Never a Wrong Time to Do the Right Thing

1 Corinthians 5:1-8; Luke 6:6-11

Our readings today speak of two kinds of healing: the healing of our human bodies and the healing of the body of Christ.

In our first reading, St. Paul addresses a sickness in the body of Christ: a case of incest between a man and his mother-in-law. Their relationship is sick, but the community’s indifference to their sin is sicker. As the Church experiences today, the only thing worse than a scandal over sin is to pretend that it does not exist or to hope, expect or demand that it will simply go away. Action, even if it is painful or embarrassing, is required for people and the community to be healed.

Jesus’ desire is that each person and each community is restored to wholeness. That desire is stronger than the law against working on the Sabbath. Jesus reminds us that there is never a wrong time to do the right thing. There is never a bad time to be an instrument of God’s grace in the world.