The story in Mark 2 today is that of Jesus healing the man with the withered hand, even though it was the Sabbath.
As I think about the way Mark tells the story, in my mind I see the Pharisees setting it all up to catch Jesus breaking the law of that religious day, a day in which no work was to be done according to commandment in Exodus 20. Could it be that these religious leaders had found this man and brought him into the House of God for the very purpose of giving them ammunition for their ultimate plan of discrediting Jesus in the eyes of the people?
Regardless, this man was there and Jesus noticed him. Calling the man to Him, Jesus then proceeded to ask the Pharisees if it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do harm, to save a man's life, his livelihood and his worth, on a holy day or not. When they did not answer, he told the man to stretch out his had and it was healed.
I think about this man who was healed. In the story he does not even speak. He becomes a prop, a piece of the scenery for the play that the leaders set up in order to trap Jesus into breaking their law. He is also their pawn, just a piece for their game, but to Jesus he is a real person. Jesus acknowledges him, and heals him. Did Jesus use him to make a point? Sure, but I bet He also saw him as a man who needed to be made whole.
How do I treat people as they pass through my life? As props for my story, but unimportant in the greater scheme of things? As pawns that I can move around to let me win the game, or as persons that deserve to be recognized as such?
I will be thrown in with people today that I do not know, that may only be there for that one moment. So, how do I treat them?
I recognize that my part in God's continuing story is minute. It is not my story that is important, it is His, and others are in that story as well. They are important to God and should be to me as well.
God, please help me to treat them, not as pawns or props, but as people. Let me see them as You do.
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