20 January 2027 · Latin Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent.” Mark 3:4
Hebrews reflects on the mysterious king Melchizedek, who “brought out bread and wine” and blessed Abraham. He appears in Scripture “without father, without mother, without genealogy”, and so “resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.” Christ is a priest not by family descent like the Levites, but “through the power of an indestructible life”. The Church has always seen in Melchizedek's bread and wine a sign of the Eucharist.
In the synagogue a man with a withered hand stands before Jesus while his critics watch. Jesus asks: “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” They are silent. Mark says Jesus looked at them “with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart”, and healed the man. Hardness of heart grieves God more than any broken rule. Today many in Kerala honour St Sebastian, the soldier who served Christ before the emperor and gave his life rather than deny him, and St Fabian, pope and martyr. Both had hearts that were soft toward God and firm in the truth.
Theme: “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?”
The eternal priest, the hardened heart, the brave martyrs.
“And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High.” Genesis 14:18
“It is even more obvious when another priest arises, resembling Melchizedek, one who has become a priest, not through a legal requirement concerning physical descent, but through the power of an indestructible life.” Hebrews 7:15–16
Apply: Thank Christ the priest at Mass this week.
“I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,” Ezekiel 11:19
“He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.” Mark 3:5
Apply: Ask God to soften one hard place in your heart.
“I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”” Joshua 1:9
“Share in suffering like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 2:3
Apply: Defend someone treated unjustly.
Christ the priest heals hardened hearts.
Sebastian and Fabian show the courage of soft hearts.
Take-home resolution: Choose always to do good and save life this week.
Dear friends, Hebrews tells us of Melchizedek, king of Salem, who brought out bread and wine and blessed Abraham. He appears without father, without mother, without genealogy, and so, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever (Hebrews 7:3).
Christ is a priest not by family descent, but through the power of an indestructible life. And the bread and wine of Melchizedek point to the Eucharist.
In the Gospel Jesus asks: is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill? But they were silent (Mark 3:4). He looked at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and healed the withered hand.
Today we honour St Fabian, a pope who died a martyr, and St Sebastian, the Roman soldier loved across Kerala, who served Christ before the emperor and gave his life rather than deny him. Let us ask for hearts soft toward God and firm in courage. Amen.
Children, St Sebastian was a brave soldier for Jesus. Be brave too: stand up for a friend who is being teased.
Lord Jesus, eternal priest like Melchizedek, you were grieved at hardness of heart. Soften my heart, give me courage like St Sebastian, and let me always choose to do good and to save life. Amen.
Today Hebrews reads a brief, strange story in Genesis and finds a portrait of Christ: a priest with no recorded beginning or end, who stands outside the line of Aaron. Mark brings the five controversy stories to their end in a synagogue. Jesus restores a withered hand, and the first plot against his life begins. The priest of “an indestructible life” is the one men already want to destroy. The key words are Melchizedek, indestructible and hardness of heart.
Setting.
Melchizedek appears in only two places in the Old Testament. In Genesis 14:18–20 he comes out to meet Abraham, who is returning from battle, with bread and wine, blesses him and receives a tenth. In Psalm 110:4 the Lord swears to the king, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews puts these two texts together.
This matters to the preacher’s argument because Jesus was of the tribe of Judah, not of Levi (7:14), so he could not be a priest by descent. Psalm 110 shows that God had spoken of another kind of priesthood, older than Aaron’s.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“His name, in the first place, means “king of righteousness”; next he is also king of Salem, that is, “king of peace.”” (7:2)
Righteousness first, then peace. Readers of the letter will find both joined in Christ, who is our righteousness and our peace.
“Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.” (7:3)
The preacher is not saying that Melchizedek literally had no parents or was an angel. He reads the silence of Genesis in the way that Jewish teachers of his time could read Scripture: what the text does not say can also teach. Note the direction: Melchizedek resembles the Son of God, and not the other way round. The Son is the original.
“one who has become a priest, not through a legal requirement concerning physical descent, but through the power of an indestructible life.” (7:16)
Earlier priests died, and others took their place (7:23). This priest died, and lives. The Resurrection is what makes his priesthood last forever.
How the Church reads it.
“Christian tradition considers Melchizedek”, says the Catechism, “as a prefiguration of the priesthood of Christ” (CCC 1544), and it sees his offering of bread and wine as a figure of the Church’s own offering (CCC 1333). Hebrews itself does not mention the bread and wine, but the Fathers took this up, St Cyprian among them, in his letter on the Eucharistic cup (in substance). In the Roman Canon, Eucharistic Prayer I, the priest asks God to accept our gifts as he accepted “the offering of your high priest Melchizedek”. The priests of the Church share in this one priesthood of Christ (CCC 1545).
Setting.
This is the last of the five controversy stories (2:1–3:6). It is also a sabbath story, and it follows at once on the grainfields. Those watching Jesus in the synagogue are not named until v. 6. Jewish teaching allowed for saving a life on the sabbath (later set down in Mishnah Yoma 8:6). A withered hand was not an emergency, and it could have waited one more day. This is the point at issue.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” (3:4)
Jesus moves the question from what work is allowed to what the day is for. Not to do good, when one could, is already to do harm. Meanwhile they are plotting on the sabbath to destroy a life, which is the irony Mark wants us to see.
“He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart” (3:5)
Mark alone of the Gospels records the anger and the grief together. This is not the anger of a man who has been insulted. It is the anger of one who loves the man with the withered hand and those who are watching him. Matthew and Luke do not record the anger here.
“The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.” (3:6)
Jesus only spoke, and no labour was done. Still the conflict comes to a head. Mark speaks of a group of leaders in one town, not of the Jewish people. Many Pharisees were not hostile (see CCC 575, 595), and the Pharisees are not named among those who bring about Jesus’ death in Mark’s Passion.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism draws on this verse in its teaching on the third commandment: “With compassion, Christ declares the sabbath for doing good rather than harm, for saving life rather than killing” (CCC 2173). It notes that from the beginning of his public ministry “certain Pharisees and partisans of Herod” agreed together to destroy him (CCC 574), and it firmly refuses to lay the blame for Jesus’ death on the Jews as a people (CCC 597–598). In the anger and the grief of Jesus the Church sees a true human heart: he “loved with a human heart” (Gaudium et Spes 22; CCC 470).
Is it a sin to be angry, if Jesus was angry?
Anger as such is a passion, and the question is what it serves. The Catechism warns against anger that wants to harm (CCC 2302). The anger of Jesus here is joined to grief, it is aimed at a hardness that keeps people from mercy, and it ends in healing. That is the test of our anger.
Today the Church may keep the optional memorials of St Fabian and St Sebastian. St Fabian was bishop of Rome and died a martyr in the persecution of Decius in 250. St Sebastian was a martyr of Rome, buried in the catacomb on the Appian Way that bears his name. The well known story of the arrows comes from a later account. Two witnesses gave their lives for the priest who lives forever.