JEUS HEALS A MAN WITH DROPSY ON SATURDAY
1One Sabbath,
when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were
watching him carefully.
2And behold,
there was a man before him who had dropsy.
3And Jesus
responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “IS IT LAWFUL TO HEAL ON THE
SABBATH, OR NOT?”
4But they
remained silent.
Then he took him
and healed him and sent him away.
5And 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?”
6And they could
not reply to these things.
LUKE 14:1-6
COMMENTARY
During one of
his visits to Jerusalem, Lord JESUS accepted a dinner invitation from one of
the Pharisees, probably one of the many who could not make up their mind about
Him yet, nevertheless they sympathized with Him (John 12:42).
But knowing of
their religiosity, Lord Jesus knew that even though the pharisees and publicans
were very strict according to the letter of the Mosaic Law, their hearts were
not.
In their
religious zeal, the Jews had lost the view of the spiritual reasons behind the
Law, dedicating themselves simply to fulfil the mandates without understating why,
and thus, converted the true faith of in God, into a dead religion in the majority
of cases.
On this occasion,
being the Sabbath, the poor were allowed to approach the houses of rich counterparts
to be served a good meal (1), and one of them, a man suffering of fluid
retention, had caught the attention of the Savior.
To teach them
the reason of the Sabbath to these religious men who had invited Him for dinner,
and having mercy in his heart for the sick man, our Lord asked them if it was
lawful to heal on a Sabbath (v.3).
As all remained
silent, all of them knowing the fame of Jesus of shutting up all opponents, our
Lord healed the sick man, and after sending him away healed, Jesus justified his
merciful action by asking them, who would put the Sabbath law over the
emergency of saving a property or a child from immediate danger; to which
nobody answered either.
That day, even
though by tradition the Jews did leave animals in the well until the Sabbath
had passed, they did save their children if in danger, no matter what day.
Regardless, GOD
JESUS, made clear that the reason for the Sabbath, was to rescue man from his
own ambition and insensitivity, and make him leave work and everyday worries, to
concentrate in his family, his own person, and to dedicate time to worship God.
Jesus showed
that day, that the Sabbath was never given by God to man, to enslaved the
faithful, but to free them; and specially never, to forget about the important
things in life, like mercy and love for others.
Omar Flores.
(1)
Sabbath,
Emil G. Hirsch, Joseph Jacobs, Executive Committee of the Editorial Board.,
Julius H. Greenstone, Jewish Encyclopedia, 2022.
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