GOSPEL: LK 14:1-6
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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.
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Jesus reaches out to people even if they are hostile towards him. He accepts a dinner invitation extended by a Pharisee. It is highly suspicious that a man ill with dropsy is positioned right in front of Jesus during dinner. It is Sabbath, and the Pharisee and his ilk want to see whether Jesus will heal the sick man on a holy day. A trap is clearly laid to ensnare Jesus.
Jesus knows what is running in the minds of the lawyers and the Pharisees, so he asks, “Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath or not?” Since they know they cannot justify their answer, they keep quiet. Jesus lays bare their hypocritical attitude by pointing out to them their preference for an ass or an ox over a human person who is suffering. The Pharisees do not mind pulling out an animal from a well on a Sabbath. But they are aghast that Jesus heals the sick man.
The greater fault of the host Pharisee is when he uses the man as “bait.”
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SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2020,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
