23rd Week in Ordinary Time

1st Reading: Col 1:24—2:3

Gospel: Lk 6:6–11
On another Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and began teaching. There was a man with a paralyzed right hand and the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees watched him: Would Jesus heal the man on the Sabbath? If he did, they could accuse him.
But Jesus knew their thoughts and said to the man, “Get up and stand in the middle.” Then he spoke to them, “I want to ask you: what is allowed by the Law on the Sabbath, to do good or to do harm, to save life or destroy it?” And Jesus looked around at them all.
Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and his hand was restored, becoming as whole as the other. But they were furious and began to discuss with one another how they could deal with Jesus.

Commentary
We know that Jesus lived without sin under the old covenant requirements, while the old covenant was still in force. He observed old covenant customs such as participating in the sacrifice of Passover lambs and telling people, whom he cleansed, to make offerings as prescribed by Moses. Although we are told that he healed people on the Sabbath, we are never told that he rested. While everything he did and taught on the Sabbath was consistently liberal, he did not break the Sabbath; and he didn’t permit his disciples to break it, either. He healed the poor man, even though he knew the Pharisees would take advantage of him for it. Instead of worrying about a little activity on a holy day, they should have accepted, without question, whatever he did and followed his example.
Christ is neither ashamed nor afraid to own His powers of healing. The Sabbath is holy, only because God has designated it so. Christ, however, is more important than the temple and its sacrifices. The logical conclusion is that He is also more important than the Sabbath. And our being true to Christ on a daily basis is definitely more important than any Sabbath observances.

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