It was on the Sabbath, and Jesus had gone to the house of a ruler of the Pharisees to dine. Verse 2 says that there was a man there who had “dropsy.”  The condition that he had was probably edema, which can be caused from congestive heart failure, kidney, or liver failure. If it was pulmonary edema, it could have been severe enough for breathing to be an issue. At any rate, it seems the condition was obvious by his appearance and manner.

Deutsch: Christus im Hause des Pharisäers, Jacopo Tintoretto, Escorial (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The last part of verse one says that the Pharisees were watching Jesus carefully even before the man was mentioned. This suggests that although the presence of other people at these dinners was not unusual, this man may have been brought there by the Pharisees in order to trap Jesus. Verse 3 appears to bear that out as well for it says that Jesus “responded” to the lawyers and Pharisees.  He asked them if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not. They remained silent at this question. That itself is noteworthy, because they certainly had plenty to say on the subject on other occasions.

Jesus healed the man, of course, and sent him on his way. When Jesus asked which of them would not pull their son or their ox out of a well on the Sabbath if they fell in, they had no answer. Of course, none of them would leave either until the next day. Someone they valued, or a valuable possession would be important enough to them to go against their “law.” But everyone is important to God, and He would not want the suffering of anyone to continue needlessly because of such a law. This itself was further proof that these rabbinical laws were not God’s will.

(This year’s reading plan for Luke, Acts, and 1 and 2 Chronicles averages just 15 verses per day – 5 days per week!)
Schedule for this week
Read or listen to audio of today’s selection from Luke here
Read or listen to audio of today’s selection from 1 Chronicles here

/Bob’s boy

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some images © V. Gilbert & Arlisle F. Beers

Please note: I did not design the reading plan that I am following in my blog.  All of my comments in this blog, however, are solely my responsibility.  When reading ANY commentary, you should ALWAYS refer first to the scripture, which is God’s unchanging and unfailing word. Reading schedules, as well as a link to the site where you can get the reading plan that I’m currently following for yourself can be found on the “Bible Reading Schedules” page of my website at http://graceofourlord.com.