Luke 14:1-2 (ESV) 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.
Jesus loved to eat with different types of people, from the lowliest to the highest. In this incident, he ate at a dinner party after Sabbath worship hosted by a leading Pharisee. The other Jewish leaders at the dinner were carefully watching him. They were not watching him to learn, they were watching to try to trap him and cancel him in the eyes of the people. At the dinner party a man suffering from dropsy, a serious swelling disease often caused by heart or liver problems. Most likely, the Jewish leaders had planted him there to see what Jesus would do.
Luke 14:3-4 (ESV) 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.
Jesus, knowing what was on their minds asked them the question “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” In other words, did the word of God forbid someone to be healed on the Sabbath. You see, the Bible, did say that no work should be done on the Sabbath. The intention of that command was that everyone should have at least one day of rest from their regular work every week in order to worship God. Yet, the Jews had invited all kinds of rules to determine whether something was work or not. As the Jews did not answer Jesus’ question, He laid his hands on the man, who was immediately healed. It says that the man was sent away, implying he was not a dinner guest, but had been planted there to see if Jesus would heal on the Sabbath.
Luke 14:5-6 (ESV) 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.
Jesus asks the others at the dinner party a second question. If you have something of value, such as an ox or even a son and they fall into a well on the Sabbath, what will you do? You would certainly rescue either an animal or person from harm on the Sabbath. And they had nothing to say, because that is what they would have done. Jesus’ point was that this man who was ill had great value. So, Jesus healed him to bring him to wholeness. Jesus values healing about man-made rules and regulations.
So, let’s bring this Scripture into our world today. Jesus knew that if He healed the man, He would get in trouble with the Jewish leaders. But He did it anyway. Why? Because He had great value in healing, to show the power of the Kingdom and help people. Jesus valued healing because He valued people who were hurting.
What do we do when we see someone who is sick, disabled or ill? Do we stop whatever we’re doing and pray for them to be healed? Why not? What are the first thoughts that come into your mind when you think about praying for someone? What will they think of me? Maybe they’ll think I’m a religious fanatic. What if I pray for them and nothing happens. It might affect our relationship.
And we could go on. Who are all those excuses about healing focused on? They’re focused on you and your feelings, not the person suffering and in need of healing. They’re focused on you and not on Jesus’ values. They same situation occurs when we consider whether to witness to someone, to provide spiritual healing. Jesus didn’t care what other people thought about Him and neither should we. Our values should be Jesus’ values and Jesus values healing.