20th January, WednesdayI. Heb 7:1-3, 15-17
II. Mark 3:1-6
In today’s gospel reading, we come across two types of attitude towards the law of Sabbath, the first for the good of the other and the second just the opposite. The encounter of Jesus with Pharisees leads us to the proper understanding of keeping the Sabbath by doing what is good in the eyes of God. The Pharisees by their hard heartedness and insensitive behavior failed to observe as God desires. The man in today’s episode had a withered hand but a heart open to faith; the pharisees and others had good health but closed and hard hearts. The hardness of heart which is the unwillingness to see and feel the pain of the other makes Jesus angry. Many a times we too might do the same as the Pharisees to prove our righteousness by keeping the laws and regulations but forget to imbibe the spirit of the law that brings us closer to God.
Jesus draws clear lines between doing good and harm, it is to save life or to kill. We either do well or harm the other by our attitudes in daily life. The law that we follow to be good in the eyes of God must help us to do good at any circumstances. Laws are the guidelines and the limits of the well-ordered life. A well-ordered life is a life in freedom. The pharisaic understanding of law makes one slave to the law. Becoming slave to the law deprives the purpose of the law and practice of the law becomes a meaningless routine. It is understanding the purpose of God’s law and accepting it with our whole heart what brings meaning to the observance of Law. This meaning is found in observing the law for the greater good of each other than becoming an obstacle for the good like that of pharisees with hard heartedness.
Bro. Anthony Peter
II BTh