Healing of a man with a paralyzed hand
M Mons. Vincenzo Paglia
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Gospel (Mk 3,1-6) - At that time, Jesus entered the synagogue again. There was a man there who had a paralyzed hand, and they were going to see if he would heal it on the Sabbath, to accuse him. He said to the man who had a paralyzed hand: "Get up, come among us!". Then he asked them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save a life or to kill it?" But they were silent. And looking around at them with indignation, saddened by the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man: "Stretch out your hand!". He held it out and his hand was healed. And the Pharisees immediately went out with the Herodians and held counsel against him to put him to death.

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

It is Saturday and Jesus, as is his custom, goes to the synagogue for prayer. Here he meets a man with a serious disability in his arm. The apocryphal Gospel according to the Jews places the following prayer on the lips of this man: «I was a bricklayer, I earned my living with the work of my hands; O Jesus, I beg you to heal me so that I do not have to beg for my bread in shame." Jesus, as soon as he sees this man wounded in his ability to provide for his life, is moved. This always happens to him whenever he encounters the sick and the weak. The Pharisees, on the other hand, who were not at all interested in that man's impairment, however intuited that something will happen. Jesus never remains inert in the face of people's pain. He knows well that he must carry out the Father's will and turns to that man and orders him: "Stretch out your hand!". That man obeys the word of Jesus and extends his hand. He is healed. Obedience to the Gospel always leads to healing, it helps us reconquer what we have lost through sin or our fragility. That man recovers and can return to ordinary life. Healing does not happen by remaining prisoners of oneself - the meaning of the paralyzed hand is also that of using the hand only for oneself - but by putting oneself at the service of others, of the common good of all. The hand is healed, precisely, "to lend a hand" - as they say - to those in need. This is why Jesus does not violate the Sabbath, as the Pharisees accuse him. With this healing, the true "Sabbath" (that is, the day of God) breaks into the lives of men: creation reaches its fulfillment in that man. Every time God's mercy and salvation touch the lives of men, God's "Sabbath" takes place, a celebration of love and the fullness of life.