Love Above All Else

He entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered. They were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!”

And He said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent.

After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.

Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him. And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him; for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed around Him in order to touch Him. Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are the Son of God!” And He earnestly warned them not to tell who He was. (Mark 3:1–12)

When is the right time to do the right thing? Always. When it is within our power to right a wrong, to relieve suffering, to encourage, that’s when we can do it. There is no better time than now to be kind to another person. Whenever we see a need, then we can reach out and relieve it. Is there a bit of trash that needs to be disposed of properly? Did someone drop something that needs to have it picked up? Is there an elderly person needing help crossing a street? A foreign tourist lost and confused that needs directions? Nothing is more important than helping those who need help. Jesus was always willing to be inconvenienced. We would not think about how late we were for a meeting if we saw a child drowning. Instead, we would drop everything else in order to save that life.

For the Pharisee, people and their needs often took second place in their concern for legalistic requirements. The question that Jesus wants us to ask ourselves in every situation is very simple: is this the best thing I could do right now for this person?

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