Devotional:

“One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” And they could not reply to these things.” — Luke 14:1-6

This was not the first time Jesus had been invited to a Pharisee’s home on the Sabbath and of course, they were not concerned one bit about the food or the fellowship. This was just one more attempt at tricking Jesus into doing something wrong in the eyes of these Jewish lawyers and Pharisees. Luke tells us that the man who invited Jesus was a ruler of the Pharisees, which meant he was a very wealthy and highly respected Rabbi in that village. Maybe that is why lawyers were also invited, more eyes meant more witnesses. I don’t doubt that this dinner was intended to be a trap, but Jesus was always one step ahead.

It is interesting that right before this, In Luke 13:31, some other Pharisees in this village warned Jesus to run and hide because Herod was looking for Him. As far as I know, nowhere in the Bible have I read of any Pharisees ever looking out for Jesus’s best interest. So why would they have told Jesus to watch His back? Was it a sincere warning for His safety or was it more of a threat from the Pharisees? It doesn’t really say, but Jesus obviously did not heed that warning. What did Jesus have to lose anyway? He had already turned His face toward Jerusalem, knowing His final hour was within days. Jesus accepted this invitation with every intention of continuing His ministry all the way to the cross—no running, no hiding and no holding back.

Most of us are not familiar with the term dropsy, I had to look it up to see what it meant. In fact, it isn’t a term that is used anymore, but dropsy, as defined by the Cambridge World History of Human Disease, was a term used for the abnormal accumulation of fluid. It was derived from the Greek term hydrops, meaning water. Today, we call it swelling or edema. It was and still is caused by an underlying condition like congestive heart failure, kidney disease or liver disease.

Dropsy could have severely affected this man’s ability to walk, move and even breathe. It could have caused his extremities to swell to the point of weeping interstitial fluid through the skin, making it even more painful and unsanitary in the eyes of the Jews. This was most likely a life-threatening condition. Imagine a man with severely swollen legs who can barely walk into this home. Under his robe are tightly wrapped bandages around both lower legs that are soaked and stained with bodily fluids draining from his knees to his ankles. This would have been a grossly inappropriate situation for these Jewish men of high standing to be around.

So, why was this man with dropsy invited to dinner on the Sabbath with Pharisees and lawyers? These were rich and powerful men who, according to their laws, were not allowed to touch or even be near him, much less eat and share a place at the dining table with him. This ruler of Pharisees even had the authority to kill this man for being there and defiling his home. Why did Jesus accept this invitation after everything the Pharisees had said and done to try and have Him arrested and destroyed for the past three years? It seems pretty obvious that He had a bigger plan than they did.

Jesus saw this man at dinner and didn’t ask if he wanted to be healed. Instead, He turned to the lawyers and Pharisees and asked if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath. The men remained silent, which did not happen very often. Then Jesus took the man and healed him. After He healed and sent the man away, Jesus had another question for the Pharisees. He asked if they would save their own son or ox from danger on the Sabbath. The Pharisees remained silent for a second time because if they had answered truthfully, it would have affirmed precisely what Jesus was saying. Yes, they would have pulled their son or even their ox to safety, but they would have left this man with dropsy to suffer another day for the sake of their made-up religiosity.

Jesus silenced the Pharisees by pointing out the hypocrisy in their lives. They worshiped their rules instead of the God of all creation and they bent their own rules when it suited them. I am constantly amazed that no matter what Jesus did right in front of them, the scales remained over their eyes and their ears were deaf to the truth.

It is easy to be so full of religion that there is no room for grace. Grace for ourselves and others. Jesus showed us repeatedly through His miracles that it wasn’t about the rules or the religion. If those were the requirements for salvation, we would all be in hell together one day. Jesus came to give life and He desires a relationship with us. Religion and rules can slowly choke out a relationship with Jesus by reaching for the tangible things we think will please God. God is pleased with us because of our faith in Him. Even when our faith is small, Jesus still loves us. Like the father who pleaded for his son to be healed, we must cry even louder, “God, I believe! Help my unbelief!”

Where is the hypocrisy in your life?

Do you follow the “rules for thee, but not for me” mentality?

These men were so focused on pointing the finger at others that they failed to examine their own hearts, leaving no room for a relationship with their heavenly Father.

Do you believe in rules and religion so much that your faith is unrecognizable to Jesus and those around you?

We can either walk in a posture of arrogant religiosity or we can walk in a posture of humble faith.

Are you more like the Pharisee who looks at others as dirty, sinful and excluded? Or do you look at others and see someone desperately needing a Savior like you?

As soon as we begin to think we are better because of religion, status, lifestyle or race, we have failed our brothers and sisters. Jesus says we are to love, help, support and spur one another on. Even with the slightest bit of faith, we, as the body of Christ, can move mountains.