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Luke 14:1-3
New Catholic Bible
Luke 14:1-3
New Catholic Bible
A Dinner Given by a Pharisee[a]
Chapter 14
Jesus Heals a Man with Dropsy on the Sabbath.[b] 1 On one Sabbath, Jesus went to dine at the home of a prominent Pharisee, and the people were watching him closely. 2 In front of him there was a man suffering from dropsy, 3 and Jesus asked the lawyers and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Luke 14:1 Luke is an artful composer of Gospel scenes. Here he brings together different themes in the unfolding of a repast. The Jews thought of the kingdom of God as a gathering of people at a banquet in heaven. And, for Luke, this repast doubtless has the value of an announcement and a symbol. Jesus has the honor of being invited on the Sabbath to dine with a group of Pharisees, the representatives of Jewish thought. His hosts follow solid principles of thought and congratulate themselves on their good education. They closely watch Jesus’ behavior out of curiosity mingled with apprehension. And one might say that Jesus goes out of his way to shock them.
- Luke 14:1 Jesus does not lose himself in compliments and conversation but posits an act, a sign of the salvation that he brings to human beings. This is a new miracle, again performed on a Sabbath. Religion is for the liberation of persons, not their enslavement. To keep the Sabbath is to bear witness to it (see Lk 6:6-11; 13:10-17). See note on Mt 12:9-14.
