slang for when a chicken has to stretch out its neck on the chopping block.

So now that we have that irrelevant piece of trivia settled, let me get on to the poor man with the withered hand.  This has always been one of my favorite passages, but not because of the main point that Jesus is making about working on the Sabbath (although that is good, of course.)

I’ve always liked it because for me, it speaks clearly about healing.  I have always seen in this passage that if you are suffering something, you need to stretch it out—without shame or even fear—and seek healing.  “Here it is Jesus, I need to be made whole.”  (The Sacrament of Reconciliation is good for this, by the way.)

There are so many people suffering quietly today from unseen personal trauma or emotional distress that do not seek help because of shame or fear of repercussions (among other reasons.)

Another part of this passage that speaks to me is the reality that if we reveal our pain to Jesus, he can restore us.  Now, he may not give us an outright physical cure like the man with the withered hand, but for restoration to be possible, we must first start by revealing ourselves, as well, to those who can potentially help.  God often does his work through others.

Jesus was mad in this passage.  It even says, he looked “around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart.”  He was trying to get them to see that to be so rigid as to ignore the needs of a brother for the sake of the law, was to have a hardened heart.  That is not a loving way to be.

So therein lies the big message to this passage—be loving towards others, no matter the cost.  In fact, I think you could go so far as to say that we should love others, even if we have to stick our neck out!

God bless,

Janet Cassidy

Janetcassidy.com