Luke 14:1–6 (ESV)
Healing of a Man on the Sabbath
14 One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the
house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. 2 And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. 3 And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” 4 But they
remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. 5 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?” 6 And they could not reply to these
things.
Note that this is on a Sabbath day (Saturday) and Jesus is eating at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees. Note that “they are watching him carefully.” Jesus knows
that he is being watched and he turns the tables on them. He knows what they are thinking. There is a man present who had the dropsy (sickness/disease). Jesus asks them “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”
I’m sure they wanted to be the ones asking that question, but now they are caught off guard. They remained silent. They didn’t now how to respond, or didn’t want to incriminate themselves, or were simply scared... so they remained
silent. Well, Jesus went ahead and healed the man and sent them away. A very bold move. He then asks them a second question... “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?” They know that they would immediately go to the aid of their son or even an animal, but they are applying a the full measure of the law without any grace or mercy to Jesus. They know it and they do not reply. After
all... what could they say?
I pray: O Lord, help me to set aside a day to worship you, whether it be the Sabbath day, Sunday (the Day of the Lord), or any of the other 5 days... to worship you. Help
me to worship you out of grace and love instead of the weight of the law. Help me to fear and love God so that I do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it. Amen.