Monday of the Twenty-third
Week in Ordinary Time
(Colossians 1:24-2:3; Luke 6:6-11)
Sabbath rest has always been a priority on the agenda of
organized labor. One hundred years ago
the issue was mostly religious. A worker
should have Sundays free to go to church.
Now the question is more of limiting the number of workdays so that the
worker may take advantage of a weekend. In
today’s gospel the scribes and Pharisees show a concern about the Sabbath goes
beyond either of these motives.
The supposedly holy men want to attack Jesus, not to assure
legitimate rest for workers. Jesus is
well aware of the Sabbath principle but appeals to its higher purpose. The Sabbath is also for doing good works not
evil ones. In other words, on the
Sabbath the people should praise God and wish one another well. The Pharisees defy this principle by seeking
to accuse Jesus of a crime. On the other
hand, Jesus is using the occasion to heal a man who is pathetically deformed.
Today, Labor Day in the United States, provides an
occasion to reflect on human work. Similar
issues to the ones raised in the gospel may be examined. We need to work in order to live, but we do
not want work to dominate our lives with no time for family and worship. We want our work to benefit others as well as
ourselves and to cause no one injury.
