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Author: Stephen Weller
594 words, 3 minutes read time

Healing a Man on the Sabbath

Scripture: Luke 14:1-6

With this lesson we will officially start section 139 and will do it with another healing on the Sabbath.

 ^{Lk 14:1} “One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. ² And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. ³ And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”’

According to the harmonization time line I am following, I believe Jesus is heading north towards Galilee and on a particular Sabbath “he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees.” This is the third and last Sabbath healing recorded in Luke. The first was recorded in Luke 6:6 – 11 and the second in Luke 13:10 – 17.

As usual Jesus was carefully watched to see if he would do something, they could use against him. They wouldn’t have to wait long for in their midst was a man who had dropsy; probably a condition we would call edema in which excess fluid gathers in various parts of the body. Jesus knew they were watching him, and he knew the man with dropsy was there, so he asks the lawyers and Pharisees if it was “lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”

Jesus asked a similar question in Luke 6:9 ESV: “I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?” and they refused to answer. Likewise, in Luke 13:16 ESV: “And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” to which they remained silent as they were put to shame. For further comments on Sabbath healing, follow this link to two previous lessons.

^{Lk 14:4} “But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. ⁵ 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?” ⁶ And they could not reply to these things.”

By asking them that question, Jesus put them on the spot. They remained silent because they have learned from past experiences that they can never win when they get into an argument with Jesus (See Luke 5:30 – 6:11). Jesus responds to their silence by taking the man, healing him and sending him on his way. Jesus then turns to the lawyers and Pharisees and asks them a second question, “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?”

Checkmate! They knew they would go to the rescue of a son or an ox in trouble to help out and they knew it was right for the man to be set free from his condition, but to respond would condemn them. Again, Jesus had brought shame upon them by pointing out their hypocrisy, which would intensify their desire to eliminate him from their presence.

Conclusion

One more time Jesus pointed out their hypocrisy concerning the Sabbath. The Jewish leaders established rules to enforce rest on the Sabbath, but in so doing they were preventing the doing of good or providing help when needed; something they would do but condemn others who did.