Luke 14.1-6.
One of the regular Pharisee complaints about Jesus was he cured people on sabbath. He’d even cure them right in the middle of his synagogue lessons.
Y’might know Pharisees were strict about sabbath. Y’might also know they weren’t all that strict about a whole lot of things. Like Christians nowadays, they cherry-picked the issues they cared to be strict about, based on their own prejudices and conveniences. Like us, they’d come up with loopholes in the Law of Moses which let ’em do the bare minimum. If they wanted to do a certain kind of work on sabbath, they’d easily find a pious-sounding reason which let ’em get away with it. And like many a hypocrite, they likely hated when Jesus called ’em on it—which he basically did every time he cured someone on sabbath.
Pharisee attitudes about curing people on sabbath were mixed. Life-saving procedures, like slapping a choking person on the back, was fine; like helping someone who’d just been curb-stomped by the Romans was fine. Praying for the sick was usually fine—we can always pray, and if the Holy Spirit answers the prayer and cures someone on sabbath, that’s on him, not us. (Shammai and his disciples felt this teaching was pushing it, but they recognized they couldn’t legitimately rebuke anyone for praying.)
But both these schools of thought rebuked the practice of any medical treatments on sabbath. Any of that stuff was supposed to be done Friday, before sabbath began at sundown; then held off till sabbath ended at sundown on Saturday. In that 24-hour period, you could pray, but otherwise you did nothing.
This story takes place during a dinner party. Luke doesn’t say whether it’s breakfast, brunch, lunch, or supper. But y’know, let’s just say it’s the evening meal. Let’s say it happened at 5PM—let’s even say it happened a half-hour before sundown, when it wouldn’t be sabbath anymore and nobody could object to Jesus curing this guy. Because it doesn’t really matter what time it was: Jesus is establishing the principle that it’s always right to help people on sabbath.
- Luke 14.1-6 KWL
- 1This happens on sabbath,
- when Jesus goes to eat bread
- in the house of one of the Pharisees’ leaders.
- People are watching him closely—
- 2look, a certain person who has an edema
- is in front of Jesus.
- 3In reply, Jesus speaks to the lawyers and Pharisees,
- saying, “Can one cure on sabbath,
- or not?”
- 4The lawyers and Pharisees are silent.
- Laying hands on the sufferer,
- Jesus cures him
- and sets him free.
- 5To the Pharisees, Jesus says,
- “If a child or ox will fall down a well,
- who among you² will not quickly pull him out?
- —even on the sabbath day?”
- 6The Pharisees are not able
- to reply to these things.
The KJV translates ὑδρωπικὸς/ydropikós, “fluid build-up,” as “dropsy.” Nowadays we call it an edema. You know those people whose ankles swell up, so they have to wear compression socks or they’ll have cankles? That. It’s not necessarily life-threatening, but it can make you miserable.
Luke says this person was ἔμπροσθεν/émprosthen, “in the face of,” Jesus. It gets translated “before him,” but he wasn’t just really close to Jesus; he was unavoidably close. Probably on purpose. In Jesus’s day, people ate dinner Roman-style, laying down on couches, and it’s entirely likely this guy’s cankles were right next to Jesus’s head. Whoever was in charge of the seating put Jesus right next to this guy.
And the rest of them were watching to see what Jesus would do. Would he break sabbath?
Well, Jesus never sinned, 1Pe 2.22 so he never did break sabbath, regardless of what your favorite dispensationalist preachers might claim. But he totally broke Pharisee customs about sabbath. Broke a lot of their customs, intentionally, because they were just godless hypocrisy. The custom about not helping the needy on sabbath?—perfect example.
“Is it right to cure on sabbath, or not?”
Before Jesus cured the guy, he telegraphed exactly what he was gonna do by posing a question to the νομικοὺς/nomikús, “Law experts,” in the room. The KJV renders this “lawyers,” which isn’t wrong; lawyers are law experts. And like our lawyers today, they helped people navigate the Law. In our day, it’s to get through the criminal justice system, or to find ways to prosecute evildoers when the law is inadequate—or to find loopholes for their clients. In Jesus’s day, same thing… but now they weren’t manipulating human laws, created by politicians; they’re manipulating moral laws, created by the LORD. Mighty big difference. Mighty problematic difference, considering the LORD’s intent when he handed down his Law… which they were trying to get around.
“Can one cure on sabbath, or not?” Jesus asked. Lk 14.3 Considering the context, we can also interpret ἔξεστιν/éxestin, “is it possible,” as “is it right [under the Law],” i.e. “is it lawful,” as the KJV has it. The “or not,” ἢ οὔ/i u, was dropped from the Textus Receptus, which is why “or not” isn’t in the KJV. I find it in about half the ancient copies of Luke I’ve looked at. It seems like the logical ending to this question, which is why the editors of the UBS6 and Tyndale House GNT include it, but I can see why the Textus didn’t bother. Doesn’t change the meaning any; if it’s not there, “or not” is easily implied.
In any other situation this should’ve turned into a basic Socratic debate, same as Pharisees typically had. “Well, this rabbi says…” “Well, that rabbi says…” “Well, the other rabbi says…” “Well, this verse says such-and-so, and from that we can deduce we really oughta…” That’s how they should have responded. But Luke says they ἡσύχασαν/isýhasan, “are at rest.” They had no comment. “They held their peace,” as the KJV has it.
This is not normal lawyer behavior.
This is why Jesus knew this was a setup. A sick person was placed right in front of him. The lawyers had no comment, even though lawyers always had a comment. So, what was Jesus to do? The right thing, obviously. Jesus cured the guy.
Then, in the absence of the lawyers’ judgment, he gave his own judgment. “If a child or ox will fall down a well, who among you will not quickly pull him out?—even on the sabbath day?” Lk 14.5 It’s a comparison Jesus had used before:
- Matthew 12.11-12 KJV
- 11And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? 12How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.
- Luke 13.15-16 KJV
-
- 15The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? 16And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?
In the other examples—the person with the paralyzed hand, Mt 12.9-14 and the bent-over woman, Lk 13.10-17—Jesus compared helping a needy person to helping a needy animal. In this story, he straight-up says “If a child… will fall down a well.” Pharisees might’ve tried to debate away Jesus’s comparisons in the past, so here Jesus didn’t let them do that. If your baby girl fell down a well on sabbath, you wouldn’t wait till sundown to rescue her. Jesus wasn’t gonna do that either.
In the Textus, Jesus says ὄνος/ónos, “donkey,” instead of υἱὸς/yiós, “child.” Why’s this? Obviously to match Luke 13.15, where Jesus refers to loosing one’s ox or donkey; it seems easier to say Jesus is still comparing humans to animals. But the oldest copies of Luke have yiós, and it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t match (or at least invert) Luke 13.15; Jesus said “child.”
It’s an apt commentary, and nobody had an answer to it. Lk 14.6 But it’s clear from their other actions in the scriptures they hated it. Jesus broke their customs for good reason. But those who covet power don’t want any of their customs challenged for any reason, including good ones. They don’t want you to practice any such form of critical thinking. Do it and they’ll call you a “radical left lunatic,” even though you’re no such thing. Then, if they can get away with it, quietly have you killed; same as Jesus.
