What Does The Law Allow Us To Do On The Sabbath?

"Again, JESUS entered the synagogue.  A man, who had a paralyzed hand, was there; and some people watched JESUS: would HE heal the man on the Sabbath?  If HE did, they could accuse HIM.

JESUS said to the man with the paralyzed hand, 'Stand here, in the center.'  Then HE asked them, 'What does the law allow us to do on the Sabbath?  To do good or to do harm?  To save life or to kill?'  But they were silent.

Then JESUS looked around at them with anger and deep sadness at their hardness of heart.  And HE said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.'  He stretched it out, and his hand was healed.  As soon as the Pharisees left, they met with Herod's supporters, looking for a way to destroy JESUS." - Mark 3:1-6 

(Here, what Mark wants to emphasize is not the miracle JESUS performs, but HIS attitude vis-à-vis the Sabbath.  This miracle confirms what HE has just said in 2:28.

The Pharisees considered it lawful to work on the Sabbath if it was a question of saving someone in danger of death.  JESUS is about to enlarge this ruling: for HIM, not to do good is to do evil, not to cure is to kill.

Some ask if JESUS was interested in the material advancement [well-being] of people or only in their spiritual progress.  Actually, it is impossible to separate one from the other.

JESUS, apparently, did not speak of the economy nor the social order, but HE did denounce our prejudices that prevent us from giving the world a true and just order.

People, then, have the capacity and the means to better their condition, but they use them poorly because they remain prisoners of principles and institutions that are considered sacred, and in order to preserve them they allow half the world to die.)

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