READING AND REFLECTIONS FOR MONDAY, 7 SEPTEMBER 2020 

1 Corinthians 5 : 1 – 8          Psalm 5         Luke 6 : 6 – 11 

The Collect :

God of the Church

your Son called us to be one in you:

heal our divisions, restore our unity

and empower us for the ministry of reconciliation;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns, with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

Amen 

There is a story about an old man who lived next door to a family of four. The old man was widowed and as he aged he became loud and rude. Yet every single day the family next door would stop by to check in on him and help him with whatever he needed done. The family didn’t particularly enjoy the man because he could be so mean at times, but every single day, they went over to the old man’s house because they knew he was all alone. They weren’t performing miracles, but they were imitating Jesus’ abundant love, every single day.

We are never exempt from loving and helping our neighbours. Sometimes it’s easy to come up with reasons why we can’t help out.  It may be hard to love someone who has done wrong to us. Jesus didn’t tell us, “help others, unless you’re too busy” or “only help the people who have been kind to you”. We are called to always make a positive difference in the lives of our brothers and sisters.

Today’s Gospel regarding the man with the withered hand and the indignant, enraged Pharisees is very familiar to us. We can see it as those who are concerned about following the letter of the law, that they don’t see the need their neighbour has, which is right in front of them.

Jesus heals the man with the withered hand even though it was the Sabbath – the day of rest. The Pharisees were enraged! Why would he perform miracles on the day of rest? But Jesus responds, “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?”.  Jesus healed without fear, not perturbed by what the consequences could be, because he was healing on the Sabbath – his priority was to heal and love the man with the withered hand. Jesus never stops healing us. He doesn’t say, “Oh! It’s Sunday, I need a break from loving my brothers and sisters so I’ll heal you all tomorrow!”  His love and healing powers are unending.

We too must not be selective about when or to whom we give our help and love – Jesus shows us that we don’t have any excuses. Even though he knew healing on the Sabbath would enrage the Pharisees he did so anyways because saving the man’s life was more important.

Today we are called to give help and love without thinking about the consequences and the excuses we create. Let’s live like Jesus – let’s bring love and healing to our sisters and brothers every single day. Wouldn’t the world be beautiful if we could all imitate Jesus for a day? Let us try today to love the unlovable, to help those in need and to remember Jesus’s unending love for each and every one of us, every single day.

Let us Pray :

God of life and love,
you have promised to be with us every day,
give us clarity in our minds,
strength in our work,
rest as we sleep,
and help us to see where we can offer
ourselves in love, to our neighbours.

Amen