Evil can affect us in many different ways: through enmity and violence from other people, catastrophes, illness, death... But none of this defeats us as long as we do not let it into our inner, spiritual world. The victory of evil is when vindictiveness, grumbling, and despondency seize us from within. It cannot be defeated by just retribution; there is only one path to victory, and Christ has shown it: active love, self-sacrifice for the salvation of sinners.

Jesus' answer to the people who looked at Him reproachfully does not appear entirely logical at first glance. From the point of view of those around Him, what He was about to do, and did in fact do, was a violation of the Sabbath. And He reminds them that even a domestic animal whose life is in danger is rescued on the Sabbath, and such actions are not a violation of Sabbath rest.

Reasoning in human terms, from the point of view of our untransformed world, healing a man whose main problem was a withered hand is something fundamentally different. If this man's life had been in danger, if medical intervention, in modern terms, had been required for vital indications, no one would have said a word to Jesus. And even if the issue had been a threat to the life of a domestic animal that needed help, no one would have reproached Him. The whole point was precisely that there was no threat to life: the man with the withered hand, with which he had already lived for more than one year, clearly would have lived calmly in the same way for one more day. And then, after the Sabbath ended, he would have received the expected help without violating Sabbath rest. So why hurry?

But Jesus, as we can see, looks at the matter quite differently and does not want to wait. And not because He is a principled opponent of the rules of Sabbath rest accepted in those days. He simply wants to convey to those around Him the true meaning of the Sabbath: this day is given so that it may be spent with God.

If this were simply a matter of medical help, those around Him would perhaps have been right. But this was not about medicine, but about the Kingdom; not about treatment, but about healing, and that changed everything completely. For if the Sabbath is, in fact, the time to be spent with God, then every manifestation of the Kingdom, together with the healings that accompany it, should only be welcomed. In essence, Jesus offers those who are nearby the chance to spend the Sabbath with Him in His Kingdom, and they do not understand Him and do not notice the Kingdom, seeing only a violation of the prohibitions connected with Sabbath rest.

He offers them the fullness of life; hence the mention that even an animal whose life is in danger has a right to help, even on the Sabbath. For without this fullness everyone is doomed to death, and only He, Jesus, can save them from death. But when He does this, joining to the Kingdom at least one person whom He heals, they accuse Him of violating the Sabbath. The spiritual meaning of the Sabbath has moved into the background, while religious formalities, on the contrary, have come to the foreground and obscured the Kingdom, which the people surrounding Jesus do not even notice.

The scribes' accusations against Jesus are very serious: He is profaning the Sabbath, He is doing what must not be done, and "must not" in the highest, sacred sense - this is a violation of a divine commandment. Christ does not justify Himself; instead, He reminds them that King David once also did what was not permitted, and that even now the priests profane the Sabbath, and this profanation took place and still takes place in the Temple itself! Jesus deliberately uses such words, though He could have spoken more mildly. And if those violations seem forgivable to the scribes, what will they say if the One who is here is greater than David, greater than the priests, and greater than the Temple?

Christ shows them His divine-human freedom to do good on the Sabbath, the sacred day of God's perfection. The prohibition exists only so that human freedom will not be turned toward evil, toward destruction and death. This means that Jesus' actions announce that standing before them is the One who is incapable of evil: the Lord of the Sabbath.