Eye-opening...

Today was a great day in church with a eye-opening message. It centers around the Bible verse involving a man with a withered hand coming to Jesus for a miracle. The Pharisees were in the same area waiting for Jesus to do something wrong, especially on the Sabbath. Sabbath was meant to be a day of rest and had been since the time of Moses. It appears in Mark 3:4-6 and spoke volumes to me on a deeper level, thanks to Will's breaking it down and providing insight into what he thought it said.

It reads:

Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.
⁵ He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. ⁶ Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

What Will shared was this: are we  not to help others just because it is the wrong day? He imagined that as the tortured man with the withered hand reached out his hand, the Pharisees began to clench theirs. The Pharisees held tight to their teachings, to their beliefs, and to their hardened ways and be damned if anyone opposed their beliefs. What Jesus asked was, "Are we to turn our backs on those who are hurting, in pain, who are clearly struggling because they are different, or the day is wrong?" I believe the answer is no. As the times change and we evolve, are we not to embrace those who are different? Are we not to reach out to those who are hurting and struggling? Or are we to turn our back, entrench ourselves in the ways things have always been, entrench ourselves in what we think should be and dig our heels in and ignore their hurt and suffering?

I found this very eye-opening because of where our society is leading to this very moment in time. People are clenching to the Old Testament and holding everyone's feet to the fire for what the ancient teachings say, ignoring what Jesus actually did and did not say.

We need to reach out to our fellow man, ignoring the hard of hearts and folks who continue to dig their heels into the sinking sand  by being selective as to what verses they will hold true to and ignoring the other ones because they are "ridiculous". If you are going to believe one and ignore the other, then is that truly not hypocrisy? The world is full of those folks and I think it is going to get worse before it gets better...but there is hope and a glimmer of light in the distance.

Embrace the different and support the suffering. Lead the good life friends.