Friday in the 30th Week of Ordinary Time, November 3, 2023

Luke 14, 1-6

On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees, and the people there were observing him carefully. In front of him there was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus spoke to the scholars of the Law and Pharisees in reply, asking, “Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath or not?” But they kept silent; so he took the man and, after he had healed him, dismissed him. Then 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?” But they were unable to answer his question.

After reading this passage from St. Luke”s Gospel we might wonder two things: why did the Lord time and again seem to go out of his way to confront the Pharisees about curing people’s ills on the Sabbath; and, why do the Evangelists recount so many of these stories?  It is almost as though they are hammering home a point that was already made.  But by repeatedly curing the sick on the Sabbath in the presence of the Pharisees, the Lord challenged them on their belief that they had the right or even the divine mission to interpret the Scriptures and to pass their interpretation on as definitive.  There were two problems with them doing this.  The first was that the Pharisees did not possess the authority to teach.  They had not been appointed by the chief priests to do this.  Nor could they claim to possess the authority which the Prophets did possess in teaching the children of Israel.  Second, their interpretation differed markedly from those of previous generations and conflicted with the Law itself.  For example, the Pharisees insisted that rules they originally had adopted for themselves as regarding activity on the Sabbath must be followed by all Jews.  They were imposing their brand of piety on others and calling it doctrine, the Law of Moses.  The Pharisees took the Lord’s challenges not as a call to examine their beliefs and to reform but as a threat to their existence, “and they were filled with madness: and they talked one with another, what they might do to Jesus” (Luke 6, 11).

“On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees.”  A particular Pharisee might invite Jesus to the midday meal at his house because he was favorably disposed to him, as Nicodemus was, and wanted to learn more from him.  Or, he might use the occasion in an attempt to trap Jesus in his words.  The latter reason seems true in this case inasmuch as “the people there were observing him carefully.”  The Greek text does not say “people”, as in non-Pharisees.  The context indicates several other Pharisees were present.  These were “observing him carefully”, that is, critically, expecting him to act in a way contrary to their estimations of what was right.  “In front of him there was a man suffering from dropsy.”  That is, as though deliberately placed there before him.  The seating at dinners in wealthy homes was very purposely arranged (cf. Luke 14, 7-11).  Dropsy, also called edema, results in a buildup of fluid in the arms or legs or in other locations, even including the brain.  Many conditions can cause this.  More than likely, since the man’s dropsy was apparent, it meant either swelling in his arms or legs.  This could have resulted in severe pain and difficulty in walking.  The Pharisees expose their callousness and inhumanity in using a man in such a state as bait.  

“Jesus spoke to the scholars of the Law and Pharisees in reply.”  The ploy by the Pharisees would have been transparent to anyone.  It was not even clever.  Rather, it was cynical.  The Lord sees the presence of this man, surely embarrassed by the position into which he was placed, as a challenge by the Pharisees, and he replies to it as though it were spoken aloud.  “Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath or not?”  In replying, he throws their challenge back at them, showing them that he knew their thoughts.  “But they kept silent.”  They do not present their evidence that it is not legal to do so, and their silence is a marked sign of disrespect.  The Lord will not argue with them, then.  “So he took the man and, after he had healed him, dismissed him.”  Now, neither the dropsical man nor anyone else had asked him for a cure but the Lord heals him anyway.  It is a sign to us that the Lord is more desirous of our salvation than we even are.  No one asked him to die on the Cross for us, and yet he did it.  After healing the man, Jesus sent him away.  He was not a Pharisee and almost certainly not a willing part of their scheme and so was probably very relieved to be dismissed, even as he rejoiced, at least inwardly, at his new good health.

“Then 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?’ ”  The Lord issues a counter challenge to the Pharisees.  His words also reveal something about him.  He himself is the man who sees that his child or his ox has fallen into a cistern or pit and without hesitating pulls him out.  If he does not, the child or the ox, unable to help themselves and possibly injured, will die, whether the cistern is full of water or not.  The Lord sees the man with the dropsy or us with our sins and immediately wants to help us.  He acts right away and completely effectively.  

“But they were unable to answer his question.”  Even as they had posed their challenge without words, and remained silent when the Lord questioned them, so they have nothing to offer now.  They are defeated but do not want to give a sign of this.  By their silence they show that they know the Lord is right, but to admit this means that they have to re-examine their movement and it’s contentions, and this they will not do.

The Lord challenges us, too, through his words in the Gospels and through his humble silence in the Blessed Sacrament.