WEDNESDAY REFLECTION
Mid-week Reflection
27th January 2021
Just before Christmas, I finished a course of catechetics with some of the sixth year pupils. We were studying. “Questions Jesus Asks” and the conclusion was that he did so not to elicit information. After all, He is God and, therefore, knows the answer. No! Jesus asks a question rather to teach us something about ourselves. We have to face up to the question…..and its consequences. Perhaps we have to face up to the answer….and its consequences!
In St Mark’s Gospel Jesus asks, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” The Pharisees and Herodians are watching him, sure that he has blown it this time. After all, it was hardly essential that the man had to be cured, there and then, on the Sabbath. His condition was not life-threatening. A cure could have waited until the next day. But Jesus makes no secret about what he is doing. In fact, he brings the man with the withered hand out into the middle….right into centre stage. The healing is not done in secret. Jesus, in front of all, tells the man to hold out his hand in clear view of everyone. And then He asks His question. Of course, they are flummoxed. His question is rhetorical. The Pharisees understand Jesus’ question, and are very sure that they are not going to answer it for fear of the consequences. That is, fear of the crowd or fear that their lofty position be taken from them or fear that their answer will call for a change in their lives. Instead, they seek to bring about a change in the life of Jesus. They seek, “to put him to death.” Jesus knew this, of course. Even at this early stage in his ministry, Jesus knew that the Cross was his vocation. Is it ours, too?
