And He said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” Luke 14:5 ESV1
Read Luke 14:1-24
As Jesus’ time on Earth grew short, “He set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). He and His disciples “went on from [the villages of Caesarea Philippi (see Mark 8:27)] and passed through Galilee … to Capernaum” (Mark 9:30a & 33a) “to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan” (Mark 10:1a).
Looking at a map of Israel during Jesus’ lifetime, one can deduce that a trip from Caesarea Philippi to Jerusalem is about 120 miles (193 km) as the crow flies. But as the human walks, over mountains, through valleys, and across rivers, avoiding the land of the Samaritans (see Luke 9:52-53), it is much longer. According to most Biblical timelines, Jesus’ final journey appears to have taken about nine months. Jesus knew where He had to go and what He was going to have to do, but He took his time, stopping along the way to offer a helping hand.
“He went on His way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem” (Luke 13:22). “One Sabbath, when He went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching Him carefully. And behold, there was a man before Him who had dropsy” (Luke 13:1-2).
“Dropsy [is] an old term for the swelling of soft tissues due to the accumulation of excess water. In years gone by, a person might have been said to have dropsy. Today one would be more descriptive and specify the cause. Thus, the person might have edema due to congestive heart failure. Edema is often more prominent in the lower legs and feet toward the end of the day as a result of pooling of fluid from the upright position usually maintained during the day. Upon awakening from sleeping, people can have swelling around the eyes referred to as periorbital edema.”2
The presence of this man with dropsy was probably a set-up to see if Jesus would again heal on the Sabbath; otherwise, why else would they have been “watching Him carefully” (Luke 13:1b). Perhaps a plan of attack was the whole reason Jesus was invited to the home of a ruler of the Pharisees in the first place. But Jesus, as always, was a step ahead of them. Again, He used this situation to glorify God the Father and to give a spiritual lesson.
“And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?’ But they remained silent. Then He took [the man with dropsy] and healed him and sent him away. And He said to them, ‘Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out’” (Luke 14:3-5)?
This question didn’t need an answer. Everyone knew if one’s son were to fall into a well on the Sabbath, no one would ever put his/her religious convictions before saving the child. No one would say, “I am so sorry, Son, you fell into a well today. It is against my religion to help you get out. Any other day, I would have pulled you out right away, but now you will have to wait until tomorrow. Keep swimming. Try to keep your head above water. See you bright and early tomorrow morning.” Or even to an ox who had the same misfortune, “You stupid ox, you shouldn’t have gotten so close to that well that you fell in in the first place. Normally, I would call my friends, and we would all pull you out together, but we can’t because it is the Sabbath. Drink up. We will see you tomorrow.”
At least momentarily humbled, Jesus’ adversaries kept their thoughts to themselves, “and they could not reply to these things” (Luke 14:6). Jesus took the opportunity, while all eyes were on Him and everyone was silent, to teach about humility (see Luke 13:7-11), generosity (see Luke 13:12-14), and the surprising reality of who will be welcomed into Heaven (see Luke 13:15-24). He gave these teachings in the form of stories, or parables, but these were told not to entertain but to train those listening to what was really important in the eyes of God.
Continually, the Pharisees got bent out of shape when they thought Jesus was not the keeping of the Sabbath. As the fourth of the all-important Ten Commandments, observing the Sabbath was of great consequence (see Exodus 20:9-10 and Numbers 15:32-36). But maybe the focus on obeying this particular commandment took such a prominent place in the lives of some of the deeply religious Jews because, in keeping it, they felt like they were better than those who did not. Perhaps obeying a measurable requirement was easier and took the pressure off of committing to more ambiguous and self-abasing commands like: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).
The commands of the LORD are never about checking off boxes and accomplishing measurable goals to satisfy human pride. God’s commands are, first of all, about the heart. “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind … [and] you shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37 & 39). “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27). The Jews were to keep the Sabbath out of love for God not to boost their own egos.
Second of all, God’s commands are about holiness. Oswald Chambers puts it this way, “Our Lord’s exhortation to us … is to be generous in our behavior toward everyone … The example our Lord gave us … is not that of a good person, or even of a good Christian, but of God Himself … ‘be perfect, just as your Father in Heaven is perfect.’ … The true expression of Christian character is not in good-doing, but in God-likeness.”3
And therein is the reason Jesus came to Earth, the reason He was making His final journey to Jerusalem when He was invited to a meal by a ruler of the Pharisees, and a reason this particular account is recorded in the Bible. The man Jesus healed that day was, in a way, drowning in his own excess fluids. Jesus pulled him out of his misery like anyone would pull a drowning child or animal out of a well. This physical happening is a picture of a spiritual reality.
Jesus came to offer a helping hand to all who are “drowning” in the attempt to be good enough in their own power to please God. Humans can’t be like God unless they have the help of God. Through His sacrifice on the cross, Jesus took care of the human sin problem, so that humans could be purified. Then God the Holy Spirit would make His home within all who believe. Through His power, faith-filled individuals can live out the perfect lives God requires—lives of love, lives of holiness, and lives that observe His commandments the way He intended.
Are you, in any way, having trouble keeping your head above the water? Relax. Don’t keep striving. Jesus doesn’t intend to leave you where you are until a more appropriate day or until you get your act together. He is reaching out to you right now. Find rest for your water-logged soul by grabbing hold of Jesus and admitting, “apart from Him, you can do nothing” (John 15:5b), nor do you ever want to again.
And if you find yourself with your feet on solid ground, look around for others who may be drowning. “Be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48), and give some help to the ones struggling. Use such opportunities to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Ephesians 4:1), and introduce those with dropsy-of-the-soul to their Healer. Then rejoice with them that they have found what they so desperately needed; the angels will be rejoicing, too (see Luke 15:10).
1 Scripture quotations marked with ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All Scriptures are taken from the ESV unless otherwise noted. To aid in understanding, I have capitalized references to God.
2https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=13311
3 https://utmost.org/the-divine-commandment-of-life/