Man with Abnormal Swelling Is Healed

Passage: Luke 14:1-6. This is another Sabbath confrontation. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath.

The Messiah healed on the Sabbath, breaking the traditions of the elders (but not the Sabbath itself).

The translations are mine, but if you would like to see many other translations, please go to biblegateway.com. I include the Greek text to bring out the nuances, but readers may ignore the left column, if they wish.

Let’s begin.

Jesus Heals Man with Dropsy on the Sabbath (Luke 14:1-6)

¹ Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ ἐλθεῖν αὐτὸν εἰς οἶκόν τινος τῶν ἀρχόντων [τῶν] Φαρισαίων σαββάτῳ φαγεῖν ἄρτον καὶ αὐτοὶ ἦσαν παρατηρούμενοι αὐτόν. ² Καὶ ἰδοὺ ἄνθρωπός τις ἦν ὑδρωπικὸς ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ. ³ καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν πρὸς τοὺς νομικοὺς καὶ Φαρισαίους λέγων· ἔξεστιν τῷ σαββάτῳ θεραπεῦσαι ἢ οὔ; ⁴ οἱ δὲ ἡσύχασαν. καὶ ἐπιλαβόμενος ἰάσατο αὐτὸν καὶ ἀπέλυσεν. ⁵ καὶ πρὸς αὐτοὺς εἶπεν· τίνος ὑμῶν υἱὸς ἢ βοῦς εἰς φρέαρ πεσεῖται, καὶ οὐκ εὐθέως ἀνασπάσει αὐτὸν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ σαββάτου; ⁶ καὶ οὐκ ἴσχυσαν ἀνταποκριθῆναι πρὸς ταῦτα.

¹ And so it happened that on the Sabbath he entered the house of a certain leading Pharisee and ate bread, and they were lying in wait for him. ² And look! a certain man with dropsy was right in front of him. ³ So in reply, Jesus said to the legal experts and Pharisees: “Is it permitted on the Sabbath to heal or not?” ⁴ But they were quiet. Then he took and healed him and sent him away. ⁵ And he told them, “Which one of you whose child or ox fell down a well would not immediately pull him up on the Sabbath day?” ⁶ And they were unable to reply to these things.

Comments:

Dropsy is swelling by liquid retention. It appears only here in the entire NT, through the pen of Dr. Luke.

“lying in wait” it is the verb paratēreō (pronounced pah-rah-tay-reh-oh), and it is built on para– (alongside, near) and tēreō (keep or watch). Picture watchdogs sitting right by you and glowering at you. So it means, depending on the context: “watch closely, observe carefully” (1) “watch (maliciously), lie in wait … Watch, guard”; (2) “observe religiously.” Here it means to watch maliciously or lie in wait.

“Their enmity reminds the reader that, despite this Sabbath respite, Jesus is on a journey to his death. It recalls Ps. 37:32: ‘The wicked lie in wait for the righteous, intent on putting them to death.’ Because of this, this Pharisee’s house will also be ‘abandoned of salvation’ (13:35)” (Garland, comment on 14:1).

“… the Pharisees’ inadequacies as interpreters of the law, and the examples Jesus will give of their violations of the Sabbath reveal that they are motivated more by self-interest than by obedience to God” (Garland, comment on 14:3).

“A set-up is likely. Regardless, the man now sits before Jesus, so that a response is possible. Jesus will take the initiative. Trap or no, Sabbath or no, he will help the man” (Bock, p. 1257).

“healed”: this verb is iaomai (pronounced ee-ah-oh-my), and it means, unsurprisingly, “healed, cure, restore.” The noun, incidentally, is iasis (pronounced ee-ah-seess), and it means “healing, cure.” The noun is used three times: Luke 13:22; Acts 4:22, 30. In other words, only Luke uses the noun.

Incidentally, the verb translated “dismissed” could have just as easily been rendered “freed” or “loosed.” But “dismissed” is the intent here, though I wonder whether Luke did not intend the double meaning.

Here’s how the parallel case went down for the disabled woman bent double, when the synagogue ruler complained about her healing on the Sabbath:

¹⁴ In reply, the synagogue ruler, indignant that Jesus healed on the Sabbath, proceeded to tell the crowd, “There are six days you ought to work; on one of them come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day!” ¹⁵ In reply to him, the Lord said, “Hypocrites! Doesn’t each one of you untie his ox or donkey from its stall and lead it to drink on the Sabbath? ¹⁶ Shouldn’t this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound—look at her!—eighteen years, be loosed from this bondage on the Sabbath day? (Luke 13:14-16)

Here Jesus was equally indignant as he was back then, but his indignation was righteous, while theirs was misguided.

Application for Ministry Today

We can learn some things from how Jesus healed. In this section I number my points for clarity.

1.. “took and healed”: this phrase is made of two verbs, and the first one is the common lambanō (pronounced lahm-bah-noh), and it means “to take” or “receive,” but here it means “to take.” Evidently, Jesus must have taken ahold of him in some way. We don’t know what he did. My hunch is that he took him by the shoulders and spoke healing to him.

2.. It is amazing to me that Jesus could have such confidence to heal someone who stood in front of him, while everyone was watching. He even announced the healing before it happened, to make a point about the law—Sabbath keeping. I for one never view these healing miracles casually.

3.. We should be careful about guaranteeing healing, because we could be wrong. Instead, just pray, and watch God work.

4.. As I write in all the healing posts:

Let it be noted that Jesus never went in for “decree and declare.” (Name one time he used such verbiage during his prayer for the sick. Nor did the disciples use those formulaic words in Acts).

Instead, God the Father through his Son who was anointed by the Spirit performed miracles of healing. Jesus clarified that he does only what he sees his Father doing (John 5:19). He lives because of the Father (John 6:57). He speaks only what the Father taught him (John 8:28). He does what he sees the Father do (John 10:37). What Jesus says is just what the Father told him to say (John 12:49-50, 57). Perhaps the most important verse about miracles: “Many good works I have shown you from My Father” (John 10:32). (In John’s Gospel, “good works” = miracles, at a minimum.)

And so the Father through his Son who was anointed by the Spirit, performed all miracles during his Son’s ministry (Acts 10:38). The Son obeyed and followed his Father and also did the healings by the Spirit. The Trinity was working together.

5..We too should develop life in the Spirit (Gal. 5), so we can hear from the Father through the Spirit, in Jesus’s name and authority granted to us. We will never heal as Jesus did, because he is the Anointed One without limits (John 3:34). But after the cross and the Son’s ascension, the Spirit can distribute the gifts of healings (plural) as he determines (1 Cor. 12:11), not as we “name and claim” or “decree and declare.” Let the Spirit work, and you listen and obey, and then rebuke a disease (not the person) or pray for healing.

4. Gifts of the Spirit: Gifts of Healings

Kenneth Copeland Gets a Pacemaker

Is ‘Decreeing’ Biblical for Christians?

What Is Biblical Confession?

For fuller commentary, please click on the chapter:

Luke 14

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