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There\u2019s some intriguing cross-fertilization going on between the two sabbath healings in Luke 13-14. In 13, Jesus heals the woman who has been bent double for 18 years, and in ch 14 Jesus heals a man with dropsy. In both, the healing is scrutinized critically by the Pharisees, and Jesus rebukes them by using brief parables drawn from animal husbandry. Both also end with humiliation for the Pharisees: that is explicit in 13:17, and implicit in the silence of 14:6. Anyone who has been shut down by a witty response knows what painful shame that causes. <\/p>\n
Those parables make comparison of these two incidents interesting and fruitful. \u201cDropsy\u201d is an older name for what is now generally called \u201cedema,\u201d which is swelling caused by fluid retention that has the perverse effect of making the victim very thirsty, which, of course, only makes his condition worse. Jesus heals the man, and this means that he slakes his thirst, for Jesus is the living water. But the parable he tells to defend his healing on the sabbath doesn\u2019t fit this healing, or at least it doesn\u2019t fit it as well as the parable he tells in ch 13. When he heals the woman, he tells the Pharisees that they too would \u201cuntie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water\u201d on the sabbath (13:15), but when he heals the man with dropsy, he asks whether the Pharisees would rescue a man or animal from a pit on the sabbath (14:5). The parable in 13 seems to go better with the healing in 14, and the parable in 14, with its implicit references to death and resurrection, seems more appropriate to the miracle in 13 (which describes the woman as \u201crebuilt,\u201d used also of the Davidic tabernacle in Acts 15:16). This suggests that the two healings function as mutually interpreting companions. The interpretive payoff is that the parable in 14 explains the depth of the miracle in ch 13: the woman who is bent double has come up out of the ground like a man fallen down a well. <\/p>\n
One last thought: In 14:5 Jesus makes the curious reference to a \u201cson\u201d who falls into a \u201cwell\u201d (or pit, cistern). Practically, of course, he\u2019s pointing out that no one would wait until after the Sabbath to rescue a on in that condition. But oddness of the picture gives pause. Several things come to mind: Joseph is a son who is put down into a pit by envious brothers (Gen 37), and is brought out not to enjoy rest but to be sold into slavery. Jeremiah too is put down into a pit and drawn back up, and in the next chapter Jerusalem falls and Judah is taken away into captivity (Jer 38-39). In both cases, apparently, the man rescued from the pit is a foreshadowing of the eventual rescue of Israel from the pit of captivity, their eventual resurrection and restoration to sabbath prosperity in the land. So, with this in the background, Jesus\u2019 little parable symbolizes His entire ministry: He has come to bring Sabbath, that is, He has come to draw out Yahweh\u2019s son from the pit, to draw out the ox of the priestly people from the well of exile. Jesus, of course, fulfills this in His going into the earth and His return from under the earth. <\/p>\n
Also, in both the story of Joseph and that of Jeremiah the text makes it clear that there is no water in the pit. Being drawn out of the pit is thus connected with receiving refreshment and slaking thirst. So perhaps the parable of the rescued son is more appropriate to a man being healed of dropsy than it first appeared to be. Along these lines, it is intriguing that the Father does not rescue His Son from the pit on the sabbath day, but waits until the day after the sabbath. What\u2019s up with that, then? <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There\u2019s some intriguing cross-fertilization going on between the two sabbath healings in Luke 13-14. In 13, Jesus heals the woman who has been bent double for 18 years, and in ch 14 Jesus heals a man with dropsy. In both, the healing is scrutinized critically by the Pharisees, and Jesus rebukes them by using brief […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-nt-luke"],"yoast_head":"\n