Healing of the Man with Dropsy on the Sabbath

Today's Reflections

                      

                                                                               

 

Healing of the Man with Dropsy on the Sabbath

Lk 14:1-6

¹On a sabbath [Jesus] went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. ²In front of him there was a man suffering from dropsy. ³Jesus spoke to the scholars of the law and Pharisees in reply, asking, “Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?” ⁴But they kept silent; so he took the man and, after he had healed him, dismissed him. ⁵Then he said to them, “Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern, would not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?” ⁶But they were unable to answer his question.

TO CURE ON THE SABBATH. Jesus is invited for dinner by a leading Pharisee on a Sabbath—whether out of friendship or to find fault, we do not know. Before Jesus is a man sick of dropsy (edema or, in Filipino, pamamanas).

Jesus asks the scribes and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?” (v 3). Their response is silence—even if they believe that curing the sick is a form of work, and work is forbidden on the Sabbath.

Jesus then proceeds to heal the man. Is Jesus violating the law of the Sabbath? For the Pharisees, yes. But for Jesus, who as Son of Man is “lord of the sabbath” (Lk 6:5), the healing is something that has to be done, just as a Jew whose son or ox falls into a cistern will pull son or ox out even on a Sabbath. Moreover, by curing the man, Jesus obeys the commandment of love, which surpasses the law of the Sabbath.

Do you find yourself paying attention

to trivial concerns while neglecting

important matters?