“Stretch out your hand!” (Luke 6:6-11)
Biblical reflections by Mauro Leonardi*, priest and writer
Fundamentalism is based on the rejection of life. We must always remember that any law of God is animated by God's love for man but not for man in general. There is no love "in general" but for man understood as a particular being. God loves each and everyone. All in each and each in all. Without limits. God immerses himself in our lives. He gets in the way and calls us into the middle and wants us to enjoy our lives to the fullest.
From the Gospel according to Luke 6:6-11
One Saturday Jesus entered the synagogue and began to teach. Now there was a man there, who had a withered right hand. The scribes and Pharisees watched him to see if he healed him on the Sabbath, in order to find a charge against him. But Jesus was aware of their thoughts and said to the man who had the withered hand: "Rise and stand in the middle!". The man, getting up, placed himself in the indicated spot. Then Jesus said to them, "I ask you: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save a life or to lose it?" And looking around at them, he said to the man: "Stretch out your hand!" He did so and the hand was healed. But they were filled with anger and argued among themselves about what they could do to Jesus.
* Mauro Leonardi (Como 1959) has been a priest since 29 May 1988 and has lived in Rome since then. He spends many hours of his day as a priest and prefers building bridges rather than raising walls. For years he has been writing stories, articles, essays and books that revolve around the relationship between man and God. Author of the blogLike Jesus. Abelis (Lindau) is his latest novel. The volunteers of the Gionata Project thank him for wanting to share these reflections on the Word with us.
