In our daily meditations, we are looking at the many supernatural acts of the Lord Jesus. Today, we are focusing on the healing of a man with dropsy:
1One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. 2There in front of him was a man suffering from dropsy. 3Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?" 4But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him away. 5Then he asked them, "If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?" 6And they had nothing to say (Luke 14:1-6).
Luke tells us that Jesus was invited to dine with a “prominent Pharisee.” The Pharisees were known for opposing Christ, yet the Lord still reached out to them around a table of food. The Greek word translated carefully watched means to watch on the side or to watch insidiously. In other words, they were watching out of the corners of their eyes, hoping to catch Jesus saying or doing something. It was the Sabbath, so was this a setup to discredit Jesus for healing on that day, a time when they believed doctors should rest?
Let’s explore the life and suffering of the man with dropsy. Today, this condition is referred to as edema. It involves the swelling of body parts to grotesque sizes due to fluid accumulation. We might say that he was drowning in his own body fluid. Edema is often caused by heart, kidney, or liver failure. With such an illness, he was nearing death. Luke doesn’t specify which parts of his body had swollen, but it was evident to everyone present. If it were in his legs, he would have struggled to walk or stand. The religious crowd did not care for him; their only interest was using him to trap Jesus. The Lord could see the ambush coming. This unfortunate, sick man was merely bait in the Pharisees' trap. The conventional belief among the religious elite regarding the poor, suffering, and ill was that their sin was being punished by God.
Christ's heart went out to the man. He would not compromise His value that people come first. People are precious to Jesus. What would He do? The room fell silent as Jesus accepted their challenge. The Pharisees believed that one could only assist someone on the Sabbath if that person's life were in danger of being lost.
Jesus shifted the focus of attention from Himself to the Pharisees and the lawyers present. The Lord has a way of asking questions that open a person's heart. Looking around at them, He asked, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?" (v. 3). The Greek word translated as lawful means authorized, permitted, or proper. Jesus wasn't asking if it was legitimate according to the law of Moses; He was seeking their opinion on what was appropriate. They did not anticipate this question and were perplexed about how to respond. If they spoke against healing on the Sabbath for this very needy man, the state of their calloused hearts would be revealed, but they also didn’t want to allow Christ to heal on the Sabbath after believing they had Him in their trap. They understood that the Scriptures impose no limitations on acts of compassion during the Sabbath.
4But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him away. 5Then he asked them, "If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?" 6And they had nothing to say (Luke 14:4-6).
Jesus appealed to their common sense, asking if their animals fell into a well and were drowning, wouldn't they pull them out? He first addressed their economic concerns, suggesting they would need to buy another ox to plow their fields. Then, he posed another question: if their son fell into a well and was drowning, wouldn't they do everything possible to save him? This man before them was drowning in his fluid, and he was someone's son. Shouldn't this son be saved from drowning? The passage concludes with Luke noting that they had nothing to say. How cold-hearted false religion can be. Keith Thomas
To read this study in more depth, click All Studies on the Home Page, click the Gospel of Luke, and then study 38, Luke 14:1-14, The Healing of a Man on the Sabbath.
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