Today's Gospel reading is about Jesus healing a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath.  It was against Jewish religious law to heal on the Sabbath.  The Pharisees and Sadducees were angry that Jesus was healing on the Sabbath, and I'm sure they were also irate that He was "healing" on any day, as Jesus's power to heal, was a threat to them. At the very least, the Pharisees and Sadducees were no doubt riveting with jealousy.  Jesus Christ was not Good News to them and that is the irony, because Jesus was the Good News.  Jesus's healing of people was the sign that the Kingdom of God was at hand, and God was in their midst.

You would think, that this would be a most glorious and joyous event for everyone, but, not so.  This rejection of Jesus points to the evil or sinfulness that was ready to resist Jesus and destroy Him.  More than 2,000 years later,  this scenario has not changed, either in the world, or like it or not, at times,  in the Christian Churches. Jesus is quoted as saying in the Gospel of Matthew, "I have come to bring fire to the earth and my Word cuts like a two-edged sword."  Happily, the Good News, Jesus Christ has been embraced by many a believer throughout the ages, and so Jesus Christ continues to heal not only on the Sabbath, but, every day and every where and to whom He pleases