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Hi everyone. 
Welcome back to the logical. 

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Bible study podcast where we 
look at the Gospel reading from 

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today's mass and we want to get 
it, the literal sense of the 

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text. 
What is what was the author 

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trying to convey to his original
audience? 

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Today at Mass you'll hear from 
Mark chapter 3, verses 1 to 6. 

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So here's the reading. 
Jesus went into a synagogue and 

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there was a man there who had a 
withered hand and they were 

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watching him to see if he would 
cure him on the Sabbath day, 

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hoping for something to use 
against him. 

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He said to the man, with the 
withered hand, stand up out in 

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the middle. 
Then he said to them, is it 

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against the law on the Sabbath 
day to do good, or to do evil to

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save life or to kill. 
But they said nothing. 

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Then grieved to find them. 
So obstinate he looked angrily. 

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Rounded them and he said to the 
man, stretch out your hand, he 

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stretched it out and his hand 
was better. 

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The Pharisees went out and once 
at once began to plot with the 

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herodians against him, 
discussing how to destroy him. 

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So the context here is really 
important. 

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You remember, in yesterday's 
episode and yesterday's Gospel 

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reading. 
Jesus was walking through the 

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corn fields on the Sabbath and 
his disciples picked up corn 

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picked Grain on the Sabbath day.
In the Pharisees said, you can't

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do that at the Sabbath day and 
remember Jesus response, he said

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the Sabbath was made for man, 
not man for the Sabbath. 

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The son of man is Lord even of 
the Sabbath. 

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So that was the profound 
response by Jesus in yesterday's

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gospel. 
Today's Gospel takes place it 

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appears on the same day later on
that same day. 

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It's still the Sabbath verse 1. 
Jesus went into a synagogue and 

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that's where most Jews would be 
on the Sabbath day. 

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They would all go there for 
teaching and for prayer. 

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And in there, there's a man who 
had a withered hand. 

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So probably it means the man's 
hand is atrophied. 

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It's infected with something and
possibly even paralyzed his hand

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does not work the way it should.
And at face value, that doesn't 

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sound as bad as other conditions
like blindness and deafness, but

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think about it in this culture, 
the way that most men earned a 

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living with through manual 
labor. 

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So it's quite a severe condition
in that culture. 

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Presumably the man. 
It doesn't say this but probably

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the man comes to Jesus for 
healing either that or Jesus 

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notices the man and the 
Pharisees predict that Jesus is 

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going to heal them. 
In either way the Pharisees see 

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this healing is about to happen.
Verse 2, they watched him. 

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So, that's the Pharisees watched
him to see if he would cure him 

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on the Sabbath day. 
So, again, the Pharisees are 

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concerned about what's Jesus 
going to do on the Sabbath day? 

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Because, as we said yesterday, 
on the Sabbath day, Jews were 

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not allowed to do work, but what
countered? 

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His work was determined by the 
Pharisees. 

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The Pharisees had, this complex 
system of what counted as work 

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and what doesn't And according 
to their system healing or 

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medical treatment is considered 
to be work according to their 

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classification. 
So you're not allowed if you're 

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a Jew you can't seek medical 
treatment on the Sabbath. 

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And the text says that they're 
hoping for something to use 

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against him. 
So this is the first clear 

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indication in Mark that the 
Pharisees out to get Jesus up. 

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Until now they've just been 
watching Jesus and learning and 

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now they're actually trying to 
catch him out. 

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So by this time, they probably 
recognize that Jesus is a threat

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to their established system. 
They feel like their authorities

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being undermined by his even if 
he is appointed by God, they 

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want him out of the way. 
Now most likely some, we don't 

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know this but probably some of 
the Pharisees actually started 

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to think about things and might 
have become Jesus followers. 

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So when it says the Pharisees 
brought against him, probably 

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means collectively. 
Most of them were but we 

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shouldn't assume that they're 
all bad. 

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Probably some of them who were 
genuinely open. 

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May have changed their mind in 
response to some of Jesus 

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teachings. 
Verse 3, Jesus says to the man 

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with the withered hand, stand 
out in the middle. 

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That's a bit of a strange 
translation that ours has other 

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translations. 
Just say come here or another 

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translation says Rise up. 
So it carries this idea, a few 

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commands the man to come out to 
a place where everyone can see 

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him. 
He wants this to be a public 

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healing. 
And then he asked the fair, he 

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hasn't healed him yet but he 
asks, the Pharisees. 

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The question is it against the 
law on the Sabbath day to do 

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good, or to do evil? 
Now, the Pharisees system 

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doesn't, actually answer this 
question. 

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Remember the Pharisees system 
just says, what counts as work 

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and what doesn't? 
Jesus then asks a similar 

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question. 
To save life or to kill. 

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And again the Pharisees system 
doesn't address whether you can 

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save life or kill on the Sabbath
day. 

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So by bringing this up, Jesus is
highlighting, the God's 

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intention is to save life rather
than kill and that that's 

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actually more important 
principle a deeper principle 

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than what counts as work and 
what doesn't. 

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So again, Jesus doesn't enter 
into a debate about what exactly

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counts as work. 
And what doesn't he brings them 

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back to deeper principles? 
Yes. 

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And that's often how he goes 
about handling. 

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These situations, he wants 
people to remember deeper 

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principles that have been 
neglected. 

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And in fact, that's Jesus whole 
interpretation of the law. 

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He doesn't, he doesn't 
necessarily abolish the law, but

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he wants to remind people of the
deeper intention of the law. 

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And he says that if we neglect 
the deeper intention, that 

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probably means that we've missed
the whole point and that's his 

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whole message. 
He's constantly giving to the 

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Jews. 
But the Pharisees were silent, 

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and that's a common response by 
the Pharisees. 

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Now, it probably doesn't mean 
that they can't think of an 

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answer. 
They're not sitting there going,

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I don't know, don't know. 
They probably could think of a 

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few answers here. 
They're very smart people. 

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It's just that they know if they
answer the committing themselves

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to that answer and they don't 
want to make themselves look 

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foolish. 
So they choose to stay silent 

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verse 5. 
Then Jesus grieved to find them,

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so obstinate It's an interesting
phrase, isn't it? 

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Or another translation says, 
Jesus was grieved at their 

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Hardness of Heart. 
Hardness of Heart is basically 

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stubbornness. 
So, Jesus is grieved at the 

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stubbornness of the Pharisees 
for refusing to answer the 

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question. 
The fact that they stayed silent

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to didn't say anything. 
Jesus is frustrated that they're

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so stubborn. 
And think about it from Jesus 

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perspective, what Jesus wants 
more than anything is for his 

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Jewish people to come to God, 
with their whole selves, to come

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into the kingdom of God. 
And he wants to have leaders. 

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He wants them to have leaders, 
that will help them get closer 

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to God. 
And so, he's frustrated that 

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these Jewish leaders are not 
being good leaders, they're not 

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helping people come to God. 
He looked around at them with 

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anger. 
This is one of these few 

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instances where Jesus gets 
angry. 

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Now, it's obviously not an 
uncontrollable rage here. 

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He just looks around and he's 
angry. 

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And what has been written about 
this? 

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And most people would say, this 
is kind of like a righteous 

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anger. 
Not all anger, is sinful, and 

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Jesus, here, obviously, Jesus 
doesn't sin, so he has here an 

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anger that's Justified, but he 
doesn't yell at them. 

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He then turns to the man with 
the withered hand and says, Is 

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stretch out your hand. 
So apparently the man can 

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stretch out his hand or maybe by
Jesus. 

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Command now the man can stretch 
out his hand and immediately 

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it's healed. 
So probably everyone would have 

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seen the healing happen before 
their very eyes But verse 6, the

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Pharisees went out at once. 
So even though the Pharisees 

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have just witnessed this amazing
visible miracle healing, they're

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more concerned with upholding, 
their reputation and destroying 

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Jesus. 
And they begin to plot with the 

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herodians. 
So who are the herodians that a 

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group of high-ranking Jews, who 
were loyal to Herod Antipas? 

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Who's actually the king of this 
part of Israel down in 

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Jerusalem? 
They haven't got a king of 

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Israel anymore. 
But up in Galilee, where Jesus 

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is at the moment, there is a 
king of that part of the world 

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and he's a Jew. 
So, if your herodian you're 

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loyal to King Herod and your 
kind of you want to preserve 

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this National Jewish 
establishment. 

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You want to keep the Jewish 
state Going as it is. 

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And so what are the herodians 
want? 

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Really, they want to keep the 
peace? 

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They want Israel to stay as 
Israel, they know that if things

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get out of hand, the Romans will
come in and wipe them out. 

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So they want to keep the peace. 
They don't want anyone to come 

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in, that's going to disrupt the 
peace and obviously, they would 

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see Jesus as someone who will 
disrupt the current peace in 

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that part of Israel. 
Normally the Pharisees and the 

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herodians don't get along. 
They have quite different views 

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about religion, but the 
Pharisees know that they'll have

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allies in this case with the 
herodians. 

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Cuz both of them would want 
Jesus out of the way, but for 

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different reasons. 
So, they plot how to destroy 

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him. 
When it says, destroy some 

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translations say that means 
kill, they're already planning 

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how they can kill Jesus, which 
is possible. 

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But it could also just mean ruin
is in ruin, his reputation, to 

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get him out of the way out of 
the public Limelight. 

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It's interesting, isn't it the 
Pharisees choose to do evil 

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rather than good on the Sabbath?
So they wouldn't answer the 

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question about that before but 
now they're actually choosing a 

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certain evil action on the 
Sabbath. 

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Now, I want to that's the end of
our analysis but I want to read 

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you a quote here, from the 
Catholic commentary on sacred 

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scripture for the Book of Mark. 
And that's the main resource I 

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use in helping me think about an
exegesis with this passage. 

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And this particular quote, I 
think is a really, really nice 

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summary of what's why did Jesus 
do this particular healing? 

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So here's the quote. 
This incident raises the 

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question. 
Why did Jesus deliberately heal 

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on the Sabbath knowing that it 
would provoke such Furious 

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antagonism Note that in all 
four, gospels, every one of the 

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healings, initiated by jesus 
takes place on the Sabbath on 

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other days, the sick themselves 
or their relatives or friends 

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approached Jesus to seek 
healing, but only on this 

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sabbath. 
Does Jesus take the initiative? 

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Why does Jesus apparently prefer
to heal on the Sabbath? 

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The Declaration giving 2:28 and 
Illustrated in chapter 3 in 

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their synagogue provides the 
answer. 

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The son of man is Lord of the 
Sabbath and he exercises his 

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lordship by undoing the effects 
of sin and inaugurated the new 

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creation by which humanity is 
restored to the fullness of life

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that God intended from the 
beginning. 

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Jesus, thereby fulfills. 
The original purpose of the 

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Sabbath to bring Humanity into 
communion with God. 

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So that's a really, really good.
Corey, I Think Jesus is all 

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about. 
Bringing people back into 

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communion with God and he has a 
lot to say about what that means

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in terms of the Sabbath. 
Now, there's a few places where 

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this appears in the catechism. 
There's in paragraph, five seven

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four, there's a discussion about
how the Pharisees plot to kill 

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Jesus and that references this 
passage and then in fact in 

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paragraph 1859 which is in the 
section about the difference 

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between Mortal and venial sin. 
There's a discussion about 

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Hardness of Heart and what that 
means in terms of mortal or 

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venial sin, and it references 
this passage as well. 

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So that's well worth reading. 
Probably the two most important 

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paragraphs that I'll read out 
here a paragraph to 173, which 

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is about the Sabbath day. 
It says, the gospels report many

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incidents when Jesus was accused
of violating the Sabbath law but

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Jesus never fails to respect the
Holiness of this day. 

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He gives this law. 
It's authentic and authoritative

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interpretation. 
The Sabbath was made for man. 

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Not man for the Sabbath with 
compassion Christ, declares the 

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Sabbath for doing good rather. 
Than harm for saving life. 

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Rather than killing the Sabbath 
is the day of the Lord of 

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mercies and a day to honor God. 
The son of man is Lord even of 

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the Sabbath. 
And then in paragraph five nine 

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one, which is about Jesus, faith
in God, and Israel's faith in 

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God. 
It says such a demand for 

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conversion in the face of. 
So surprising of fulfillment of 

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the promises allows one to 
understand the sanhedrin's. 

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Tragic misunderstanding of 
Jesus, they judge that he 

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deserved the death sentence as a
blasphemer, the members of the 

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Sanhedrin were thus acting at 
the same time, out of ignorance,

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and the hardness of their 
unbelief. 

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Still hear The Echoes from The 
Mark 3. 

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Passage about the Pharisees, 
having a Hardness of Heart. 

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Okay, that's the end of your 
exegesis for today. 

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Hopefully you're enjoying this 
way of starting. 

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The liturgical year were up to 
Chapter 3 of Mark. 

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Now, moving through really 
quickly and if you think that 

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other people would benefit from 
going through the liturgical 

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season, by listening to this 
podcast, then please make sure 

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you tell other people about it 
and leave a review and a rating 

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on iTunes as well. 
Thanks again for listening,