Monday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
September 7, 2020
Daily Reading from the USCCB: Luke 6:6-11
Further suspicion of Jesus from the Pharisees. Is this supposedly religious man going to observe the Sabbath ritual and refuse to practice healing on the Sabbath?
Jesus knows what’s in their hearts and throws the matter right back to them. “If healing is a good thing,” he asks, “is it not appropriate to do this good thing on the Sabbath? What do you think?” The Pharisees are not looking for dialogue and apparently said nothing. So Jesus answers the question by healing the man.
The Pharisees became enraged. Jesus had gotten the better of them. What Jesus did and said seemed simple: there are times when compassion takes precedence over legal niceties. Jesus comes down on the side of compassion. His enemies are left speechless.
