Entrapment - A Reflection on Luke 14:1-6


On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely. Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had dropsy. And Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to cure people on the sabbath, or not?” But they were silent. So Jesus took him and healed him, and sent him away. Then he said to them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a sabbath day?” And they could not reply to this.

 

This is the third time that Jesus has healed someone on the Sabbath. On one occasion, he had healed a man with a shriveled hand (see Mark 3:1-6). On another, (we looked at this a few days ago), he healed a woman who had been crippled for eighteen years (see Luke 13:10-17). In both these instances the healing took place in the synagogue, which wasn’t surprising. Sick people often went to the synagogue to pray, hoping that God would answer their prayers and heal them.

 

However, in today’s passage, the sick person is found at the house of a Pharisee who had invited Jesus for a meal. The sick man was described as suffering from dropsy, which is an abnormal swelling of his body. Why was he there? Had the man been deliberately invited in order to trap Jesus? Luke says that Jesus was being “carefully watched”, suggesting that it was, indeed, a trap. This meant that they knew Jesus could heal the sick. This, in turn meant, that he came from God because as Nicodemus would say later, “no one could perform the signs he was doing if God were not with him” (see John 3:2). 

 

And yet they wanted to trap him so that they could put an end to him. It’s mind-boggling when you think about it! They weren’t idiots, so why were they acting like idiots? Because the things Jesus said contradicted what they had been saying for years, and their power was threatened by it. Not too long later they would discuss among themselves: “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”

 

Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” And in this statement, perhaps the most honest statement the Jews had ever uttered regarding Jesus, they admitted what was deepest in their hearts. That it was better for Jesus to die than for their way of life to end (John 11:47-50). Don’t you think this was shameful?

 

Returning to our story today, Jesus launched what could be considered a pre-emptive strike.  “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”, he asked. It was the same question he asked when a man with a shriveled hand stood in front of him. But, then, like here, they remained silent. Mark says that “Jesus looked around at them in anger, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts” (Mark 3:5). I wonder how he feels towards those who do the same thing today, albeit with far less excuse.

 

You see, the scribes and the Pharisees didn’t really know Jesus. We do. And if we act like the Pharisees, believing we need to destroy someone because they challenge our own way of thinking, then woe to us. No?


Watch a video of this reflection by Aneel Aranha here: https://youtu.be/XV-MQBRVR_I

 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Let’s Get Healed - A Reflection on Matthew 18:21-19:1

Image
  Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me...
Read more

Patience - A Reflection on Luke 2:33-35.

Image
  And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”   This is probably the shortest passage that we have reflected upon this year. In it, we find a man named Simeon making a prophecy about three things. One, about Jesus. Two, about the people of Israel. And three, about the pain that Jesus’ mother Mary would go through. We have seen all his prophecies came true. But who is Simeon? And what can we learn from him? Ok. On the 40th day of his birth, Jesus is taken by Mary and Joseph to the temple to be officially inducted into the Jewish faith. When they were there, a man named Simeon came in to see them.   He is described as “righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Isr...
Read more

Dying and Killing

  The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God.” Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If those to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’—and the scripture cannot be annulled— can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands. He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earl...
Read more