“Withered hand vs withered heart”

In our parents’ generation, some may recall that on the Sabbath or Sunday, they did not work or go shopping. As Christians, keeping Sunday ‘holy’ was seen as a duty, so going out for fun on Sundays was not an easy thing. Some Orthodox Jewish synagogues in Australia still keep a tradition of not turning on lights on the Sabbath. In some Christian households, light switches could be turned on, but cooking is done, so Sunday is a day to eat cold foods or just reheat some leftovers from the previous day’s meal.

Here’s a story: There was a mother who had a strict rule of never shopping on the Sabbath. When she was visiting her son in Australia for a while, she saw her son heading out to Woollies on Sunday for the family’s dinner groceries, and she was displeased. She called her son over and, in a quiet but stern voice, told him not to spend money on Sundays.

Now, many Christians scoff at the so-called ‘Pharisees’ who insist on strictly observing the Sabbath in the legalistic way of their parents’ generation. So, today’s gospel reading might seem like Jesus abolishing the Sabbath. In reality, for most Christians today, the concept of the Sabbath has disappeared. They are free to shop, exercise, and live their lives freely according to their own priorities on Sundays.

The beginning of the Sabbath comes from the fact in the Bible that God created the world and rested on the seventh day, but its purpose was not for God to sleep because he was too tired after completing his work of creation for six days. The Israelites had experienced 430 years of slavery and 40 years of life as wanderers in the wilderness. So, they established detailed regulations on how to treat the socially disadvantaged and strangers.

In other words, the basic spirit of the law was to confirm God’s love through the love of neighbours by protecting the socially vulnerable. So, the fourth commandment of the Ten Commandments says, “Keep the Sabbath day holy.” All of these commandments remember the God of freedom and liberation from Egypt’s oppression as the Lord of history.

But over the centuries, the Sabbath laws of the Temple in Jerusalem lost this freedom and liberating spirit of protecting the vulnerable and became, along with the purity laws, the core of 613 laws (248 positive and 365 negative—that’s a lot of negatives) that represented religious power and oppressed the people.

Reading today’s gospel passage with this background provides a better understanding. One Sabbath, Jesus and his disciples were walking through the cornfields as his disciples made their path and began to pull off heads of grain. The Pharisees then protested, “You are breaking the rules of the Sabbath.” But Jesus responded to their defence by telling the story of David, arguing that the Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath.

Jesus then goes on to heal an individual who was suffering from a ‘withered hand’, showing the attitude of a group of people who were stuck with a ‘withered heart’. If you think about it, Jesus didn’t have to heal the sick on the Sabbath. As in today’s story, the man with the withered hand had obviously been suffering for a long time, but it wasn’t a life-threatening situation. He could have waited a while and done it the day after Sabbath. There was no need to give an excuse to those eager to pick faults.

But Jesus’ healing of the withered hand on the Sabbath shows that the Sabbath is not simply a day of rest but a day to practice love. Jesus teaches that helping someone who is suffering is more important than keeping the rules of the Sabbath. The ‘straightened hand’ by Jesus’ love now stands in stark contrast to the Pharisees ‘withered hearts’ that lie beneath their proper outward appearance.

They focused on reminding people of the rules, were not interested in reaching out to those in need, and prioritised rules over relationships. For them, it was easier to follow rules than to engage in relationships. Moreover, they do not heal on the Sabbath. And these people of the withered heart have given up their original convictions in order to get rid of Jesus, the man who healed the withered hand, and have joined in a collaboration between religion and politics to ‘kill’. This is an evil act and a ‘withered heart.’

The action of Jesus healing the sick on the Sabbath doesn’t mean He was abolishing the Sabbath – that is a great misunderstanding. Jesus was not throwing away God’s gift of a seven-day cycle of work and rest. The Sabbath is a good day. The Sabbath is a gift of time with family, neighbours, and God. For workers, it is a gift of one day each week where they do not have to produce or perform; a gift to the earth of not having to take anything and consume nothing for one day. It teaches all of us that we are precious beings, even when we are not productive – it is a gift of love and joy.

The man with the withered hand stretched out his hand to Jesus and in doing so, experienced healing and restoration. After Jesus’ persecution and death, a new life and community transformed by the power of love was born. Now, the Sabbath is recognised as Lord’s Day, marking the first day of the week in celebration of Jesus Christ’s resurrection, where we gather to worship. But it’s not just about Sundays; every day should be a Lord’s Day, fulfilling God’s will. Sunday is prioritised as the first day, a day set apart for worship, but it doesn’t mean the rest of the week is secular. Just as we worship God on Sunday, we should live in accordance with His will throughout the week.

As followers of Jesus’ discipleship, how should we now stretch out our hands to the world? How can we care for and heal those suffering from the world’s ‘withered hearts and actions’? As we eat and drink the bread and wine that Jesus offers, what kind of people do we now stand within the world?