FRIDAY HOMILY: 30TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A.
THEME: FOR YOUR SAKE.
By: Fr. Karabari Paul
“Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well, will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?”
The right observance of the Sabbath became a serious issue between Jesus and some Pharisees. The Pharisees emphasized a careful respect for God’s law, the first five books of the Bible believed to have been given directly by God at Mount Sinai as part of Covenant binding the people of Israel in a special relationship.
At the time of Jesus the land of Israel was occupied by the Romans, which for the Pharisees would have meant that the nation was not living up to covenant, and so greater attention must be given to the requirements of the Torah.
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This is a background to the question Jesus asked in the Gospel of today (Luke 14:1-6), “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” Jesus was invited to dinner at the home of a leader of the Pharisees. He accepted the invitation, but He was hardly a polite dinner guest. It was on the Sabbath, and He no sooner had walked in the door than He saw, right in front of Him, a man suffering from dropsy. Dropsy, also called edema (ebe in Khana of Ogoni), is a swelling of the joints or the whole body, often due to a sick heart or to diseased kidneys or liver. Jesus could have told the man, “Come back after sundown and I will heal you,” thus avoiding a confrontation with the Pharisees. But He didn’t do that; He healed the man and then verbally confronted His critics.
Luke does not say and so we can’t be sure, but there is some reason to believe that the Pharisees planted this man with dropsy there in front of Jesus to see whether He would violate their rules against healing on the Sabbath. Luke says, “they were watching Him.” The verb has the nuance of lurking or lying in wait to catch someone in something. They were out to get Him.
Jesus didn’t disappoint them! He took up the challenge head-on, asking them, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” This put them in a bind. If they said that healing is permitted, they conceded His point and they raised problems about their traditions, which had added to the Law of Moses. If they said that healing is not permitted, they came across as uncaring. Besides, if they had invited this man to be there, it cast questions on their motives for them to say, “No, healing is not permitted.” So they kept silent.
Goodness knows no evil, and it is never afraid to act. God remains in the business of breaking barriers for our sake. Jesus had to focus on the condition of this man not mindful of the snares of the enemies. He would rather confront their hypocrisy. We would not stop pushing the poor and the weak to the front as though we cared while they are used as baits. Nobody cares like Jesus. GOD IS STILL ON THE THRONE. May God have mercy on us, heal our world and land, bless and protect us all through Christ Our Lord Amen. Good morning
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