Luke 6:6-11
Chapter 6
6
On another Sabbath, Jesus entered the synagogue and began teaching. There was a man with a paralyzed right hand
7
and the teachers of the law and the Pharisees watched him: Would Jesus heal the man on the Sabbath? If he did, they could accuse him.
8
But Jesus knew their thoughts and said to the man:
“Get up and stand in the middle.”
9
Then he spoke to them:
“I want to ask you: what is allowed by the law on the Sabbath? To do good or to harm, to save a life or to destroy it?”
10
And Jesus looked around at them all.
Then he said to the man:
“Stretch out your hand.”
He stretched it out, and his hand was restored, becoming as healthy as the other.
11
But they were furious and began to discuss with one another how they could deal with Jesus.
Commentaries
Heals on the Sabbath.
The Sabbath, with its 39 rules for ‘correct’ observance, and the 613 commandments derived from the Mosaic Law, made Jesus’ contemporaries incapable of living freely, paralyzed by the law’s rigor. That is why Jesus acts quickly: rather than waiting until sunset (cf. 4:40), when the Sabbath ends, he heals the man with the paralyzed hand. The power of the kingdom of God is revealed because the time of salvation is ‘today,’ and the Sabbath must be restored and healed by God’s mercy.