Please read the Scripture passage before the homily.
They were watching Jesus to see if, or when, Jesus would heal someone on the Sabbath. It was a foregone conclusion that Jesus would heal, since he had already shown his power to cure. It was whether he would do it on a Sabbath and so disregard the Sabbath day of rest. Those who were watching Jesus had already concluded that he was able to heal and cure people; they wanted, however, a pretext for accusing him.
We could rephrase the question and ask whether Jesus would accept the authority of the Jewish leaders or claim he had on his own the authority to do what he would do.
Jesus was grieved at their hardness of heart. In the time of Moses, the Pharoah, king of Egypt, was also said to have a hard heart, and that hardness ultimately led to the freedom of the Israelites from the slavery of Pharoah. The hardness of heart of the opponents of Jesus would ultimately lead to the saving death and resurrection of Jesus.
When God gave us the Sabbath rest, God did it for our sakes. God rested because God had finished the work of creating; we rest because our work is not done and will not be done unless we rest on the Sabbath. God gave us the Sabbath because we need the Sabbath.
Jesus worked on the Sabbath because the Sabbath celebrates creativity, not slavery, life not death. Let us celebrate that which gives life on the Sabbath.
We watch Jesus because we know he can heal. We watch in faith. We watch, hoping for the freedom from sin and sickness so that we can all blossom with God’s new life.