Today's Gospel begins a bit suddenly, so I should explain that in the passage between yesterday's Gospel and today's, Jesus angered the Pharisees by killing a man in a city There was a man present who had withered hand and had perhaps even dropped by the Pharisees, and they asked him, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?
They already considered Jesus soft on Sabbath observance.
They were trying to do the maximum possible. Suddenly it wasn't absolutely necessary in the Sabbath you shouldn't do it, and they wanted a basis for accusing him.
By having the healing take place in front of the whole congregation, there would be no shortage of witnesses to bring a case against him.
By asking him if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath, they hoped that he would clearly contradict the law of Moses with his answer.
Instead, Jesus gave a good argument that healing was lawful.
He said to them, Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it up?
Of how much more value is a man than a sheep?
He concluded, so it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.
They said nothing. Jesus was saddened by their hardness of heart.
They would neither admit it was lawful nor give an argument that it wasn't. These are not people in search of the truth.
In fact, their reaction to the healing shows this. The Pharisees went out and took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.
They were not happy that a man was healed. They were not seeking the life, but rather a way to get rid of Jesus.
They went out to take counsel because they knew that many in the synagogue thought that Jesus was right.
Many admired him. They had failed to make a convincing case that Jesus was breaking the Sabbath, which would have allowed them to charge him with something.
So, what should they try next to get rid of him? This is what they took counsel about.
They were not worried about the Sabbath so much as about the way Jesus was drawing the admiration of the people to himself and away from them.
People listened to Jesus' teaching at seventh-years, even though he was not crying out in the streets.
When Jesus realized they were plotting against him, he withdrew from that place.
We might think that he did this because he was afraid or because it was not his time to die, but St. Matthew tells us that it was actually to fulfill a prophecy of Isaiah, the prophecy that begins, Behold my servant who I have chosen.
Christ is a servant because he emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
As St. Paul wrote, He is God and man. He is God, he is Lord. He is man, he is a servant.
Then the prophet adds, My beloved in whom I delight.
When we saw, or perhaps heard, at Christ's baptism, how a voice from heaven said, This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.
So this is my beloved in whom I delight.
And also at his baptism, the Spirit of God was seen descending like a dove and coming to rest on him.
And this confirmed that he was the one of whom God had said, I shall place my spirit upon him.
So the first lines of the prophecy help us to recognize that it is speaking about Christ.
After this, the prophet says, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
This he did chiefly through his church, for he sought first the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
But he also taught some Gentiles how to live justly during his public ministry.
Then comes the part that more directly concerns Jesus's withdrawal from direct conflict with the Pharisees.
He will not contend or cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.
From fairest trade he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not quench.
When he realizes they want to kill him, he could bring down fire from heaven to consume him.
He could send a destroying angel to slay them in their sleep.
He could make an example of them in a thousand other ways.
He could indeed also contend or cry out, shouting how wrong they are.
But he does none of this, at least not for now.
St. Augustine explains, he did not break or quench those very Jews who persecuted him.
Although they were like a burst rain because of their lost innocence, and like smoking flasks because of the light they lost.
The light of faith, the flame of faith was weak in them.
It was like a smoldering wick, because they had been unwilling to accept the truth at the cost of their prestige.
But the light was not totally dead.
Their problem was that they valued honor from men more than honor from God.
Jesus also does not want to break a burst rain by continuing to do in the Pharisees' presence things that will make them angry.
They are bruised, but not yet completely broken by temptation.
They can still be fixed, still be healed.
What he is saying is that they are not completely broken by temptation.
They are not completely broken by temptation.
They can still be fixed, still be healed.
He does not want to push them any further.
Instead, he gives them time to cool off.
He leaves town, probably to their relief.
But many people followed him, and he cured them all.
However, he warned them not to make him noble.
The word translated as born is a forceful one.
He expressed strong disapproval of the idea that they might be gone if he had healed them.
So we might say he sternly warned them not to make him noble.
He does not want word to get back to the Pharisees of what he is doing, because that will stir up their envy, making them even more resistant to that truth, putting them even more on the path to hell.
Whereas if, on the other hand, he gives them time, as he is trying to do, some of them may see reason.
God's mercy leaves space for conversion.
But eventually, judgment must come.
So the prophet also says that Christ will spare the first grade and the scoldering wick until he brings justice to victory.
Justice must be victorious in the end.
The psalm speaks of people yearning for justice.
And it assures us that God has not forgotten about justice.
He does see the evil that people do.
But it is not yet time to do something about it.
He will bring justice to victory definitively when he comes to judge the living and the dead.
When he comes in glory to judge the living and the dead.
At the end of the world, of course.
But he also judges each individual at the moment of death.
So let us learn from the Lord the mercy of not pushing people too hard.
There is still time to proceed more gently.
Sometimes we have to give people time to calm down and think about what we have said instead of constantly pushing them to embrace the truth.
Sometimes we need to pray more and speak less because what is lacking is not information, but grace.
And it is prayer that obtains grace.
And for this purpose, the rosary has great power.
Praised be Jesus centenary.
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