A Sabbath Meal At A Pharisee's House; The Healing of A Man With Dropsy (14:1-6).
It is unusual in Luke for us to be given the full details of the setting, yet in this passage Jesus is invited into the home of a ‘Ruler of the Pharisees'. And there He eats bread with him and his companions, companions who are ‘watching' Him (and whom in Luke 14:7 He will liken to people at a marriage feast). They would certainly all have claimed to be ‘servants of God', and fellow-servants with the Ruler. They would also have acknowledged that in one way or another they were waiting for the Messiah.
But when we note that in the chiasmus of the Section (see introduction above) this incident parallels the householder who should have been in readiness for the thief to come (Luke 12:39) and the parable of the servants who were waiting for their ‘lord', and who were expected to be in the house ready and waiting for their lord's return from the wedding feast, and meanwhile were to be about their duties all becomes clear. As we have observed there are a number of connections between the pictures presented. Here are God's servant waiting in the house, along with the householder, and under God's scrutiny. Just as they have Jesus under their scrutiny.
Jesus was also there as God's Servant. He too was to be about God's business, and when He saw there a man suffering from dropsy, He knew what His responsibility was as a faithful and wise servant. It was to heal the man. But He also knew that He was surrounded by disapproving ‘servants'. Indeed what He would do would even be disapproved of by His host, the householder. Nevertheless, He knows that He must be faithful to the One Who has called Him to be His Servant. If not He Himself would be accused of faithless service and thus lose the blessing from His Father. The parallel with the dual parables is clear.
Analysis.
a When He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a sabbath to eat bread, they were watching Him (Luke 14:1).
b Behold, there was before Him a certain man who had the dropsy (Luke 14:2).
c Jesus answering spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath, or not?” (Luke 14:3).
d But they held their peace (Luke 14:4 a).
c And He took him, and healed him, and let him go (Luke 14:4 b).
b He said to them, “Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a well, and will not straightway draw him up on a sabbath day?” (Luke 14:5).
a They could not answer again to these things (Luke 14:6).
Note that in ‘a' they were watching Him to test Him out, and in the parallel they could not answer His statement. In ‘b' there was a man who had fluid in the skin which made his skin fall, and in the parallel reference is made to animals which themselves fall into a well. In ‘c' Jesus asks if it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath, and in the parallel He does so. Central in ‘d' is the fact that they make no reply. They have nothing that they can say against His actions.