Tuesday, August 4, 2020

The writings of Luke the physician starting with his version of the gospel - Luke 14:1-6 comments: Mercy versus religious obligation





Luke 14:1 ¶  And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him. 2  And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. 3  And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? 4  And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go; 5  And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day? 6  And they could not answer him again to these things.

Dropsy is the old name for any excessive swelling caused by an accumulation of water. We would be more specific today, for instance, saying the person had edema due to congestive heart failure. Dropsy expresses itself mostly in swelling of the lower legs and feet after having been on them all day. Here, Jesus taught the importance of mercy and compassion over a rigid following of religious obligation. In a similar vein, James wrote;

James 2:13  For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

Jesus used this analogy before in 13:15 saying that if you would help your animal on the Sabbath why would it be wrong to help a person. His reference to assisting a beast goes back to Old Testament expressions of mercy and compassion toward animals belonging to oneself or others.

Exodus 23:5  If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.

Proverbs 12:10  A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

The Pharisee would show compassion for his beast, why not a fellow Jew? There really was nothing they could say against that.

A certain man or a certain woman are two phrases in the Bible that speak a profound truth. God has used countless anonymous people throughout history to further His plan of the redemption of mankind, the great reconciliation. Their names are not recorded but they provided an important step in the journey. Most of us are like that. I have accomplished nothing important in life. I will be quickly forgotten. In a short time after I die, it will be as if I never existed. But I want to imagine it being said at some point, “Once, there was a certain man who wrote a blog about the Bible that encouraged others to read it even if they disagreed with him and just wanted to prove he was wrong.”

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