Reflection: Luke 14:1-6

Friday of the 30th Week in Ordinary Time – Luke 14:1-6

Today Jesus is dining at the home of a leading Pharisee. As always, the Pharisees were carefully observing Jesus. In the crowd close to Jesus was a man who suffered from dropsy. Jesus noticed the man. Jesus addressed the scholars of the law and the Pharisees in the crowd and asked them: “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” However, they did not respond. They all remained silent. Then Jesus healed the man.

Jesus then asks them: “If one of you has a child or an ox fall into a cistern on the Sabbath, would you not immediately pull your child or your ox out of the cistern even though it is the Sabbath?” However, the Pharisees remained silent. They were unwilling or afraid to answer Jesus’ question.
 
Jesus realized that his hosts were trying to catch him in the act of breaking Sabbath rituals. And when Jesus gave his defense, they said nothing. Their response was silence. They were so ensnared in their own legalism that they could not or would not comprehend the love and compassion of Jesus. For Jesus, “love” was the supreme law. For the Pharisees, the “letter of the law” reigned supreme. Jesus is not denying that the Sabbath is important. Rather he simply states that God's intention for the Sabbath was: “to do good and to heal.” Jesus always followed the “spirit of the law” rather than the “letter of the law.” The “spirit of the law of God” is love! Thus, if we always strive to be loving, we also will do good and perhaps, we also may heal by our loving actions!