Scripture: One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” And they could not reply to these things. Luke 14:1-6 ESV
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Observation: Recapping Friday’s Daily Focus, Luke tells us that Jesus continued his itinerate ministry as he journeyed toward Jerusalem for the last time. Along the way, an unnamed person asks Jesus whether those saved will be few. Christ candidly responds that while many seek entrance into his kingdom, few will enter. He adds through metaphor that, beyond this life, there are no further opportunities to change one’s mind and heart and seek eternal communion with the Father and Son. And he further warns that those who reject him will suffer eternal anguish. But Jesus ends on a high note, depicting people from across the globe and span of generations, perceived as last in line by worldly standards, who will enter his kingdom and celebrate with him.
Today’s reading presents the fourth incident Luke records of Jesus taking on the religious leaders’ hypocrisy regarding healing on the Sabbath. However, the setting is a dinner party at a synagogue ruler’s house rather than a synagogue (see last Thursday’s Daily Focus). But in this instance, Jesus addresses the religious leaders with a question of healing on the Sabbath before taking action. The host and his guests remain silent. So Jesus takes hold of the man, heals him, sends him on his way, and then turns to the Pharisees and asks which of them would not labor to rescue a son or an ox on the Sabbath that has fallen into a well. Nonplussed, they continue to remain silent.
Takeaway: It seems odd that a disfigured man of no leadership position would be present among the guests. (Dropsy, known today as edema, causes severe inflammation due to the accumulation of fluids in the body’s cavities or tissues.) The synagogue ruler likely used this disfigured man as a confederate plant to set a trap and build further evidence that Jesus was a lawbreaker. Given Luke mentions they watched him closely would corroborate their malicious intent to find grounds to execute Jesus according to the Mosaic law (see Exodus 31:15).
As for Jesus’ response, no trap ever caught Jesus off guard. He could have arranged to meet the man the next day to avoid the conflict, but he chose to press into it. Thus, Christ preemptively strikes against the scheming of the religious with a question regarding the legality of healing and whether it constitutes laboring. Now being the ones caught off guard, they remain silent. So Jesus provides his answer by way of healing the man with dropsy. And given Jesus sends the man on his way without any qualms from those in attendance, it would indicate the religious leader had retreated from further pursuing their agenda. But Jesus is not done. As with the healing of the kyphosis woman, Jesus calls them out as hypocrites who bend their expanded laws regarding what constitutes a violation of the Sabbath.
Our takeaway? There is one unique addition to Jesus’ response to the Pharisees that shouts at us. In addition to the farm animal (which he sights in the earlier like-kind response to the religious leaders when healing the kyphosis woman), he appeals to their fatherhood and whether they would rescue their son on the Sabbath. The poignant example points us to Christ’s crucifixion when our heavenly Father did not save his Son from the “well” of our iniquities so that he might draw us out of its mire to eternal life. And we, too, are called by Christ as his ambassadors to do likewise, for we are his new creations clothed in his righteousness—no longer suffering sin’s dropsy that would otherwise weigh us down (see 2 Corinthians 5:17-21).
Prayer: Father God, we thank you and your Son for rescuing us from the well of sin and its ill effects that weigh us down. Still, we confess we are prone, like the Pharisees, to wander into the quagmires of judgmentalism and hypocrisy. So would you please help us instead follow the lead of your Holy Spirit in coming under the covering of your Son’s righteousness and moving toward those who still need to be rescued with the good news of forgiveness and reconciliation in Christ? Amen.
Rev. Gordon Green, M.Div., M.A. Counseling
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