Meditation Minute

My Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

“Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” Again in today’s Gospel (Mark 3:1-6) Jesus is challenged about good works being performed on the Sabbath. A man with a crippled hand enters the synagogue. The Jewish leaders sit there waiting to see what Jesus does. Sensing the hardness of their hearts, Jesus calls the crippled man over and asks the Jewish leaders, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” Jesus cures the man’s hand. This enrages the Jewish leaders and they go out and begin to plot against him. What is the real purpose of the Sabbath? - to honor God for all he has done for us. If we see someone cripple or hurt, what better display of gratitude toward God then to reach out and help the individual. The scribes and the Pharisees we so determined to get Jesus that they could not see the good that he was doing. They were blinded by their hatred and their anger. Jesus points out that the purpose of the Sabbath is to do good and not to do harm. That we are called to save the lives of our fellow brothers and sisters when they are indeed in need. Christians celebrate the Lord’s Day, now Sunday, to honor God for all he has done for us. We celebrate the new life that was given to us through the cross and Christ’s resurrection. Through the resurrection, we are given new life. God saved our life through the death of his only son. It is this form of love that God wants us to remember and reflect on during the Sabbath. If we truly love and honor God, then his love will overflow from us out to our neighbors “to do good” and “to save life.”

A Simple Prayer

Lord, Jesus Christ, I celebrate the resurrection of new life.

Give me the strength to reach out and give this love to others.

Yours in Christ

Michael Marcon