"The Jesus said to the Pharisees, 'Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?'"
Mark 3:4
Lost in the whole should-Jesus-heal-on-the-Sabbath question is the man with the withered hand. What about him? He was restored during Jesus' miracle and now he can better work to take care of his family, contribute to society, feel good about himself. It's too bad all that gets lost in the Pharisees quibbling about what day of the week Jesus chose to perform his miracle. The Jewish laws were strict on what activity could be done on the Sabbath, but Jesus' point is, shouldn't we be able to do good on the Sabbath? Shouldn't what we do be life-giving? Restorative? My silent/Mary Sundays are certainly both life-giving and restorative! And, another thing I thought of with this reading...Jesus performed a healing miracle on the Sabbath. It wasn't "work" for him, as we consider work. It wasn't hard; he didn't break a sweat healing the man. The Gospel doesn't even say Jesus touched the man's hand. He simply asked the man to stretch his hand out and it was healed. A miracle. And Jesus was paving the way for his greatest miracle also occurring on a Sabbath--his resurrection. Thereby really turning the Sabbath on its ear! Love, heidi
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