The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to place healing and mercy in first place in our relationships with others in our environment.
The reading from the Letter to the Hebrews places Jesus in the Priestly Order of Melchizedek.
* [7:1–3] Recalling the meeting between Melchizedek and Abraham described in Gn 14:17–20, the author enhances the significance of this priest by providing the popular etymological meaning of his name and that of the city over which he ruled (Heb 7:2). Since Genesis gives no information on the parentage or the death of Melchizedek, he is seen here as a type of Christ, representing a priesthood that is unique and eternal (Heb 7:3).
* [7:15–19] Jesus does not exercise a priesthood through family lineage but through his immortal existence (15–16), fulfilling Ps 110:4 (Heb 7:17; cf. Heb 7:3). Thus he abolishes forever both the levitical priesthood and the law it serves, because neither could effectively sanctify people (Heb 7:18) by leading them into direct communication with God (Heb 7:19). (Hebrews, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB, n.d.)
Psalm 110 offers Assurance of Victory for God’s Priest-King.
* [Psalm 110] A royal Psalm in which a court singer recites three oracles in which God assures the king that his enemies are conquered (Ps 110:1–2), makes the king “son” in traditional adoption language (Ps 110:3), gives priestly status to the king and promises to be with him in future military ventures (Ps 110:4–7). (Psalms, PSALM 110 | USCCB, n.d.)
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus ministers to Crowds of People and heals the Man with a Withered Hand.
* [3:1–5] Here Jesus is again depicted in conflict with his adversaries over the question of sabbath-day observance. His opponents were already ill disposed toward him because they regarded Jesus as a violator of the sabbath. Jesus’ question Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil? places the matter in the broader theological context outside the casuistry of the scribes. The answer is obvious. Jesus heals the man with the withered hand in the sight of all and reduces his opponents to silence; cf. Jn 5:17–18.
* [3:6] In reporting the plot of the Pharisees and Herodians to put Jesus to death after this series of conflicts in Galilee, Mark uses a pattern that recurs in his account of later controversies in Jerusalem (Mk 11:17–18; 12:13–17). The help of the Herodians, supporters of Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, is needed to take action against Jesus. Both series of conflicts point to their gravity and to the impending passion of Jesus. (Mark, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB, n.d.)
Cindy Costanzo comments that Jesus modeled love during his time on earth and taught us to love one another. He demonstrated his love for life as written in today’s reading. Boldly stepping forward within a situation and performing a miracle against the rules and laws of the time. Deliberately sending a message to the Pharisees that life matters and love for each other is most important. Cindy reflects on 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:8 The Gift of Love.
Lord, grant us the ability to love and humbly stand before you to ask for your guidance in all our decisions, especially those concerning life. (Costanzo, n.d.)
Don Schwager quotes “The tender compassion of the Lord,” by John Chrysostom, 547-407 A.D.
"Jesus said to the man with the withered hand, 'Come here.' Then he challenged the Pharisees as to whether it would be lawful to do good on the sabbath. Note the tender compassion of the Lord when he deliberately brought the man with the withered hand right into their presence (Luke 6:8). He hoped that the mere sight of the misfortune might soften them, that they might become a little less spiteful by seeing the affliction, and perhaps out of sorrow mend their own ways. But they remained callous and unfeeling. They preferred to do harm to the name of Christ than to see this poor man made whole. They betrayed their wickedness not only by their hostility to Christ, but also by their doing so with such contentiousness that they treated with disdain his mercies to others." (excerpt from THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 40.1) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Mark 3:1-6 comments that by being quick to accuse, we can overlook God’s command to love. And every time we do that, we “destroy” that person a little more (Mark 3:4). That’s why Jesus told us not to call someone “fool” or to harbor anger against anyone (Matthew 5:22). We need to guard our hearts against these temptations lest we miss out on Jesus’ gifts of new life, healing, and salvation.
God doesn’t want any life destroyed. Instead, he wants everyone to receive gifts of life and salvation. And he invites us to join with him in this work through our prayers of intercession. Throughout the United States today, people are interceding for the protection of unborn children. They are praying that their laws would save and protect all human life, from conception to natural death. But no matter where you live, you can pray that every child, born and unborn, would be safe and loved, welcomed and protected. You can pray for all mothers and fathers. And you can pray that we would bring life and blessing to everyone we meet.
“Lord, fill our hearts with awe and wonder at your gift of life. Protect all children and lead them to you.” (Meditation on Mark 3:1-6, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler discusses the declaration of Jesus' priesthood being in the line of Melchizedek, who was not a Jew and who offered bread and wine and prayed to Canaanite gods. If Jesus waited “just one more day” to heal the withered hand He would be in harmony with the Pharisees' idea that healing on the Sabbath was only appropriate if one was at the point of death. Friar Jude reminds us that when we receive the Love of God in Sunday worship, we need to share it with others.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, explores our human and religious temptation to hide qualities we think of as negative or “less than” in order to make ourselves seem better than we are.
In different ways, we humans falsely divide the world into the pure and impure, the totally good and the totally bad, the perfect and imperfect. It begins with dualistic thinking and then never manages to get beyond it. Such a total split or clean division is never true in actual experience. We all know that reality is a lot more mixed and “disordered” than that; so, in order to continue to see things in such a false and binary way, we really have to close down. That is the hallmark of immature religion. It demands denial, splitting, and mental pretense. It moves from the first false assumption of purity or perfection toward an entire ethical code, a priesthood of some sort, and various rituals and taboos that keep us on the side of the seeming pure, positive, or perfect—as if that were even possible.
I mean this next point kindly: Organized religion is almost structurally certain to create hypocrites (the word literally means “actors”), those who try to appear to be pure and good, or at least better than others. Jesus uses the word at least ten times in Matthew’s Gospel alone! We are unconsciously trained to want to look good, to seek moral high ground, and to point out the “speck” in other people’s eyes while ignoring the “log” in our own (Matthew 7:3–5). None of us lives up to all our spoken ideals, but we have to pretend we do in order to feel good about ourselves and to get others of our chosen group to respect us. (Rohr, n.d.)
When we ponder how to exercise our Baptismal anointing as “priest” we consider how the example of Jesus giving up human life for us might apply to our ministry.
References
Costanzo, C. (n.d.). Daily Reflection Of Creighton University's Online Ministries. Creighton University's Online Ministries. Retrieved January 22, 2025, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/012225.html
Hebrews, CHAPTER 7 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved January 22, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/hebrews/7?1
Mark, CHAPTER 3 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved January 22, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/3?1=#49003001
Meditation on Mark 3:1-6. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved January 22, 2025, from https://wau.org/meditations/2025/01/22/1184895/
Psalms, PSALM 110 | USCCB. (n.d.). Daily Readings. Retrieved January 22, 2025, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/110?1
Rohr, R. (n.d.). Unworthiness Is the Ticket. Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved January 22, 2025, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/unworthiness-is-the-ticket/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Is It Lawful... to Save Life or to Kill? Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved January 22, 2025, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2025&date=jan22
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