Monday in the 23rd Week of Ordinary Time, September 6, 2021

Luke 6:6-11

On a certain sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to see if he would cure on the sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him. But he realized their intentions and said to the man with the withered hand, “Come up and stand before us.” And he rose and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” Looking around at them all, he then said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so and his hand was restored. But they became enraged and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.

Before looking at the Gospel reading for today’s Mass, let’s consider a mysterious verse from the First Reading: “In my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his Body, which is the Church” (Colossians 1, 24).  It sounds as though St. Paul were saying that Christ’s sufferings were not sufficient for us, or that they “lacked” something.  But how could St. Paul, of all people (he was the one trained theologian whose works are included in the New Testament) say something so apparently insulting about the Lord?  His sufferings completely, even overabundantly, save us from our sins.  The key to understanding Paul’s meaning is to keep in mind that he is speaking of the Mystical Body of Christ, not his physical Body.  Baptized in Christ, we become members of his Body — but not members of his physical Body.  We are not extra arms and legs fused onto our Lord’s physical Body.  But we are members of his Mystical Body, the Church.  The Church is no mere worldly organization, but a living Body of which the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, is the Head: “He is the Head of the Body, the Church” (Colossians 1, 18).  Paul means that the Church on earth suffers persecution, and the Church will continue to suffer in this way until the Lord returns.  Paul “fills up” through his own sufferings on behalf of Christ the sufferings the Church is still to endure.  All the saints throughout the ages who have suffered for Christ  have also “filled up” what is “lacking” in the sufferings of the Mystical Body of Christ.  You and I do this too when we suffer in living the Christian life and in being persecuted for the sake of the Lord.

The violent hatred of the Lord while he lived among us is another mystery.  In the Gospel reading, St. Luke tells us that, “the scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely . . . so that they might discover a reason to accuse him.”  Now, the Pharisees differed from the Lord in their teaching, but they also differed from the teaching of the Sadducees, the Essenes, and John the Baptist, but they did not attempt to kill them, and they could even work with these towards a common goal.  But the Pharisees hated Jesus with a violent and unyielding hatred even though he went about doing good for people and taught many of the same things as those that set the Pharisees apart from the other groups, such as the doctrine of the Resurrection from the dead.

“I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?”  The Lord asked this of the scribes and Pharisees in order to give them the chance to think over what they were doing.  The Lord gave Judas many opportunities to change his mind even just after Judas had kissed him in the Garden of Gethsemane.  He warned him, he bought time for him, he let him know that he knew what he was planning, and Judas still betrayed him.  The scribes and the Pharisees are given many chances throughout the three years of the Lord’s Public Life to believe in him or, at least, to withdraw from him in peace.  This is yet another opportunity.

“They became enraged and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.”  A stunning miracle is performed before their very eyes and rather than falling on their knees in wonder and thanking God for his graciousness, “they became enraged.”  There are people alive today who are enraged at Religion and at the Lord Jesus and who do not convert, but go to their deaths despising him, even after receiving numerous chances to change their lives.  It is of the mercy of God that he does not interfere with human free will so that he can be hated, and that in spite of the hatred he gives everyone all the time needed to convert.

How does the Christian act in place of the scribes and the Pharisees?  We “watch him closely” in our love of Jesus and in our knowledge that he does all things for our welfare, and rather than being enraged at the good he does, we give heartfelt thanks and praise.  We come before the Crucifix and the Blessed Sacrament to see all that he has done for us.