A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 14:1-6)
On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. In front of him there was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus spoke to the scholars of the law and Pharisees in reply, asking, “Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?” But they kept silent; so he took the man and, after he had healed him, dismissed him.
After Jesus dismisses the man, he says: “‘Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern, would not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?’ But they were unable to answer his question.” Luke tells us that Jesus dismisses the man after healing him and only then addresses the Pharisees. On his way and free of his illness, the man who suffered no longer suffers, but the Pharisees and scholars of the law are unable to answer, silenced in the hypocrisy they are bound by. The answer to the question Jesus asks them is in the affirmative. But they are unable to affirm what they know is true. Jesus heals the suffering man and invites the Pharisees to be healed in the truth of his mercy.
Father in heaven, help me understand today’s Gospel. In the darkness that sin casts over me, I am not far off from the scholars of the law and the Pharisees when I place strict observance over mercy or remain silent when I hear your voice. Help me live in your truth, in truth itself in the person of Jesus your Son. “I speak the truth in Christ,” Saint Paul writes. “I do not lie.” Let me do the same. Give me the grace of Christ’s healing presence in the Eucharist, and dismiss me today with a heart to love you and hands to serve you in knowing your truth and doing your will.
From the responsorial psalm: “My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me.”
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.