Reflection for January 21 Wednesday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time: Mark 3:1-6

Gospel: Mark 3:1-6

Jesus entered the synagogue. There was a man there who had a withered hand. They watched Jesus closely to see if he would cure him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him. He said to the man with the withered hand, “Come up here before us.” Then he said to the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?”  

But they remained silent. Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, Jesus said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death.

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Reflection:

What would we do if we were to encounter someone with a withered hand—someone wounded, broken, or weakened by life?

When Jesus saw a man with a withered hand in the synagogue, He was faced with a choice. He could have ignored the man because it was the Sabbath, or He could have healed him and, in the process, set aside the rigid observance of the law. Jesus chose mercy. He chose compassion. He chose to place the suffering person before the rule.

In that moment, Jesus showed us that for God, love always comes before legalism, and compassion always comes before cold obedience. He did not come to protect rules; He came to restore lives. He chose to uphold His ministry of healing rather than cling to an interpretation of the law that forgot the very heart of God.

Jesus is our healer. His healing power is not limited by criticism, fear, or human judgment. His healing does not stop at the body; He reaches deep into our hearts, our minds, and our wounded spirits. How often we come to Him carrying withered parts of ourselves—our broken hopes, our tired faith, our hidden sins, and our unhealed memories.

Yet Jesus also asks something from us: our faith. It is faith that opens our hearts to His grace. It is faith that allows His healing to touch us, just as it did for the man who dared to stretch out his withered hand in trust and obedience.

So let us hold on to Jesus with all our hearts. Let us not lose hope, even when the road ahead looks uncertain and the horizon seems blurred by trials and doubts. Let us believe that no part of our life is too broken for His mercy and no wound too deep for His healing.

But now we must ask ourselves: when Jesus places before us a choice between comfort and compassion, between rules and mercy, between staying safe and reaching out—will we, like Him, choose to heal, to love, and to give life? Or will we let fear and convenience keep our hearts withered too? –Marino J. Dasmarinas