In today’s Gospel Luke 6:6-11, Jesus finds himself once again in a synagogue in front of the Pharisees on the Sabbath, where they were “watching him closely”. There happens to be a man there with a withered hand, which to the Pharisees meant he was “unclean”. This was obviously a setup to see if he would cure the man on the Sabbath which was against their rules to do work on the Sabbath. Why else would Pharisees be among the “unclean”?
Jesus turns the tables on them and asks if it is legal to do good on the Sabbath rather than do evil, and then asks if it is better to save a life than destroy it, and they remained silent.
Their laws were not all bad. It is good for us to try to keep Sunday as a holy day and not work if we can. Obviously there are some of us that have jobs that require us to work on Sundays, and that is okay for we need to provide for our families. I also know Jesus wouldn’t mind if we helped someone in need by showing them mercy on a Sunday. It is clear when Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”. Let us always make sure we are not focused on following the letter of the law, rather than following the spirit of the law, which is Mercy!
De Colores, Deacon Kevin
