Other Sunday and Holy Day Readings
THE NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Cycle B)
Readings:
Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Psalm 81:3-8a, 10-11ab
2 Corinthians 4:6-11
Mark 2:23-3:6
All Scripture passages are from the New American Bible unless designated NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name YHWH (Yahweh).
God reveals His divine plan for humanity in the two Testaments. That is the reason we read and relive the events of salvation history contained in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that the Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).
The Theme of this Sunday's Readings: A Rendezvous in Sacred Time
In the First Reading, Moses reminds the Israelites to keep
holy the Sabbath day. The sacred meeting place between man and God (the desert
Tabernacle and later the Jerusalem Temple) and the Sabbath obligation were the
two God-ordained "signs" of the Sinai Covenant. It was a covenant that
continued in sacred time in a sacred place (see the Chart on "Yahweh's Eight
Covenants". God's one holy altar of sacrifice in the desert Sanctuary and later in the
Jerusalem Temple and the holy Sabbath day separated the Israelites from the
pagan communities who worshipped at many shrines and did not enter into God's
"rest" on a special day set aside from all the other days of the week (Ex 20:8;
31:12-17; 35:1-3). The Sabbath was meant to raise God's people above the
routine of earthly human labor and to elevate them to the unique spiritual
privilege of fellowship and communion with the One True God. God declared the
Sabbath (seventh day) holy on the seventh day of Creation when God "rested"
from the work of creation (Gen 2:1-3), but it did not become a covenant
obligation until the ratification of the Sinai Covenant (Ex 20:8-11; 31:12-17;
34:21; 35:1-3; Dt 5:12-15).
In the Responsorial Psalm, we sing as the ancients Israelites did on their way to the Jerusalem Temple to offer praise and worship to Yahweh, the One True God. In the psalm, Yahweh challenges the Israelites to remember His great act of redeeming them from Egyptian slavery by obeying the first commandment of fidelity to Him in the Ten Commandments: they must not worship foreign gods but give their allegiance only to Yahweh, the One True God of Israel. Christ has given us an even greater redemption by freeing all who come to Him from slavery to sin and death in His promise of eternal life for all those who are faithful and keep His commandments.
In the Second Reading, St. Paul writes that his body is a fragile "earthen vessel" that experiences suffering, yet the paradox is that Christ reveals glory through suffering in His life as Paul risks death to bring knowledge of eternal life to the Corinthians. He offers his understanding of why God permits his continual sufferings and hardships and how he responds to his hardships. He unites his sufferings to the sufferings of Jesus, writing: For we who live are constantly being given up to death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh (2 Cor 4:11).
In the Gospel Reading, St. Mark begins to show the Pharisees' opposition to Jesus' mission. In a series of four confrontations, the Pharisees and others accuse Jesus of blaspheming by forgiving sins, of the ritually unclean practice of mingling with sinners, of breaking the Sabbath obligation to "rest" and to do no work on the Sabbath, and of failing to show piety by fasting. The fifth confrontation with the Pharisees occurs in today's reading when Jesus heals a man with a withered hand and uses the miracle to try once again to teach the religious leaders and the people about the true meaning of displaying piety on the Sabbath. St. Mark begins to show the reader that following Jesus isn't a matter of following Him with one's feet but in following Him with one's heart despite opposition from the world. The healing of the man with a withered hand is the fifth confrontation with the religious leaders and the climax in the series of teaching examples that Jesus' has given to show that He is Lord of the Sabbath. The episode will end with Jesus' opposition declaring their intention to kill Him.
Keeping the New Covenant Sabbath obligation of the Lord's Day by attending Mass on Sunday is still a sign of our commitment, individually and communally, to God's covenant with His Kingdom of the Church. It is the first of the Five Precepts of the Catholic Church. A precept is a command of God or a legitimate human authority directed to a definite person or a specific duty. Precepts in the affirmative command a person to act or to do something. Negative precepts forbid some action. The five precepts of the Church are set in the context of a moral life bonded to and nourished by liturgical life. They are the obligation of positive laws meant to guarantee the necessary minimum in the spirit of prayer, moral purity, and growth in love of God and neighbor (CCC 2042). "The first precept ("You shall attend Mass on Sundays and on holy days of obligation and rest from servile labor") requires the faithful to sanctify the day commemorating the Resurrection of the Lord as well as the principal liturgical feasts honoring the mysteries of the Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the saints; in the first place, by participating in the Eucharistic celebration, in which the Christian community is gathered and by resting from those works and activities which could impede such a sanctification of these days" (CCC 2042). The holy days of obligation are the annual remembrance feasts of the New Covenant faithful in which the Church relives the history of Christ's acts of redemption and His founding of His Kingdom of the Church.
The First Reading Deuteronomy 5:12-15 ~ The Sabbath Command
[Thus says the LORD] 12 "Take
care to keep holy the Sabbath day as the LORD, your God, commanded you. 13 Six days you may labor and do all your work; 14 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the
LORD, your God. No work may be done then, whether by you, or your son or
daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or ass or any of your beasts,
or the alien who lives with you. Your male and female slave should rest as you
do. 15 For remember that you too
were once a slave in Egypt, and the LORD, your God, brought you from there with
his strong hand and outstretched arm. That is why the LORD, your God, has
commanded you to observe the Sabbath day."
In the First Reading, Moses renews the covenant Yahweh made with Israel at Mt. Sinai by reviewing the Ten Commandments (first delivered in Ex 20:1-17) and the other articles of the Law. In Exodus 20:8, the commandment concerning the Sabbath obligation begins with the verb zakar/zakor, "remember." However, in this passage, the commandment begins with the Hebrew verb samar/shamar, followed by a reminder of the Sabbath obligation given in the Decalogue at Mt. Sinai after the Exodus liberation: as Yahweh your God has commanded you. Later, in verse 15, Moses tells the people to "remember" their slavery in Egypt. Samar is the same word God used in His command to Adam to guard/keep the garden Sanctuary in Genesis 2:15. It is the same word used for the cherubim to guard the entrance to Eden and the Tree of Life with their flashing swords in Genesis 4:24; and it is the same word used in Leviticus and Numbers in the command for the Levites to guard the Sanctuary (i.e., Lev 8:35; Num 1:53; 3:32; etc.). The Sabbath command in this passage is to fulfill the obligation of guarding the sanctity of the seventh day. See the use of samar in this same way, in keeping and fulfilling a religious obligation, in Ex 12:17; 23:15 and Dt 29:8.
The word Sabbath is from a Hebrew noun related to the verb shabat, meaning "cease/rest" and recalls the event when God blessed and sanctified the seventh day of Creation as His day of "rest" (Gen 2:1-3). There are forms of the verb shabat found on other Semitic languages, but there is no evidence of a standard division in the reckoning of time in the ancient Near East based on the seventh day apart from the Israelite tradition. Therefore, the seventh day Sabbath was also a unique point of distinction between the worship Israel offered Yahweh and the religion of Israel's neighboring states (Craigie, The Book of Deuteronomy, page 157).
Notice that the commandment demanding observance of the Sabbath differs from the previous commandments. It does not begin as a negative prohibition; the command begins as a positive (verses 12-13) and then includes in negative implications (verse 14), and contains a double obligation:
God sanctified the seventh day in Genesis 2:3, but it did not become an obligation until the Sinai Covenant. In the Sinai Covenant, Yahweh defines the importance of the Sabbath rest as a continuing "sign" of His covenant with Israel throughout the generations. God told Moses:"Speak to the Israelites and say, You will keep my Sabbaths properly, for this is a sing between myself and you for all our generation to come, so that you will know that it is I, Yahweh, who sanctify you. (Ex 31:12-13 NJB). So sacred was this covenant command that the penalty for working on the Sabbath was excommunication and the penalty for profaning the Sabbath obligation was death (see Ex 31:14; 34:2; Num 15:32-36; for additional commands to keep the Sabbath see Ex 20:8-11; 23:12; 31:12-17; 35:1-3; Lev 19:3; 23:3-4; Num 28:9-10).
For the children of Israel living in covenant with Yahweh, and for those of us who are united to Christ in the New Covenant family of God, keeping the sacred obligation to join with the Most Holy Trinity in the liturgy of worship and praise on the New Covenant Sabbath (Sunday) is a solemn obligation. God calls us to keep a divinely appointed family rendezvous in which we listen to the word of God in the Liturgy of the Word and partake of a sacred family meal in the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Through our faithful obedience in keeping the Sabbath, we also provide an example for our children and other family members concerning the importance of living in the obedience of faith. Keeping the New Covenant Sabbath obligation is the first of the Five Precepts of the Catholic Church that are the minimum obligations for Catholics. To neglect to keep our divinely appointed time with God, unless one is ill or caring for a sick child, is to commit a mortal sin and requires the Sacrament of Reconciliation before receiving the Eucharist again (CCC 2041-42, 2181).
Responsorial Psalm 81:3-8a, 10-11ab ~ Remembering How the
Lord Redeemed Israel
Response: "Sing with joy to God our help."
3 Take up a melody,
and sound the timbrel, the pleasant harp and the lyre. 4 Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full
moon, on our solemn feast.
Response:
5 For it is a
statute in Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob, 6a who made it a decree for Joseph when he came froth
from the land of Egypt.
Response:
6b An unfamiliar
speech I hear: 7 "I relieved his
shoulder of the burden; his hands were freed from the basket. 8a In distress you called, and I rescued you."
Response:
10 There shall be no
strange god among you nor shall you worship any alien god. 11ab I, the LORD, am your God who led you forth
from the land of Egypt."
Response:
The Israelite pilgrims probably sang this psalm on their way to the pilgrim feast of "Ingathering" or "Shelters/Tabernacles," the last of the seven annual remembrance feasts and the third annual pilgrim feast that required the attendance of every man of the covenant (Ex 23:14-17; Lev 23:33-43; Num 29:12-39; Ex 34:23; Dt 16:16; 1 Chron 8:13). God ordained these sacred weekly, monthly, and annual meeting times when He gave the Israelites the laws of the Sinai Covenant after their Exodus liberation telling them, The following are the festivals of the LORD, my feast days which you shall celebrate with a sacred assembly (Lev 23:2). The seven-day long feast began with a liturgical assembly on the 15th of Tishri, during the full moon cycle according to the lunar calendar and ended with another assembly on the eighth day (Lev 23:24; Num 29:1, 6). Trumpets announced the beginning of the liturgical celebration in the Jerusalem Temple (verse 4).
In verse 6, in the liturgical celebration, the psalmist hears "unfamiliar speech" as a priest speaks the words of God to the people. What he hears is unlike mere human words (Num 24:4, 16). He hears the priest reading from the events of the Exodus liberation when Yahweh relieved the children of Israel of their burdens and freed them from Egyptian slavery (verses 6b and 11). The basket they carried on their shoulders in verse 7 refers to the baskets of clay for making Pharaoh's bricks (Ex 1:14). Yahweh heard the Israelites calling out to Him in their distress, and He rescued them (verse 8a).
In gratitude for their liberation, Yahweh challenges the Israelites to remember His great act of redeeming them from Egyptian slavery by obeying the first commandment of fidelity to Him in the Ten Commandments: they must not worship foreign gods but give their allegiance only to Yahweh, the One True God of Israel (verse 10). Christ has given us an even greater redemption by freeing all who come to Him from slavery to sin and death in His promise of eternal life for all those who are faithful and keep His commandments.
The Second Reading 2 Corinthians 4:6-11 ~ The Paradox of Christian Ministry
6 For God who
said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to bring to
light the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of [Jesus] Christ. 7 But we hold this treasure in earthen vessels,
that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not
constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted but not abandoned; struck down, but
not destroyed; 10 always carrying
about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be
manifested in our body. 11 For we
who live are constantly being given up to death for the sake of Jesus, so that
the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
Chapters 4:6-5:10 in Paul letter to the Christians at Corinth is the second part of Paul's extended discussion on apostleship that began in 2:14 and continues to 7:4. When Paul writes about "earthen vessels" in verse 7, the image recalls the prophet Jeremiah's object lesson of the clay jar in the potter's hands in Jeremiah 18:1-6. Whenever the clay vessel turned out badly, the potter tried again, making another vessel. Then the word of God came to Jeremiah saying, "Can I not do to you, house of Israel, as this potter has done?" The lesson is that God is the author of life who created Adam from the clay of the earth, and He has the power to destroy or restore according to whether His people disobey Him or obediently fulfill His divine plans.
Our fragile human bodies are the earthen vessels or instruments God uses to continue His divine plan for humanity. But, what is the treasure these vessels hold? The context of Paul's earlier passage in 4:1-6 suggests three possibilities:
St. Paul is like the man in Jesus' Parable of the Treasure in Matthew 13:44. Like the man in the parable, Paul found a "treasure" in His belief in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and in possessing Jesus' Gospel of salvation. He gave up everything in his life to possess this treasure and to devote himself to serving the Christ by preaching Jesus' Gospel of salvation to the Gentiles.
Paul's body is a fragile "earthen vessel" that experiences suffering in his ministry (verses 10-11), yet the paradox is that God reveals glory through suffering in Christ's life and Paul's as, following in the footsteps of Christ, he risks death to bring knowledge of eternal life to the Corinthians.
Paul lists four pairs of participles to illustrate his point in verses 8-9. Paul's list of sufferings in 4:8-9 is the first of four lists in his letter (also see 6:4-10; 11:23-33; 12:10). Some of these hardships he passively endures and others he willingly takes on. In each pairing of verses 8-9, the first participle refers to Paul's suffering and the second to God's deliverance:
In the Greek text, verse 10 is the continuation of the sentence that began in verse 7. In this verse, Paul offers his understanding of why God permits his continual sufferings and hardships and how he responds to his physical and emotional sufferings. He unites his sufferings to the sufferings of Jesus, writing: For we who live are constantly being given up to death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh (2 Cor 4:11). He summed up the benefits of his sufferings for the sake of Christ in Romans 8:16-17 where he wrote: The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
Paul writes about the effect of his apostolic existence in verse 12, concluding that through his sufferings for the sake of the Gospel the Corinthians benefit. There are two possible ways in which the Corinthian Christians benefit:
The Gospel of Mark 2:23-3:6 ~ Jesus' Authority over the Sabbath
23 As he was
passing through a field of grain on the Sabbath, his disciples began to make a
path while picking the heads of grain. 24
At this the Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what
is unlawful on the Sabbath?" 25 He
said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he
and his companions were hungry? 26 How
he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the bread
of offering that only the priests could lawfully eat, and shared it with his
companions?" 27 Then he
said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 29 That is why the Son of Man is lord
even of the Sabbath." 3:1 Again
he entered the synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered hand. 2 They watched him closely to see if he
would cure him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him. 3 He said to the man with the withered
hand, "Come up here before us." 4 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. 5 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. 6 The Pharisees went out and immediately
took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death.
23 As he was
passing through a field of grain on the Sabbath, his disciples began to make a
path while picking the heads of grain. 24
At this the Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what
is unlawful on the Sabbath?"
This passage is the fourth conflict story in St. Mark's
Gospel. Jesus was traveling with His disciples, and as the passed through a farmer's
field, they satisfied their hunger by picking and eating some grain. It was
not unlawful for the hungry to pick and eat some grain from a farmer's field
while traveling (Dt 23:26). The problem, as the Pharisees saw it, was that
Jesus and His disciples violated the prohibition against working on the Sabbath
(Ex 20:8-11; 31:12-17; 34:21; 35:1-3;
Dt 5:12-15).
Addressing the Pharisees' misinterpretation of the Sabbath restriction concerning work on the Sabbath, Jesus gives an example of an exception to the command from the history of the covenant people from 1 Samuel 21:2-7, and in Matthew 12:5, Jesus gives another exception to the Sabbath law concerning work:
Jesus' point, which He will elaborate upon in verses 11-12, is that the incident with David set the precedent that when mercy is a necessity, it outweighs the letter of the Law. In the second example, Jesus points out that the priests at the Temple technically violate the letter of the Law working on the Sabbath by serving God in the Temple, but the necessity of their ministry outweighs the violation. Jesus' disciples were hungry, and He allowed them to pick the grain and eat on the Sabbath so that they might continue their ministry in serving God by proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom. Jesus is not abrogating the Sabbath laws of the covenant. Instead, He is asserting the authority that belongs to God in the interpretation of the Sabbath laws since He is the author of the Sabbath, another reference to His divinity.
One addition to Mark's story that is not present in the same story in Matthew 12:1-8 or Luke 6:1-5 is that when speaking of David eating the Bread of the Presence at the Sanctuary, Jesus says this took place when Abiathar was high priest. Some Bible scholars point to this addition as an error in Mark's Gospel since in the same incident recorded in 1 Samuel 21:2-7 the priest who was the high priest of God's Sanctuary at Nob was not Abiathar but his father Ahimelech (1 Sam 21:2). Abiathar did not become a high priest until David was King of Israel. But perhaps Jesus is making a very subtle point to the religious leaders who are beginning to oppose Him. Abiathar faithfully served King David, but when David's son and designated heir, Solomon, was about to succeed his father, Abiathar took a stand in opposition to Solomon son of David. When Solomon son of David became king, he dismissed Abiathar from his priestly duties and gave the high priesthood to a man who supported him.
Jesus' subtle message to the scribes and Pharisees who were the religious leaders of Jesus day was also a warning. The religious leaders served God the Father, but if they refused to serve God the Son they too will lose their positions of authority as leaders of the religious community like Abiathar, and others would receive that position of authority. Loss of authority is exactly what happened when the hierarchy of the Church passed from the Old Covenant leadership to the New Covenant leadership of God the Son's Vicar (Peter) and Jesus' Apostles and disciples.
When the Romans destroyed the Jerusalem Temple in AD 70, it was the end of the Old Covenant priesthood. No ordained priesthood maintains the Old Covenant sacrifices and rituals. There is no Old Covenant Temple altar of sacrifice, and there is no sacred incense or wine libation or sacred Bread of the Presence except in the liturgical worship of the new Israel that is the Catholic Church where all these elements are present (the "Bread of the Presence" is another name for the Eucharist).
27 Then he
said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 29 That is why the Son of Man is lord
even of the Sabbath."
Jesus concludes this part of the confrontation with the
Pharisees with the statement "... the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath."
Jesus' rebuke of the Pharisees is stronger in Mark than in the other
Gospels. "Son of Man" is Jesus' favorite title for Himself. He uses
this title for Himself 30 times in the Gospel of Matthew and 14 times in the
Gospel of Mark. It is a title that not only refers to His perfect humanity but
also to His identity as the divine Messiah. Later, in His trial before the
Jewish Sanhedrin, Jesus will identify Himself as the "Son of Man" from Daniel's
vision of the divine Messiah in Daniel 7:13-14
(Mk 14:62;
Mt 24:30; 26:64).
Jesus is making a specific claim in these statements concerning the Sabbath. God created the seventh day Sabbath as a day set aside for fellowship between man and God. Any interpretation of the law that rejects mercy over ritual observance is a hindrance to that desired fellowship. Jesus again reveals His identity as the divine Messiah who has the authority to interpret the Law, even the Law associated with keeping the Sabbath.
Jesus is also saying that His mission is the fulfillment of the Old Covenant Sabbath. What this means will be revealed in the fifth and final conflict story in Mark Chapter 3. In Chapters 1 and 2, we can see that interest in Jesus and the belief that He is the Messiah is rapidly growing as the mystery of the Kingdom begins to unfold. We also see opposition to Jesus by the scribes and Pharisees. There are four criticisms the scribes and Pharisees raise against Jesus and His disciples in 2:7, 16, 18 and 24:
In Mark's narrative, we discover how the Jews and others will slowly come to discover the mystery of Jesus' true identity. But, St. Mark makes Jesus' identity clear to the reader from the very beginning (Mk 1:1). Mark reveals that, by His divine will, God determines everything that will happen in the unfolding events in the life, death, and resurrection of God the Son (Mark 1:11).
Mark 3:1-6 ~ The Man with a Withered Hand
1 Again
he entered the synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered hand. 2 They watched him closely to see if he
would cure him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him. 3 He said to the man with the withered
hand, "Come up here before us." 4 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. 5 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. 6 The Pharisees went out and immediately
took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death.
Jesus knows the Pharisees are watching Him closely and hope to lay a trap for Him so they can discredit Him by bringing a legal charge against Him for violating the Law on the Sabbath. He takes up the challenge by calling a man with a withered hand to come up in front of the congregation and asks the question whether or not it is lawful to do righteous deeds on the Sabbath rather than evil deeds. The "they" and "them" in verses 2 and 4 are the Pharisees who criticized Jesus for doing that which is "unlawful" on the Sabbath in 2:24. The man's hand has probably atrophied from an injury or perhaps from birth. Either way, such a healing would be dramatic and beyond the gifts of an ordinary healer.
Question: Why are the Pharisees silent?
Answer: The Pharisees intend to trap Jesus, but if
they answer that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath then they cannot
criticize Jesus for doing good on the Sabbath by healing the man. If they say
"no" then they will show their heartlessness, lack of mercy, and union with the
"evil one" rather than with God. They intended to trap Jesus, but He has
turned the trap on them.
In the strict interpretation of the Pharisees, unless there was a life-threatening condition, medical treatment was considered as "work" on the Sabbath and was forbidden (see Lk 13:14 and the compendium of oral law that expresses this doctrine in the Mishnah: Shabbat 14:3-4 section of Talmud). Jesus has already taught them that mercy outweighs rigid adherence to the Law in the two examples He gave in the fourth confrontation in 2:23-28. In addition, at the time of the Maccabean revolt (2nd century BC), it was decided by the religious authorities that it was permissible to defend one's life on the Sabbath, which technically is doing "work" (1 Mac 2:41). For the Pharisees, it is all about power in manipulating God's Law to conform to their interpretation, for which Jesus will harshly condemn them on Wednesday of His last week in Jerusalem (Mt 23).
5a Looking around at them with anger and
grieved at their hardness of heart
Question: Why is Jesus both angered and grieved at
the Pharisees who failed to answer His question?
Answer: The Pharisees are demonstrating their
hypocrisy. They know it is God's will for the covenant people to do good always,
but they would rather find fault with Jesus than acknowledge His act of mercy.
To have "hardness of heart" or to be "stiff-necked" is a condition condemned by God in Scripture. It is a demonstration of the stubborn refusal to be open to God and His divine plan (Ex 7:22; 8:15; 32:9; Dt 31:27; Prov 28:15; Ez 3:7; Mk 6:52; 8:17; Eph 4:18). But Jesus' "anger" or "wrath" is more than a human response. It is a word used to describe God's holy indignation at human evil. For example:
However, the threat of God's righteous anger does not preclude the hope of conversion and salvation: Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth, who have observed his law; seek justice, seek humility; perhaps you may be sheltered on the day of the LORD's anger (Zeph 2:3). Jesus has come to seek out the humble of the earth who are obedient to God's commands to save them from the wrath of the LORD on the final day of divine judgment.
5b he said to
the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out and his hand was restored
[egerio]. 6 The Pharisees
went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him
to death.
[...] = Greek word, Interlineal Bible Greek-English, vol. IV, page 99.
Jesus then healed the man in full view of the people and the
Pharisees. It is interesting that St. Mark often uses the verb egerio in
his healing stories, as he did in the healing of Peter's mother-in-law (Mk 1:29-31),
the healing of the paralytic (Mk 2:1-12), and in this story. It is possible to
translate this verb as "come up" or "rise up," which suggests that Jesus'
miracle goes beyond physical healing and that His healing is also a spiritual
restoration to the fullness of life (see Mk 1:31; 2:9-2; 10:49).
Ironically, the Pharisees answer Jesus question in verse 4 and show the condition of their hearts when they do evil on the Sabbath by immediately conspiring to kill Him. The Pharisees and Herodians are unlikely allies. The priest/historian Flavius Josephus (37-100 AD) identified himself as a Pharisee and wrote that the Pharisees were the religious and political group most influential with the people. They were known for their scrupulous observance of Jewish religious practices and their authoritative interpretations of Jewish law (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 13.5.9, 10.6; Life 38). The Pharisees were opposed to Roman rule, and as a group had refused to take the oaths of allegiance to Rome and their client ruler, King Herod and his successors (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 17.2.4). The Herodians, on the other hand, were Greek culture Jews who cooperated with and even admired the Romans. They were not known as faithful observers of the Law.
The Pharisees conspire with the Herodians, the Greek culture Jews or Gentiles who are supporters or perhaps officials in the tetrarchy of Herod Antipas (Mk 12:13). The Pharisees are going through official channels since Jesus, as a resident of the Galilee, is under the authority of Herod Antipas, the ruler of the Galilee and Perea. It is probably their hope that this political move will tie Jesus' fate to John the Baptist who Herod Antipas arrested and later executed (Mk 1:14; 6:17-29).
There is a common theme concerning many of Jesus' healings in the Gospels. In Matthew 12:1, 8-14; Mark 1:21, 29-31; 3:1-5; Luke 13:10-17; 14:1-4; John 5:1-9; and 9:1-14, His healings took place on the Sabbath. Why did Jesus deliberately continue to heal on the Sabbath when He knew that His actions would provoke the religious authorities? As Jesus explained in Mark 2:28, He is the "Lord of the Sabbath." In healing physically and spiritually on the Sabbath, He was bringing humanity back into communion with God, thereby defining and fulfilling the original purpose of the holy Sabbath. In the New Covenant sacred assembly on Sunday, the Lord's Day, God continues to heal His faithful. He speaks to His covenant faithful in the Liturgy of the Word and brings His covenant family to His banquet table in the Liturgy of the Eucharist to nourish His children on their journey to eternal salvation. It is an appointment in sacred time that all the faithful who love God and are grateful for His blessings and His gift of eternal salvation must keep!
Catechism References (* indicated Scripture quoted or
paraphrased in the citation)
Deuteronomy 5:12-15 (CCC 2167*);
5:12 (CCC 2189);
5:15 (CCC 2057, 2170)
2 Corinthians 4:6 (CCC 298*, 2583*);
4:7 (CCC 1420)
Mark 2:23-27 (CCC 581*);
2:23-26 (CCC 544*);
2:25-26 (CCC 582*);
2:27-28 (CCC 2167);
2:27 (CCC 2173);
2:28 (CCC 2173);
3:1-6 (CCC 574*);
3:4 (CCC 2173);
3:5-6 (CCC 1859*);
3:5 (CCC 591);
3:6 (CCC 574*, 591*)
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2018 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.