Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man.
—Mark 1;41
Jesus spotted a man in the synagogue crowd whose hand was hideously deformed, a silent sufferer, neither seeking Jesus’ attention nor asking for his help.
But his affliction awakened compassion in Jesus’ heart, and he healed him.
The Pharisees didn’t give a rip about the man’s misery; they were just dead set on catching Jesus breaking the rules by healing him on the Sabbath.
That made Jesus mad. He stared them down in anger, “deeply disturbed by their indifference to human need” (Mk 3:5 TLB).
We don’t have to intentionally harm people to raise Jesus’ hackles. Just be indifferent to their needs. That infuriates him.
In becoming a friend of rules, be careful
not to become an enemy of mercy.