Jesus was so kind that he had to cure the man with a withered hand.

Monday, 9/7/15

Jerusalem in Our Lord’s time was ruled by Rome, but Rome allowed the Jews to use their own Religious Laws for matters within their boarders. And, one of their twisted Religious Laws made it a crime to heal anyone on a Sabbath.

Their Jewish rulers, who felt threatened by the popularity of Jesus, commissioned the Scribes and the Pharisees to catch Jesus breaking their cruel law by healing someone on the Sabbath. So, when Jesus was expected to speak in a synagogue on a Sabbath, in front of him they planted a man with a withered hand. They knew that in his kindness Jesus would not have been able to resist the urge to help the fellow.

Jesus was on to their perverted way of thinking, so, after having the man stand out in front of all, he got the people on his side by asking how it could be sinful to do a good deed on a Sabbath. With everyone agreeing with him, Jesus cured the poor man by having him stretch a way out what had been a withered hand.

When I was a kid, we had a red headed runt of a boy on the next street, and Calvin had a kind of a flipper in place of a right hand. Back then we city people had a snobbish disregard for country-western singing, but Calvin saw his only hope of gaining respectability to be resting on his becoming successful at Hill Billy songs. I used to listen to him, even though he wasn’t much good, and I wished Jesus good give him a good right hand.