THE WORD
Heb 7, 1-3.15-17 3,16
Again Jesus entered the synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered hand. They watched him closely to see if he would cure him on the sabbath so that they might accuse him. He said to the man with the withered hand, "Come up here before us." Then he said to them, "Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?" But they remained silent. Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death.
IN OTHER WORDS
Have you ever had this upsetting feeling that people are watching your every move and waiting to pounce on you when you commit even the slightest mistake? Jesus is presented to be in this sort of position in today's gospel. Even if Jesus had the best intentions of curing the man with a withered hand, people particularly the Pharisees took offence at him because in their eyes, Jesus had violated the Sabbath. However, Jesus stood his ground and did what he thought was truly important: to release this man from his pain and misery on account of his withered hand.
We Christians are subjected to a similar persecution when we make a stand on important issues. If we object to "same-sex marriage," we are vilified and our lives scrutinized.
If we are "pro-life," we get insulting comments. However, this harassment is nothing compared to what our Christian brothers and sisters are experiencing in places where being a Christian in itself is already an offence. In such places, any small expression of Christian faith is already a basis for imprisonment, or even worse, death.
As we celebrate the start of the week of Prayer for Christian Unity, we pray not only for the unity of all Christians but also for our brothers and sisters who are risking their lives because of the practice of their faith, whether they are Catholics, Evangelicals, Anglicans, Episcopalians, Methodists, Orthodox and other Christian denominations We live in a world that should recognize freedom of the practice of the faith wherever we are.
- Fr. Elmer Ibarra, SVD (Australia)
The Word in other words 2017
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
