and the Pharisees watched him: Would Jesus heal the man on the Sabbath? If he did,
they could accuse him. But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to the man, “Get up, and
stand in the middle.” Then he spoke to them, “I want to ask you: what is allowed by the law
on the Sabbath? To do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” And Jesus
looked around at them all. Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched
it out, and his hand was restored, becoming as healthy as the other. But they were furious,
and began to discuss with one another how they could deal with Jesus.

Reflect

“Stretch out your hand.” In today's Gospel, Jesus restored the life of a man whose right hand
was withered. When Jesus healed the hand of this man, it was the man’s life that was restored
in the process. Because the right hand of a person is often the functional hand, we may reflect
on the point that it was the very life of the man which Jesus had put back in place. However, the
scribes and Pharisees thought that the timing was bad. It was a Sabbath. But the Gospel stated
that they were motivated by ill will even before Jesus healed the man. They wanted to have
a reason to put Jesus down. They did not care about the man. They were preoccupied
finding something to accuse Jesus of. The evil intention of their hearts was revealed
by the way they interpreted the Sabbath law. Jesus clearly unmasked their evil intention
when he pointed out what the Sabbath law would allow or prohibit. The Sabbath would
not prohibit doing something good. Healing a person is good and would definitely be
allowed on a Sabbath.

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