Luke 14:1-11 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. {2} There in front of him was a man suffering from dropsy. {3} Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?" {4} But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him away. {5} Then he asked them, "If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?" {6} And they had nothing to say. {7} When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: {8} "When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. {9} If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, 'Give this man your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. {10} But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. {11} For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem for one last Passover week as he goes to the cross. While on his way there he visits many villages and towns, meeting a collection of people including tax collectors and sinners, 10 lepers, little children, a rich young ruler, Blind Bartimaeus of Jericho and Zacchaeus - the dishonest tax collector. It was a motley crew of people desperately in need of Good News. Many of this collection of folks were not the prominent people of society, but the unimportant, the despised and the unclean. Jesus was ready to share the good news of the Kingdom of God with all of them including the prominent Pharisee at whose house he now sits on a Sabbath Day. Jesus wants to find out if the Pharisees gathered there get it - the Kingdom of God that is. He affords them every opportunity to express that they understand God's love and what He is doing in their very sight and hearing.
A guy shows up with "dropsy" which the medical dictionaries describe as an accumulation of water particularly in the feet due to congestive heart failure. This guy's life hangs in the balance. If Jesus doesn't heal him, his life will end soon. So - he give the Pharisees a chance to demonstrate that they understand. When asked if it is lawful to heal him, the Pharisees don't have a single thing to say. Their silence was deafening. For them, keeping the letter of the law mattered infinitely more than a human life. Jesus is undaunted and taking physical hold of the man, He heals him, leaving no doubt in anyone's mind that Jesus did this. Even after reminding them that the law allows for the rescue of a donkey that might fall in a pit on a Sabbath Day, they still have nothing to say. Their devotion to rules and regulations makes it impossible to see the bigger picture of God's love come down in the person of Jesus. Their seething silence does little to mask how much the despise Jesus.
As we believers go on mission together, it is vital that we never allow our systems, traditions and rules to become more important that the redeeming of a single life. Like one invited to a banquet with lots of important people, Jesus encourages us to take the posture of one who honors others and their needs more than our own status or place in the pecking order. Jesus goes even one step farther. He suggests that when we throw a banquet or party, that we invite those in physical, emotional and spiritual need. That gives us a great opportunity to bless others. In doing so, we might experience the thrill of someone saying to us at the resurrection of the righteous (v. 14) "Thanks for sharing your life and Jesus with me. If it were not for you, I might not be here."
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