Gentle Servant

When Christ healed the man with the deformed hand on Sabbath the Pharisee's were up in arms (Matthew 12:9-21). They cried out that the Jesus was a law breaker. He had done work on the Sabbath. The rules that the Pharisees so faithfully professed to follow, had overlooked the dire need of those sick and suffering. The law did not show grace to those who were deprived, deformed, hurting, hungry, or poor. Success in our world today is determined by how much power we have. We live in a Society that’s strives for power and not equality.

In our mad rush to attain power we will resort to any means necessary to gain power. We beg, borrow, or even steal to attain it. If we look at our political leaders they will say anything in order to be elected. They justify it by saying, they represent the people, and want to do what they think is best for the people. Truth and justice are sidelines for winning power and prestige in the world. The unfortunate state of affairs is when leaders come to power and become proud and narcissistic. They eventually exploit the ones they have power over and accuse their adversaries.

To their treacherous accusations Christ answered them with a small parable. If one of us had a sheep and it fell into a hole on Sabbath would we abandon it? We would definitely pull it out. So also Christ our Good Shepherd will never let go of our hands. He will gently lead us and guide us through our life journey. Just as He healed the deformed hand, He will restore our deformed lives.

This act of compassion enraged the Pharisee's so much that they wanted to kill Jesus. When Jesus came to know of their plans He just left that place; for the time had not come for Him to die. He also warned the people to not tell others who He was lest they follow after Him just to be healed, or to make Him their leader to revolt against the Roman Empire. Do we follow Christ to get ahead in this world or to build the Kingdom of God?

Lent is a time when we reflect on Christ's life, death, and resurrection. Just as Christ could heal the hand of a man that was deformed, so also has He promised that He will raise us up from the dead just as He raised Himself up from His grave by the power of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul in Romans 6:19-23 tried to make us understand our relationship with Christ by saying, that just as we used to offer ourselves to be servants of wickedness let us now offer our selves to Christ as servants of righteousness that leads to a holy and an eternal life. This is God's gift to us all, an eternal life in Christ. Christ was very gentle and kind to every body. He could easily have attacked the Pharisees with his divine powers. Yet He endured their mocking and deception and gently tried to make the whole world come to a new and strong relationship with the living God (Isaiah 42:1-9).