In this week's gospel Jesus heals a woman who has been living with a debilitating physical ailment for 18 years. He doesn't just heal her on any day of the week, though. He heals her on the Sabbath, which is a special day each week in the Jewish tradition set apart for rest. In Jesus' time the rules for this day of rest were very strict, and healing counted as doing work and not allowed on the Sabbath. Jesus goes out of his way to heal the woman in front of the leader of the Jewish community there, who is not happy with what Jesus has done. Jesus does this in order to challenge the rules of the Sabbath, that he sees as putting rule following over helping people. Jesus breaks the rules in order to show how the rules are hurting people. This week, take some time for a family discussion about rules. Where in your life, whether in your family, at school, at work, or anywhere else, are there unfair rules? Why are these rules unfair? Are they hurting people instead of helping people? What is a way you could help change these rules?
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