Gospel Means Liberation

 "On another Sabbath, JESUS entered the synagogue and began teaching.  There was a man with a paralyzed right hand, and the teachers of the law and the Pharisees watched HIM: Would JESUS heal the man on the Sabbath?  If HE did, they could accuse HIM.

But JESUS knew their thoughts, and said to the man, 'Get up, and stand in the middle.'  Then HE spoke to them, 'I want to ask you: what is allowed by the law on the Sabbath?  To do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?'  And JESUS looked around at them all.

Then HE said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.'  He stretched it out, and his hand was restored, becoming as healthy as the other.  But they were furious and began to discuss with one another how they could deal with JESUS." - Luke 6:6-11 

(In this case, JESUS could have said to the man: 'Why do you ask ME to do something forbidden on the Sabbath?  Come back tomorrow to be healed.'  JESUS does not avoid the confrontation because Gospel means liberation and we become free when we admit that there is nothing sacred in a society that attempts to impose its own standards.  The law of rest [Sabbath] is one of the fundamental laws of the Scriptures but that does not prevent the possibility of this law causing oppression and for that reason it must at times be dispensed with.

It is the same for the most sacred laws of the Church: at a given moment they might be an obstacle to the Gospel and, if that be the case, Christian conscience, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, must find a solution for the time being.  As long as people are subject to an order, to laws and authorities which are considered sacred and which no one thinks of criticizing, those people are neither free nor true sons and daughters of GOD.  [See 1 Corinthians 3:21-23; 8:4-5; Colossians 2:20-23.] 

A respect for GOD that would destroy our critical sense would not be in keeping with the Gospel; a religion preventing us from seeking the truth and from questioning every area of human restlessness would not be the true one.  To study the Scriptures without daring to know and take into account the contributions of modern science for fear that our very naive vision of sacred history would fall apart, would be to sin against the Spirit.) 

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