HEALING AND TABLE ETIQUETTE.
Luke 14:1-11.
1. A HEALING ON THE SABBATH.
Luke 14:1-6.
One Sabbath, one of the chief Pharisees gave Jesus the courtesy of a dinner invitation. Jesus courteously accepted. Somewhat discourteously, the Pharisees were keeping their eye on Jesus (LUKE 14:1).
It is perhaps remarkable that Jesus accepted hospitality from such a man, with such an attitude. Sometimes, in the course of Christian ministry or grass-roots Christian witnessing, it does become necessary to rub shoulders with unconverted people. When we ‘withdraw from the world’ and become Christians ourselves, it is not that we might become hermits, but rather, like Jesus, that we might do what good we can, when we can, where we can, and to whom we can.
We learn from Jesus, too, how to conduct ourselves in worldly company. Even in this, He was, as when He was twelve years old, always ‘about His Father’s business (cf. Luke 2:49). It was the Sabbath, and Jesus took the opportunity both to heal, and later to teach.
“And behold, there was a certain man before Him which had the dropsy” (LUKE 14:2).
Did Jesus just happen to notice him there, and diagnose his condition from the swelling under his skin? Or did he approach Jesus for healing? Or did somebody present him to Jesus as a victim of an unspoken test case to trap Jesus.
We do not know; it does not matter. What does matter is that Jesus was well aware of the unspoken attitudes of His would-be examiners. He took up the challenge, and confronted them to their face, with the full intention of healing the man.
First he answered the unspoken question of the lawyers and Pharisees with a question of His own: “Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?” (LUKE 14:3).
If any of them answered that it was, then they would excite the anger of their peers in their little narrow-minded holy club. Yet if they answered in the negative, it would show up the uncharitableness of their whole sect.
So, “they held their peace.” And Jesus “took him, and healed him, and let him go” (LUKE 14:4).
As I said, it as well for us to do what good we can, where we can, when we can, and to whom we can. And even in the face of cold opposition from people of whom we might have expected better! This is what we learn from Jesus’ example here.
Jesus asked a second question: “Which of you shall have a donkey or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?” (LUKE 14:5).
It would be an act of mercy – and indeed, an act of necessity (even if it is out of self-interest) – to do so!
As Jesus said elsewhere, ‘The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath’ (cf. Mark 2:27).
“And they could not answer Him again to these things.” (LUKE 14:6).
Jesus had replied to the lawyers and Pharisees’ unspoken question in a most practical manner, and with great authority. But ‘they were not able to reply to Him as to these things’ (Greek).
We have the equivalent of Pharisees in our own days, who expect us to keep their man-made rules, and impose upon young believers all sorts of ‘dos’ and ‘do-nots’ that are nothing to do with what the word of God actually teaches.
When it comes to the Sabbath, we can safely conclude that, according to Jesus’ own teaching, works of necessity, works of mercy, and works of piety are all permitted on this as on every day (cf. Matthew 12:1-12).
2. TABLE ETIQUETTE IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
Luke 14:7-11.
It was on this occasion, as Jesus observed the unseemly jostle for place amongst His fellow guests, that Jesus told them “a parable” (LUKE 14:7).
This “parable” addressed the immediate problem of table manners in wisdom terms familiar from Proverbs 25:6-7, but was recognized by at least one of Jesus’ hearers in the context of the great feast of the kingdom of God (cf. Luke 14:15).
The force of the argument is summed up in the reversal of roles indicated in LUKE 14:11, which both abases the arrogant and elevates the humble. This is God’s work, and the order of priority in God’s kingdom.
Perhaps the greatest demonstration of this reversal comes from Jesus Himself (Philippians 2:6-11).
In the incarnation Jesus gathered our manhood into the Godhead. He willingly partook of death on our behalf, ‘even the death of the cross’ – and God exalted Him to the place where He now receives honour from all.
And this supreme example of humility is one that we must aspire to reflect in our own lives (Philippians 2:5)!
