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And it came to be on the Sabbath, he [Jesus] himself coming to eat in a house of a certain ruler of the Pharisees, they were scrutinizing him. And (Look and see!) a certain man, full of water, was before him. And Jesus, responding, said to the legal people and Pharisees, stating “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But these rested and, taking hold of him, he cured him and set him free. And he said to them, “Who of you, a son or ox will fall into a pit on a Sabbath day, and you will not immediately draw him out?” And they were not able to respond against these. (Luke’s AD 60 research report re Jesus: Chapter 14: 1-24) |
Closely reading the above it seems that this “man, full of water” had been placed there by “the legal people and Pharisees” so as to trap Jesus into healing on the Sabbath, thereby condemning himself under the law. The two questions revealed their hearts. Each would save their own “son or ox” on a Sabbath even though they believed this would break the law. But no law may be broken to relieve the dire needs of others. Jesus, with no such self-motivation in the matter, “cured him and set him free”
But he stated a parallel to those called, when he noticed how they were choosing the first places, saying to them, “When you may be called by a certain one to a wedding-contract, you may not be seated down in a first place so that if a more valued than you may have been called by him and the one who called you and him, coming, will say to you, ‘Give your place to this person!’ and then you will begin with shame to retain the last place. Instead, when you may be called, going, sit down into the last place! So that, when he who called you may come, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a higher place!’ Then you will be a glory before all those sitting down together with you. For everyone exalting himself will be made low, and he making himself low will be exalted.”
How does this “parallel” connect with the “man, full of water”? Maybe, the “parallel” relates more to the inner orientation of those “called … to a wedding-contract.” For them, the whole point was their own demonstrable status – not the “wedding-contract.” Self-motivation drove them - again.
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But he stated also to the one who had called him, “When you may make a breakfast or dinner, do not call out your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors! Lest they themselves also may call you back and repayment to you may come to be. Instead, when you may make a feast, call poor, crippled, lame, blind! And you will be blessed, because they do not have anything to repay you. Because you yourself will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
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This time, the events are at a lower level that a “wedding-contract” – any “breakfast or dinner.” What was the motivation behind such events? Was it the self-motivation of the “caller"? Jesus commanded “the one who had called him”, in future to “Call poor, crippled, lame, blind!”
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But a certain one of those sitting down together, hearing these things, said to him, “Blessed whoever will eat bread in the kingdom of God.” But the one said to him, “A certain one was making a great dinner and called many. And, at the hour of the dinner, he sent out his slave to say to those who had been called, ‘Come, because it is now ready!’ But they all together as one began to reject. The first said to him, ‘I bought a field, and I have a requirement, coming out, to see it. I ask you to have me to be excused.’ And another said, ‘I bought five pairs of oxen, and I go out to evaluate them. I ask you to have me to be excused.’ And another said, ‘I have contracted in marriage a wife, and through that I do not have power to come.’ And the slave, coming near, reported these things to his Lord. Then the house-overlord, being provoked, said to his slave, ‘Come out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ And the slave said, ‘Lord, what you commanded has come to be, and there is still place.’ And the Lord said to the slave, ‘Come out into the pathways and hedges and require them to come in, so that my house may be filled! For I state to you that none of those men, those called, will taste my dinner.’”
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| This additional very searching “parallel” is about “a great dinner” - really top notch. All invited rejected the call. All cited self-motivated reasons why they refused to come. The “house-overlord”, “provoked”, said, “None of those called, will taste my dinner.” See Info BX. |
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