Distinguish between good and evil.

The Pharisees watched the actions of the Lord Jesus. Their conduct was not honorable. Jesus knew this. The Pharisees took pride in keeping peace on the Sabbath. Their many commands and prohibitions concerning the Sabbath did more harm than good to the believing Jews. We can see this from their unhealthy attitude toward the suffering man with a withered and paralyzed hand. The Lord Jesus is very merciful. He has amazing compassion for the suffering. After all, He is the Messiah. That is why He wants to give the Pharisees proof that He is the Messiah. He will heal the hand of the sick man and, in so doing, will also provide them with the lesson that He is Lord of the Sabbath. Shortly before this event, the apostles picked ears of corn and ate the grains on their way across the field. The Pharisees did not like this because it was the Sabbath. They found it very hard to bear that Jesus was breaking their commands and prohibitions, so they were careful in the synagogue to see if the Lord Jesus would heal. So, in their opinion, He was guilty of breaking the Sabbath peace. The Lord Jesus knew the evil mindset of the Pharisees, so He asked them a question: “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” (Lk 6:9). This put the Pharisees in a problematic situation. Logically, one should neither do wrong on the Sabbath nor neglect to do good; in this case, it was healing a diseased hand. Jesus acts humanly, but also as God, and commands the sick man, “Hold out your hand!” (Lk 6:10). And the evangelist Luke says that for this defeat, the Pharisees will take revenge on Jesus: “But they, full of folly, took counsel what to do with Jesus” (Lk 6:11).

We see two directions here. The Lord Jesus acts under the influence of love, and the Pharisees under fanaticism. One has his hands open for doing good, and the other closes them. They are like a paralyzed hand; they do not do good. The Lord Jesus wants to heal them from the bonds of the Law. Do we also feel more bound by the prescriptions of the law than by love?

The Gospel wants to lead us not to be enslaved by regulations but always to act in a spirit of love. We know that church regulations will give way to love. For example, the obligation to attend Sunday Mass does not oblige a mother who has a sick child or when a natural disaster strikes someone, and we must help them even at the expense of Mass. Knowing how to spread love and indulge another are valid values for the soul’s salvation. The saints often asked themselves: What will it profit me for my immortal soul? And for this, every human command, decree, or order must give way. Let us, therefore, ask God to preserve such a right attitude even in the difficult circumstances of life. Let human wickedness have no place in our Christian life!