Monday - 23rd Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel – Luke 6:6-11

Timing Is Everything?

Falafel Time, Jerusalem

Ever get bailed out, rescued, at the last minute?  The teacher postponing that test you didn’t study for!  That neighbor who helped you shovel out your car after a snowstorm!  That job offer that came out of nowhere after months of fruitless searching?  That best friend who calls you up just when you needed a supportive voice!

We’ve all had moments like this, a little miracle happening just when we needed it.  But I wonder – is it just about timing?  Is it any less of a miracle, a wonder, if it happened at a different time?  Is timing everything?  Is there ever a bad time for a good thing to happen?

Timing matters in today’s Gospel!  Jesus is in the synagogue on the Sabbath.  And the scribes and Pharisees are just waiting for Jesus to cure a man with a withered hand, to accuse Him of doing work on the Sabbath.  For them, timing is all important.  For Jesus, it’s not about the timing; it’s about compassion, caring for your brother!  That man with a withered hand would not have been able to work, would not have been allowed to work.  He would have been shunned and ostracized because of his deformity; he would have been an outcast.  Do you think it mattered to him what day it was?  But it mattered to the Jewish leaders.

Jesus makes it clear – there is nothing more important than taking care of your brother/sister.  There is no law greater than love of your neighbor!  So I pose this question – can there ever be a bad time to do a good deed?  Is the ‘bad time’ more a matter of inconvenience for ourselves than ministering to the needs of others?

Let us remember on this Labor Day all those who give not only of their time but their heart to serve others!

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