Second Wednesday of Ordinary Time

Jesus entered the synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered hand. They watched Jesus 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 the Pharisees, “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, Jesus 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.

Just like Jesus, we should never allow our peers to pressure us out of doing good or into doing evil. When we know in our hearts that something is right, we should do it, no matter the circumstances. We can come up with excuses, convince ourselves we shouldn’t get involved, or just plain chicken out, but in the end we’ll have to account for what we have done and failed to do. We have a choice in our lives. We can be like the Pharisees, hardhearted and condemning of others, or we can be like Christ, compassionate and restoring others to health of mind, body, and spirit. As Christians, we are both the healed and the healer. As sinners, we need to stretch out our hand to God with contrition and humility so that He might restore us both physically and spiritually. However, once we are cured, we are called by God to go forth into the world and bring His Grace to others through our acts of love and mercy.

Do we allow others to lead us into doing evil or keep us from doing good? Are our lives focused on saving lives, rather than destroying them? Do we not only seek healing for ourselves, but also for those around us?

O Lord, you have healed us with your saving grace. Help us to stretch out our hands to others who are in most need of your love and mercy so that you might heal them, too.

Amen.