Seeing the person

"(Jesus) looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' He stretched it out, and his hand was restored."

(Mark 3:5)

Have politics always been as, well... "political" as they are today?

Are we living in a different moment of time? Is the presence of social media, satellite tv, and instant news changing how we relate to one another? Is it because I'm older now (and possibly wiser) that I'm just more aware of its impact? Look at any current "hot button" issue: immigration, gun control, same sex issues, the death penalty, abortion... you name it, just about everyone has a "take" on it. We're so ensconced in our beliefs that we don't really listen to each other anymore. We already have opinions and can easily spot those "on the other side."

Jesus was in church one Sabbath (okay, it was actually a synagogue)... and he saw a man with a withered hand. A bunch of "haters" (ie. religious leaders) were there too, looking to trip up Jesus. And he knew it. So he used the moment as a teaching opportunity. He called the man forward and asked a foundational question to the room: "Is it lawful to do good and save life on the Sabbath, or not?" As many Sabbath laws as there were in the Hebrew Scriptures, there was one trump law: it was always acceptable to do good and save life on the sabbath - no matter how many laws it "broke" in the process.

Everyone knew this. Everyone.

If someone (or some animal) was hurt or suffering, God wanted people to HELP THEM! Even on the Sabbath. Even if it broke some Sabbath laws. Period.

But the "haters" were so adamant that they were right (and Jesus was wrong), that they couldn't see the man with the withered hand as a person. He was simply a means to propel their issue.

Mark tells us how angry and grieved Jesus was at their silence to his question about the Sabbath. They knew the right answer, but couldn't say it because it would have invalidated their argument.

How often do we do the same? Do we fail to see people as PEOPLE... instead using them as fodder for whatever political/ideological/religious point we want to make? I'm sure Jesus is both angry and grieving at our hard hearts today. Lord, forgive us...