Man of Compassion

Monday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time C-2

Entrance Antiphon Ps 119 (118):137, 124 You are just, O Lord, and your judgment is right; treat your servant in accord with your merciful love.

Collect O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption, look graciously upon your beloved sons and daughters, that those who believe in Christ may receive true freedom and an everlasting inheritance. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: 1 Corinthians 5:1-8; Psalm 5; Luke 6:6-11

On another Sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shrivelled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shrivelled hand, Get up and stand in front of everyone. So he got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it? He looked round at them all, and then said to the man, Stretch out your hand. He did so, and his hand was completely restored. But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus. (Luke 6:6-11)

Man of Compassion It is always helpful to consider the various Gospel accounts of the same event. At times there are almost identical textual accounts, but there are usually differences. For instance, Mark’s account of the healing of the man with the withered hand in the Synagogue (3:1-6) follows Christ’s conflict with the scribes and Pharisees in the previous chapter, and their criticism of his disciples’ disregard of certain prescriptions on the Sabbath rest. They were seen to be picking grain on the Sabbath. Matthew too has the event immediately following on the Pharisees’ criticism of the disciples picking grain on the Sabbath. The two accounts of the picking of the grain are similar though not identical, suggesting a reliance of one text on the other. In each, there then follows the healing of the man with the withered hand in the Synagogue. In Mark’s account — perhaps stemming from Simon Peter — the Pharisees simply watch to see if he would heal so that they might then accuse him. Our Lord takes the initiative, asking the man to stand forth. He then challenges the Pharisees to answer if it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath, to save life or to destroy it. They refuse to speak — and our Lord looks on them in anger at the hardness of their hearts. He then heals. In Matthew’s account (12:9-14), it is not Jesus but the Pharisees who ask the question if it is lawful to cure on the Sabbath. Our Lord answers by pointing to common practice with respect to animals that are in need of rescue on the Sabbath — so of course it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath Day. He then proceeds to heal. Mark’s account is the more graphic. With Mark there is no dialogue between Christ and his critics, and its notable feature is that Christ’s anger is vividly described. In our Gospel today from St Luke, there is a closer agreement with the account of Mark than with Matthew. In Luke there are, though, differences. Firstly, Jesus knows what the Pharisees are thinking. Secondly, while as in Mark Jesus is described as looking around on the Pharisees after challenging them with his question, there is omitted all reference to his holy anger, grieved at their hardness of heart.

In our passage today from the Gospel of St Luke (Luke 6:6-11), we are told that Jesus entered the Synagogue and was teaching. That is the scene, and Jesus and the Pharisees — as do all in the Synagogue, perhaps — know that the man with the withered hand is present in the congregation. Consider how great a debility this would have been for one in ancient times! The withered hand may have been due to a stroke, or a terrible injury, or some other circumstance. The other two Gospels do not mention a detail which St Luke includes, that it was his right hand that was withered. So it looks as if he was a right-handed man, adding to his helplessness. How limited he would have been in his performance of work, how limited in his ability to answer to his own needs. It was a very significant affliction, and there he was in the congregation. In the face of this human need, all that the Pharisees were thinking of was that the presence of this unfortunate man would give them the chance they are looking for. If the Galilean heals the withered hand, they have won! His compassion will have delivered him into their hands. By contrast Christ, either having finished his Synagogue discourse or interrupting it, courageously takes the initiative and asks the man with the withered hand to stand and step forward, which he does. We know the sequel: Christ challenges his enemies to answer his question, and at their failure to do so, heals the man’s hand. It is a revelation of his power and courage at the service of his compassion. His critics are no match for him, and Christ is shown as never swayed by human respect or opinion. Everyone knows this, too. Elsewhere, in each of the three Synoptic Gospels an account is given of the question posed to Christ about payment of taxes to Caesar. In their introduction to this question, they acknowledge Christ’s absolute integrity. He taught the way of God in all truth (e.g., Luke 20:21), without fear of his hearers’ rank. In our Gospel today, these features of Christ’s personality show. He is compassionate to the needy, fearless before his enemies, and he spoke the truth, whoever the recipient may be. Oh! How admirable a Man, this Man of compassion!

Let us place ourselves in our Gospel scene today and contemplate the Person before us. Never has there been One like him before, and never will there be One like him after. In being his friend, we have every heavenly blessing. Let us not take him for granted. Let us not set ourselves against him as did the Pharisees, understanding well that the slightest deliberate venial sin does precisely this, to a point. We must fight sin, and take our stand with Jesus Christ. He is compassionate, fearless, strong. As St Paul writes, Christ loved me, and gave himself up for me. Christ invites me to love him and to serve him all my days.

(E.J.Tyler)

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A Second Reflection: (1 Corinthians 5:1-8)

Sin In our first reading (1 Corinthians 5:1-8), St Paul condemns a great sin of which one of the Corinthians is guilty, and for which he excommunicates him. He then uses an image to show how the Christian can be overcome by sin. He says that "even a small amount of yeast is enough to leaven all the dough." So, he says, "get rid of all the old yeast." The old yeast is sin. Like yeast, it can affect everything in us. In his letter to the Romans, St Paul writes that the wages of sin are death. In our passage today, St Paul says that we are to get rid of all this old yeast — all of it. This means combating and overcoming all deliberate sin, and making of ourselves "a completely new batch of bread, unleavened as you are meant to be." The "new batch of bread" is not a new and different nature but "the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth," our own nature purified of sin and elevated by grace. That is to say, we are to strive to become immersed in Christ.

The power to do this comes from Christ who is present and active in the Sacraments. We must constantly recognise him in them with a lively faith, a faith nourished by prayer and attentiveness to his word.

(E.J.Tyler)

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