…And Hurt Hands – Read Lk 6:6-11
Contemplation
We are in the synagogue in the village – the people all lined up for the service in their places. Children are running around and people are praying in the big, cool building in the centre of the village. They have just heard Jesus teaching there. Suddenly, I hear a shuffling as a man shyly comes up showing his hand. It seems sore and small and doesn’t work very well. Jesus calls him up front to where he has been teaching. As in the fields, some people have a very strict view of God’s law and think that Saturday, a day for worship and rest and quiet prayer, is not a day to be busy. Jesus says, “This is God’s special day. Does that mean we should do good things….or bad things? Should we hurt people … or make them better?” He tells the man to stretch his hand out. He can! What a miracle! The hand is better – clean and bigger and no longer hurts him. The people who were angry at Jesus are now furious. They begin to work out what they can do to him.
Wander round the synagogue and talk to Jesus, the man and the other people there. Why do the angry people feel like that? What do others think and feel?
Do I always do the good I want to do? Or do I sometimes feel held back? Why?