YEAR A: HOMILY FOR WEDNESDAY OF THE 2ND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME (2)

YEAR A: HOMILY FOR WEDNESDAY OF THE 2ND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

HOMILY THEME: THE LAW OF LOVE

BY: Fr. Benny Tuazon

HOMILY: (Mk. 3:1-6) Wednesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s Gospel Jesus cured a man with a withered hand on Sabbath Day. Jesus had been marked by the Pharisees and even legalistic and faithful Jews. Jesus for them is a violator of Mosaic Law. It was hard for them to stand His “disrespect” of the Sabbath Law. This angered Jesus and was aggrieved of the hardness of their hearts. They could not see and understand what He was trying to communicate to them. His examples did not matter to them. They were blinded by the laws. The laws, ironically, withered their hearts!

The standard of Jesus is doing good and saving lives. There are enough reasons for Jesus to enter through the essence of the laws given by God which where expanded by the Pharisees. Once, a whistleblower sought refuge in a seminary. The rector did not know what to do. He was torn between helping the man and breaking the law. His pastoral heart prevailed. He kept the man until authorities came and arrested the man. In a mass, Cardinal Rosales praised the rector. He said, “With love, you can never go wrong!” Of course, we are not talking about romantic love. We are talking of saving love.

Note that Jesus got angry at those who would rather follow the law than do good or save a life. To have a withered hand is a no nonsense suffering. Why wait a day, even if it is Sabbath Day, before you do something about it? The man might have suffered for so long. Jesus saw the opportunity to ease him of his sickness. For Him, love should not wait, discriminate, or choose a place. We love every time, anywhere, and anyone.

Do we become angry when love does not happen? Are we affected by the unloved? The girl who addressed Pope Francis in UST was actually talking about the unloved and the unloving. She asked why God allowed them? Then, she shifted the question to those who should have loved them who, in the first place, had done nothing wrong! if Jesus were here, He would also get angry. Mercy and compassion do not mean allowing evil and not loving. We ought to take action, to love in order to let others feel God’s love. Jesus was actually trying to heal also the hostile crowds’ withered hearts. Is your heart withered? Let Jesus heal you too!