Gospel: Mark 3: 1-6
Another Sabbath day in another house of worship. Once again the congregation and its worship leader face a challenge. A man in the congregation suffering from a withered hand appears, asking for healing. Some in the congregation argue that such an intervention would be work that violated the Sabbath laws against such activity. The worship leader disagrees and heals the man who had been suffering for so long with this malady.
In doing so, Jesus makes an important point about the purpose of religion. The whole point of the Sabbath and the congregation is to provide healing to other people, to extend mercy and loving kindness. Religious congregations so often are about gathering for self-gratification and validation of one's beliefs and practices. We often choose our congregations based on such preferences of what we like in worship, message, and justification of our political biases.
Jesus makes it abundantly clear that religion is about the mercy of God and nothing else. The Sabbath is about the healing of a people weary from work and pain. The congregation exists to support one another in the journey of faith, in the healing of one another along the pilgrim way. If religion is not about these things then it has no value at all, like salt that has lost its taste and preservative properties. Today is a day for us to commit to this love, mercy, and healing Jesus institutes as our mission as authentic religious practitioners.
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