A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 6:6-11)
On a certain sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to see if he would cure on the sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him.
The scene Luke sets in today’s Gospel presents the trickery of the Pharisees in their attempt to catch Jesus transgressing Mosaic law. Without their approaching Jesus directly, the Pharisees have playing out before them what they believe is a perfect dilemma: Will Jesus cure on the sabbath? Luke goes on to tell us that Jesus understood their intentions, and asking the man to stand before them, he said to the Pharisees: “I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” Jesus asks the man to stretch out his hand, and he cures him. But the Pharisees become furious, and they discuss together, as Luke says, “what they might do to Jesus.”
Father in heaven, I turn to you in today’s readings to know you better, to come nearer to the source and end of love itself. “Only in God be at rest, my soul, for from him comes my hope,” I read in today’s psalms. You, Lord, are the sabbath rest that my soul seeks. Just as the man with the withered hand put his trust in Jesus, I also stretch out my hand to receive your mercy and healing. Taking refuge in you, enveloped in your love, give me the opportunity today and the grace to be a refuge to others and to be a witness to the mercy and self-sacrificial love of Christ.
From the first reading: “It is he whom we proclaim, admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.”
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.