Thursday: The Sabbath – The Sick Versus the Ox and the Donkey
Of the three synoptic Gospels, only Luke records these two Sabbath healings of Jesus (Luke 13:10-16, Luke 14:1-5). The first caused the ruler of the synagogue to be indignant with Jesus; the second put the Pharisees to silence. In either case, the enemies of Jesus were using their misinterpretation of the law to accuse Jesus of breaking the Sabbath.
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Read Luke 13:10-16 and Luke 14:1-6. What important truths are revealed here about how easy it is to pervert crucial biblical truths?
Consider the crippled woman. She belonged to a gender that was looked down upon by the Pharisees; she was crippled for 18 years, long enough to test anyone’s patience and to multiply in her a sense of life’s meaninglessness; and, finally, she was totally unable to free herself.
To her comes divine grace personified. Jesus sees her, calls her to come near Him, speaks to her in order that she may be healed, lays His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight
(Luke 13:13, NKJV). Eighteen-year-old agony suddenly gives way to a moment of undiluted joy, and she glorified God
(Luke 13:13). Each verb that Luke used is Inspiration’s way of recognizing the worth and dignity of the woman and, indeed, the worth and dignity of every despised individual, regardless of that person’s situation.
In the second miracle (Luke 14:1-6), Jesus-on His way to a Pharisee’s home for a meal on the Sabbath-heals a man who suffered from dropsy. Anticipating the objections from the leaders who were watching Him closely, Jesus raised two questions: first, on the purpose of the law (Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?
[Luke 14:3]); second, on the worth of a human being (Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?
[Luke 14:5, NKJV]). His point should have been obvious; in fact, it was, because according to Luke they had no answer to what He had said. Jesus revealed their hypocrisy, the worst kind because it came under a veil of supposed holiness and righteous indignation over what they perceived to be an egregious violation of God’s holy law.
How careful we need to be.
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Three points in this lesson caught my attention:
1) Contrast - sometimes on a Sabbath Jesus was in the field and other times he in was in the synagogue
2) Jesus was discussing 'what is lawful to do on the Sabbath'. So as long as we don't forget the who it is not always wrong to discuss the what.
3) Jesus went to a Pharisee's house for a Sabbath meal! Jesus was socialising with a Pharisee! We read so much of the Pharisees trying to trap & condemn him and of Jesus pronouncing woes on them. But here we see the other side of Jesus reaching out to them and them responding and inviting him into their homes! And not just any Pharisee but one of the chief Pharisees!
Dear Sister Shirley,
Considering your insightful comments, could I complain that in giving your all to the story of Jesus Christ having lunch with the rulers of the Pharisees and the Lawyers, that you gave no reflection to Jesus Christ taking a break in His sermon/teaching to heal a woman crippled for 18 years?
On your points:
1. Since the disciples were hungry, taking advantage of available food as they were walking through the corn fields, was this lunchtime hunger walking home from Church, or heavy suppertime hunger from being in Church all day, and there was no synagogue potluck?
2. Since Jesus Christ was "discussing" a real life situation of need and resistance to meeting needs, do our discussions need to be just as purposeful, or OK for its own sake?
3. Why do you think Jesus Christ accepted that invitation? Was this common habit, or because He knew a moment of empowerment was about to take place?
Hi Hurford, isn't that the beauty of the Word of the LORD that each time we read a passage something different impresses us. Today what caught my attention was Jesus eating in a Pharisees' house which only Luke records.
1) Are you asking what makes it alright to over ride the precept, must it be an urgent - nearly starving need?
2) I agree endless theoretical discussions are seldom worth it, however a certain amount of discussion for educational purposes is helpful in making a decision when faced with a real life situation.
3)EGW tells us that Jesus after discussion with Father God had a plan for where he went and what he did every day.
If we read the whole of Luke 14 we see 3 main things:
a) Jesus socialising with the Pharisees
b) Jesus healing a man with dropsy
c) Jesus teaching those present about doing good on Sabbath, being humble, counting the cost of following him.
If we look at the number of verses Luke allocates to each:
a)1
b)5
c)29
it would seem to me that Jesus' main purpose (according to Luke) for this meeting was to share the good news with a group to whom he didn't often have access.
Human being is the supreme object of God's love so everything that can be made for relieving suffering will always be above any kind of restriction someone could invent... This lesson teaches us about the purpose of the law versus the worth of men and women.
The lesson says, "Of the three synoptic Gospels, only Luke records these two Sabbath healings of Jesus." Maybe that was because Luke being a Gentile was writing to a Gentile and he wanted him to know that Jesus was not just for the "good Jews" but also for those little people who were routinely despised and marginalized. The Gentiles were in that group that included women, children, and anyone with a disease. Luke more than any other gospel writer includes those people in his account of the Son of God that were thought to be on the fringes of hell.
There is an important lesson in the story of the healing of the man with dropsy. The Pharisees thought that they could improve on God's Sabbath law by denying healing on that day. But instead of improving the law they were making the sabbath a tool to lower man below that of a beast. They could use "their" sabbath law to rescue a donkey but not a human being made in the image of God!
The same applies to anyone who tries to improve God's law, with Satan being the first offender--He tried to "improve" God's law and the status of angels and lowered himself and his followers in the process.
I am a landlord. There are times when I have calls from tenants on Sabbath, with an emergency that needs immediate attention. Yesterday, a tenant called me with his cooler not working. It was two hours before sundown. I was there till after sundown fixing it. I noticed the gas gauge nearly empty as I was driving home, so I had to stop and buy gas after sundown. It is going to be in the 90's today, so know I did the right thing. Cows have to be milked, chickens fed. To me sunset tables listed in the church bulletin are a throwback to the legalism of the Pharisees. I try on Friday's to prepare for sabbath and be done before sundown, but things happen, and I refuse to be rigidly controlled by the clock and sunset tables that calculate sundown right down to the minute.