June 18-24, 2018
Matthew 12:9-13 – [Jesus] entered [the Pharisees’] synagogue. And behold, there was a man with a withered hand. And they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath?" so that they might accuse him. He said to them, "What man of you, if he has one sheep and it falls into a pit on the sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the sabbath." Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, whole like the other. (Reading for Monday)
St. John Chrysostom – “Is it allowed” to heal on the Sabbath? Jesus knows how much the Pharisees loved wealth. He knew that they were all the more taken up with the love things than of persons. … Nothing could make them more gentle. Even as the man was being healed their condition was becoming worse. Jesus’ desire was to heal first their bitterness before he healed the withered hand. But even in his various attempts to offer them healing, both by what He said and did, their malady proved all the more intractable.
The icon is of St. Jude (June 19th).
