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Gospel: Luke 14: 1-6
On a sabbath Jesus went to dine
at the home of one of the leading Pharisees,
and the people there were observing him carefully.
In front of him there was a man suffering from dropsy.
Jesus spoke to the scholars of the law and Pharisees in reply, asking,
“Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?”
But they kept silent; so he took the man and,
after he had healed him, dismissed him.
Then he said to them
“Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern,
would not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?”
But they were unable to answer his question.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Throughout his ministry, Jesus is set up by the scribes and Pharisees. Often, they try entrapping him with questions like: “Is it lawful to pay the census tax?” Or, “A woman had seven husbands. At the resurrection, whose will she be?”
They hope the Lord’s answer will either make him an enemy of the state, or in the least look foolish.
Today’s Gospel is similar. But instead of asking the Lord a question, a prominent Pharisee invites Jesus to his home for dinner. He then assigns the Lord a seat next to a man with dropsy.
Dropsy caused a person’s chest and stomach to fill with fluids, which was not only painful; it also could lead to death.
The Pharisee knows Jesus will be moved with compassion by the sight of this man. The trap is this: will the Lord break the Law and heal him on the Sabbath?
Luke tells us this Pharisee “observed” Jesus carefully – literally meaning, he “stared” at the Lord with a sinister eye. If Jesus breaks the Sabbath, then he’d be considered a Jew gone rogue.
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What is the Lord to do?
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Of course, Jesus heals him. As he says elsewhere, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”
This becomes one of seven different times the Lord breaks the Sabbath to heal a person in need.
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So, what might this Gospel passage mean for us?
As Catholics, we’re invited to follow a variety of laws, moral codes, and traditions. For example, we avoid eating meat on Fridays in Lent.
But the primary rule that should order our lives is charity. Anything we do for the good of another person – whether or not it’s on the “Sabbath” – is pleasing in the eyes of God.
Think of one way you might be a blessing for someone else today.
And act on it.
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Image credits: (1) Pix4Free (2) X.com (Twitter) (3) What Christians Want to Know