In today’s Gospel Our Lord is not just sizing up a political situation and reading body language and expressions: he is reading hearts, and he is saddened by their hardness. Today he encounters not just people who unknowingly and perhaps unwillingly work against him and his mission, but those who do so willingly and knowingly: the Pharisees. They don’t approve of what he is doing and they want to use it as something with which to accuse him and condemn him.
Mark simply tells us that Our Lord is angry and sad at their attitude. We can only guess at all the reasons running through his mind: the expectations he had of those who had been entrusted with watching over Israel, and seeing them simply acting as political agents trying to shore up their position against an apparent pretender to their throne. When Our Lord invites them to reveal why they’re really in the synagogue they opt for a strategic silence. They don’t hide their intentions well enough, or else Mark would have never known that from that moment they sought to kill Jesus.
As we saw yesterday in the case of the Lord choosing David as a new king, Our Lord doesn’t judge just by appearances; he judges hearts. When he looks at my heart today, how does he feel? Politics don’t work with him. Have a heart to heart conversation with him today and see how you can make him happy. His happiness is yours, guaranteed.
Readings: 1 Samuel 17:32–33, 37, 40–51; Psalm 144:1b, 2, 9–10; Mark 3:1–6. See also 23rd Week in Ordinary Time, Monday.