DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Sunday, June 17, 2018

On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled.  The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. – Luke 6:6,7

Supposedly they were godly men, these Pharisees so committed to keeping the Law and these Bible scholars who knew every jot and tittle of the scriptures … yet their zealotry led them into vile treachery.  They would watch this ragamuffin rabbi from the rough country of Galilee to see if He would yield to their authority and keep the letter of the Law.  They believed that a person could do no work on the holy Sabbath, though did have loopholes and self-exempting exceptions.  Would this Jesus goes against the Law of God by healing a wounded man?  Who is this rabbi who breaks with tradition, who does good on the holy Sabbath?

How can this happen, holy men, so schooled in the minutiae of the Faith, leaders who consider themselves so devout, so dedicated to keeping discipline, have hearts so filled with scheming, judgmental malice?  But it happened in that synagogue and it still happens in holy places in present times, this seductive sin of holy malice.

Look to the heart, Christ taught.  Look to the heart, it is God’s way.  Look to the heart and observe what is actually abiding there.  The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were so concerned for the sins that Christ might commit that they  were oblivious to the sin within themselves.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz