Reading
Mk 3:1-6
3 Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”
4 Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.
5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. 6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
Meditation
Jesus enters the synagogue of Capernaum. Here he finds the opportunity to further clarify the meaning of the Sabbath, against the controversy of the Pharisees that has just occurred, about the ears torn by the disciples to feed themselves. His preaching happens more with deeds than with words. There is a man with a paralyzed hand and he invites him to stand it in the center of the hall of worship. This man is placed in front of the Pharisees almost as a symbol of their doctrinal paralysis and of the legalism to which they have made the people of God subject.
The doctors of the law have neither pity for the sick person, nor devotion to the one who can heal him, so instead of interceding they look, with a malevolent eye, to accuse Jesus of having violated the sabbatical rest.
The question of Jesus whether it is lawful on the Sabbath to do good or evil, to save a life or to take it away (v. 4) can only have a single answer for one who is really guided by religious piety. But no one speaks, and that silence which is often the accomplice of injustice arouses indignation and sadness in Jesus. Backlight there is the hardness of heart of the Pharisees (v. 5), the rigor of the doctrine that anesthetizes every emotion.
Jesus heals the man with the withered hand with a simple and direct command "Stretch out your hand!"; and the man "stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored" (v. 5). The Son of God, the incarnate Logos, the Word and the Wisdom with which the Father created the world, is a word that never returns to God without effect (Is 55:11).
Hands bound by the Law are loosened by Jesus to allow us to do good and cultivate the seed of grace. The Pharisees - representatives of religious orthodoxy - and the Herodians - defenders of state power - although divided into opposing factions, find a common interest in the will to have Jesus die (v. 6), considering him an element of subversion of their will of political and religious power.
But the subversive power of Jesus passes through a "weakening", a dispossession up to death on the cross (Phil 2:8), in order to open, along the dark paths of our suffering humanity, taken upon itself, the way to the resurrection.
Prayer
Teach us, Lord, not to put anything before you; may our faith be not a closed fist to wound, but an open hand to receive your grace and share it with our neighbor. Amen.
- Rev. Dr. Luca Vona
