Luke 14:1-6

Problem 5 – The Closed Mind

Luke 14:1-6 - Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

¹ Once when Jesus entered the home

of one of the leading Pharisees to eat a meal,

they were observing him insidiously.

² Interestingly a man with dropsy was there in front of him.

³ Engaging them, Jesus asked the lawyers among the Pharisees,

“Is it lawful or not to heal on the Sabbath?”

⁴ They remained silent.

He took hold of him and healed him,

then sent him away.

⁵ He said to them, “Who of you,

if your son or your ox falls into a well,

will not immediately pull it out on a Sabbath day?”

⁶ And they were not able to answer him back.

The healing of the man with dropsy parallelled the healing of the crippled woman recounted earlier (13:10-17). The setting was different; the fact of the Sabbath was common to both.

Meal invitations were expected to be occasions for welcome and care. Not so with the Pharisees: they were observing him insidiously. Jesus challenged them openly. His justification of his action added nothing to what he had said on the previous occasion mentioned. In the face of their own inconsistency and Jesus’ explicit option for life, they were silent.

As Luke’s community reflected on the incident, they would have been reminded that their own gatherings for the Eucharistic meal were celebrations of life, in line with the true spirit of Sabbath observance.

Next >> Luke 14:7-15