Jesus heals the withered hand. (*Warning*)

In today’s Gospel from the Mass, Jesus heals a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath (Mark 3:1-6).  Warning: there is a graphic image of a withered hand at the bottom of this page.

[1] Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. [2] And they watched him, to see whether he would heal him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him.  [3] And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come here.”  [4] And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent.  [5] And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.  [6] The Pharisees went out, and immediately held counsel with the Hero’di-ans against him, how to destroy him.

The events in the Gospels can sometimes lose their impact on our busy minds.  To be awed (i.e. divine reverence) by Jesus Christ, we must constantly see to see the awesomeness of the things that Jesus does.

One way to to be awed is to consider Christ’s actions in 21st century terms; pictures can help.  Here is a picture of a withered hand.  Now, imagine watching a man say “Stretch out your hand” and the hand is perfected.

Now, that is awesome.  Of course, only Jesus is awesome.