Reflection on the Gospel of Luke 14:1-6

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Friday, October 30, 2020

The Pharisees were a group of zealous Jews who were contemporaries of Jesus. They believed that they way they would please God and make it to heaven was by meticulously following a long list of religious rules and regulations. One of those rules was the prohibition of work on the Sabbath. Now this prohibition of work on the Sabbath included healing as well, as some of them considered healing a form of work. As today’s Gospel tells us, Jesus was a guest at the house of one of the leading Pharisees on a Sabbath. The dinner does not seem to be a private one or a friendly one; there were people around who rather than enjoy their meals were paying attention to what Jesus would do. In the midst of them was a man afflicted with dropsy, know today as edema. Did the man come there on his own accord? Did the Pharisees invite him in order to use him to test Jesus? We don’t know. Knowing the intention of the Pharisees, Jesus took one or two steps ahead of them by posing a question to them: “Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath or not?” His question is met with silence. Turning to the afflicted man he healed him and sent him home. After the healing, he asked the Pharisees a second question: “Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern, would not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” For the second time they refused to say a word to Jesus’ question. 

The Lord’s two questions surely exposed the silliness of the Pharisees “no work on the Sabbath rule,” and that’s why they did not answer any of his questions. The Fourth Commandment which enjoins us to keep the Sabbath day holy should be observed by imitating and reflecting God’s own work in Creation (Ex. 20:11), as well as God’s redemptive work (Deut. 5:15). And central to God’s work of creation and God’s work of redemption is the human person. So, it makes no sense to watch an imago Dei languish just because it is Sabbath. Every day is holy; every day is a day to perform holy and just acts. But on a Sabbath day, we should do more, and not less. 

Sisters and brothers, apart from God’s commandments, we all have other rules that we enacted ourselves and that we live by. From time to time, it is vitally important to examine those rules to make sure they are not hindering our response to our sisters and brothers the way Jesus would. Whatever we do, whether in speech or in action, we should do in love for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ who loved us and died for us. Amen.