Relationships change over time, yet we all have a tendency to resist it.
God's relationship with his chosen people needed change, and Jesus came to bring it. The Pharisees did not want the change, and they resisted it. In fact, they accused Jesus and plotted his death in order to prevent the change he was bringing. (To understand how deeply they felt threatened by Jesus, consider Saint Paul--who was first Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee--and how he persecuted the followers of Jesus even after his death.) They realized the change was big and did all they could to prevent it. Not an option.
Today's verse comes from one of their attempts to stop the change. The Pharisees challenge Jesus about the lawfulness of healing a man's hand on the Sabbath; and just before Jesus heals the man's hand, he asks the Pharisees "Which one of you who has a sheep that falls into a pit on the Sabbath will not take hold of it and lift it out?" He goes on to offer the explanation in today's verse.
To the Jewish people of his day, doing just about anything on the Sabbath, good or bad, was forbidden. Here Jesus makes an extremely bold claim, one that only God could rightfully make. He changes the Law, right there and rather unceremoniously! All of a sudden "it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."
Change. The relationship between God and his chosen people is changing. His people are resisting, even angry about it. The change is happening anyway.
How often do we face change in relationships? How often do we resist and grow angry because of it? How often does the change happen anyway?
Today, I will trust God at times of change and challenge.
Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, who kept her trust in God despite many changes throughout her life and relentless suffering, pray for us.
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