A Sabbath’s Work

Gospel Reflection for January 17th, 2024

Picture courtesy of National Catholic Register

In today’s Gospel, we find a familiar confrontation, the Pharisees are attempting to trap Jesus and reveal Him to be a false Messiah. St. Mark writes:

“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.”

Mark 3:1-2

This is one of many times that the Pharisees attempt to trap or manipulate Jesus for their own ends. In Christ’s time, the Pharisees were a group of Jews who held sway over the people of Israel. They advocated for extreme ritual purity and absolute separation from the Gentile people. This made them see the law as very literalistic and they advocated for such an absolute interpretation of the law that even healing someone on the Sabbath was seen as sinful to them.

Our Lord is frequently at odds with this group and calls out their hypocrisy, calling them “whitewashed tombs” and a “brood of vipers.” In them, Our Lord sees an outward appearance of holiness but an inward corruption. The law is kept for the sake of the law and not for the love of God. This is why Our Lord gets angry with them in today’s Gospel:

“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.” Mark 3-5

He asks them whether or not it is lawful to do good or, conversely, should we sit by and allow life to be destroyed. Their silence is very telling here. They are more concerned with the outward appearance of holiness and with trapping Jesus than with doing good and sanctifying their souls. This is the heart of the confrontation that Christ has throughout the Gospels with the Pharisees. They advocate fulfillment of the law without understanding the heart of the law.

The Sabbath’s rest was instituted so man would slow down and give a day to God and family. It was not instituted to be an abolishment of all good works. To the contrary, Christ advocates that not doing the good that we are given to do would actually be the sin. Thus, Christ and the Pharisees are at odds.

 This Gospel is a call by Christ to live the law as something burning in our hearts and not as something that outwardly makes us appear holy. Appearing holy does nothing good for our souls. The Law of God and by extension, the teachings of the church are not merely words on a page or carvings in stone. They are something that we are to embrace with love. Essentially, do we keep the laws of God simply because they are laws and we want to appear to be holy or do we keep the laws of God because we love Him above all things?