Luke 14:1-6
Let’s continue to remember to pray for Jim and Marty.
We had a phone and Internet disconnect this past Monday, with only spotty Personal HotSpot connections for the entire week. So my Internet posts and e-mail notes have been challenged and have been, at worst, only delayed. We are now again hooked up and are back to our horrible Windstream service.
“Notice what you notice.” Today is now at least the third occasion where we have Jesus dining with a Pharisee. See also Luke 7:36 and Luke 11:38. So why are they inviting Jesus to dinner? Two possibilities immediately come to mind, that they are truly seeking Him or that they are testing Him. I lean toward the latter, especially since Carol informed us all about the Pharisees and their intensity toward rejecting false messiahs. In addition, it often seems that the invitation is less than genuine – there is often a “plant” in the room, some way to test Jesus. For today’s reading, the “plant” is a man with dropsy. And it’s a Sabbath meal…!!
So the man with dropsy is there on the Sabbath, very possibly so the Pharisees can challenge Jesus for whatever He might do. But Jesus gets the drop on the lawyers and Pharisees by asking them if it’s lawful to heal on the Sabbath. When they have no response, He heals the man. He then explains logically what they misunderstand theologically.
So, a takeaway from this incident… Jesus is a Master at asking questions, by reversing “the test”, if you will. In our Gospel sharing sessions, maybe it’s better if we learn from Him to ask questions instead of stating facts. Asking “What do you believe?” might be a better ploy than stating “This is what I believe.” It’s also simple, common courtesy – letting the other person know that we care about who they are, where they are coming from, and what they are thinking. But we have to be genuine about it! Help us, Holy Spirit!!
Prayers for Debbie and Julie also!
Slava Bohu!