Hands and Hearts

~~~ Saint Agnes, Virgin and Martyr ~~~

~~~ Hebrews 7:1-3, 15-17 ~~~ Psalm 110 ~~~ Mark 3:1-6 ~~~

“Come up here before us.”

Jesus uses every opportunity as a time for teaching.

We are in the synagogue, Jesus is 

preaching, the Pharisees are present.

Jesus does not call up one of the elders to come forward;

he calls the man with the crippled hand.

This man came to hear the 'teacher' he had 

accepted the loss of his one hand. 

Imagine his surprise when Jesus 

calls him to come before the whole community.

Imagine his shock when Jesus asks him

 to stretch out his crippled hand.

Was he embarrassed? Was he afraid to be made

 fun of...to be humiliated?

Of course Jesus does none of those things 

instead Jesus heals this man's hand.

If you were given a choice between

 a withered hand with a humble heart

or perfect hands with a hard heart,

which would you chose?

Jesus took every occasion to get the Pharisees 

to open their eyes...to see that 

he was the Messiah.

The Pharisees instead refused to let their hearts be softened.

Physically they appeared to be perfect specimens of man,

but their hearts were more like the stones

they kicked aside on the road.

Their hard hearts kept them from having

 the ability to identify with Jesus.

For if your heart is hard you

 cannot feel compassion for another person.

A hard heart is impermeable, nothing can penetrate it.  

It is safe to say that not even love 

can truly be experienced when 

one has a hard heart.

I pray that if my heart ever becomes hardened

 that the grace of God will lead me to seek counsel.

The Pharisees had Jesus standing before them.

The Pharisees had Jesus to point out where they needed change.

They became even more resistant...their hearts became even harder.

What if they had actually been allowed to feel the pain 

in their chest of their hard heart?

Would that have made a difference?

We will never know, because God does not work that way.

Jesus gave them many reasons to change, 

but they kept their hearts hard

on purpose...

It was their choice.

Saint Agnes, pray for us.

May we receive Blessings so as 

to never have a hard heart.

~~~ Peace ~~~