Mk 3:1-6

A Man with a Withered Hand

            Jesus entered the synagogue. There was man there who had a withered hand. They watched him closely to see if he would cure him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him. He said to the man with the withered hand, “Come up here before us.” Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?" But they remained silent. Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put to death.

HEALING: Throughout the first half of his Gospel, Mark portrays Jesus as an exorcist, a miracle-worker, and a healer. He portrays Jesus as a man with divine power. Later in the Gospel, after the scene with Peter near Caesarea Philippi, Mark will show another characteristic of Jesus and present him as the rejected, suffering, and abandoned Son of Man.

            In the story of the man with a withered hand, Jesus’ display of power while in the presence of the Pharisees and the Herodians and on the Sabbath, is more subtle. Mark never tells us that Jesus did anything except to tell the man to hold out his hand.

            In the world today, much healing can take place if people are just willing to reach out a hand to another person. The mother with children who seem to be constant problems can be healed by another, usually an older, woman who is willing to give a hand to help, to baby-sit, or to simply hold the other’s hand and listen.

            A few hours spent with a friend can be another way that one offers a hand to another. Sometimes a helping hand takes the form of a confrontation, a severe telling of the truth in love, which enables a person to see himself or herself more clearly.

            Every day presents opportunities for people to give and to receive a hand from one another.

            Much healing can be brought into the world this way.

Response

To whom have you recently stretched out your hand? Who has recently stretched out a hand to you?