Gospel: Mark 3:1-6

 

In today’s Gospel we meditate on the last of the five conflicts which Mark presents at the beginning of his Gospel. It is a conflict of life or death. It is important to note the category of enemies which has arisen in this conflict. It is a question of the Pharisees and the Herodians, that is, of the religious and civil authority. 

 

Jesus enters the Synagogue. He had the habit of participating in the celebrations of the people. A man was there who had a withered hand, a physically disabled, he was marginalized. 

 

The Pharisees said that to cure a sick person was the same as working. And for this reason, they taught, “It is prohibited to cure on the Sabbath!” They placed the law above the well-being of people. 

 

The disabled person has to “rise”, to get up, to live in the middle and to take his place in the center of the community! Jesus calls the excluded one to stand in the middle. For Jesus, in that concrete case, “to cure” was the same as “to do good” or “to save a life”, and not “to kill!”  With His question Jesus put His finger on the wound. He denounced the prohibition of curing on the Sabbath, considering this to be a system of death. 

 

He does not agree with the system which places the law above life. In response to Jesus’ action, the Pharisees and the Herodians decide to kill Him. With this decision they confirm that, in fact, they are defenders of a system of death! They are not afraid to kill in order to defend the system against Jesus, who attacks and criticizes it in the name of life.