Mk. 3:1-6
In today’s Gospel, Jesus, standing in front of the synagogue’s Sabbath congregation, cures a man with a withered hand. Among the witnesses were Pharisees, religious leaders. They did not marvel at the clearly wonderful, miraculous cure; Mark relates that they “went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against [Jesus] to put him to death” (Mark 3:6).
How deathly it is when leaders invoke inauthentic laws and rules in order to dominate people!
Things are no different in our day. Think of Prohibition and today’s War on Drugs, slavery or current legislation and enforcement concerning undocumented workers. Consider the hollow, false teaching of the Catholic Church that only males may be called to priesthood and that gays and lesbian partners should be denied legal protection, and that sex between same sex people is ”immoral”. Each day I see people who are broken because of the teaching of the religious leaders of our day, when Christ, our high priest, offers through his compassionate healing a life that, in contrast, is obviously divine, eternal, and superior.
