Luke 14:1-14
​On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath, they were watching him closely. Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had dropsy. And Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to cure
people on the Sabbath, or not?” But they were silent. So Jesus took him and healed him, and sent him away. Then he said to them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a Sabbath day?” And they could not reply  to this. 
When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; 9and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, "Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” 



Jesus is invited to dinner at the home of the leader of the Pharisees. The Pharisees were a group of Jewish rabbis who knew the religious laws inside and out. There are 600+ rules in the book of the law, and it was virtually impossible to keep all of them, especially when most of the population can't read the laws for themselves, and the Pharisees used this to their advantage. What happens when you're the only one in the game who knows the rules? Exactly- you have the power.
             
So when Jesus, a charismatic personality with a national following, started to challenge the way that the Pharisees had been  interpreting the rules, or the law, that the Pharisees got angry with him.  Because Jesus was not only threatening their belief system, but their authority and power over the people- the Pharisees were watching him very carefully- in fact the Greek word that the text uses implies they had invited him to dinner to test him.  Jesus was being set up so the Pharisees could catch him breaking a religious law; if they could prove him a fraud to the people, they could discredit his authority.
             
So here is our scene: The leader of the Pharisees' house is full of prominent people waiting just outside the formal dining room; and a man with "dropsy" steps into Jesus's view.  
 
Now, we don’t use the term "dropsy" anymore…, we use 'edema'- a medical condition where, for any number of reasons from congestive heart failure to kidney disease, fluid gathers in the arms and/or legs.  The limbs swell to great proportion; it's very painful, and it rarely goes away., especially under first century medical practices. 
And because of this disease the man was an outcast.  He was unclean.  We've used that word before, but it's important to understand why.  In the time of Jesus, (and well before) there was a belief that if someone was sick, or disfigured, or had some tragedy strike their family, then it was thought to be a punishment from God for sin.  That they must have done something to have incurred this type of suffering... (That sounds ridiculous to us, until you remember just a few decades ago when the new AIDS virus was discovered... )
But back to the story.. since the sick must have done something- or in essence, chosen the lifestyle that led to this disease, others needed to keep themselves away from them, and then they did it for 2 reasons.  
    First, so they would not fall into the same type of situation or sin that caused God to punish this person.  Kind of like the way
    parents are selective about their children's friends...  to keep safe from falling into some less than desirable behavior. 
    Second, so that they could keep pure.  Touching an unclean person meant that the devout Jew would need to go through a
    lengthy cleansing ritual in order to be restored to community, and who needs that?  It's easier to not go near them in the first
    place.  

Because of his condition, the man with dropsy couldn’t work; he wasn't welcome at the temple, wasn't welcomed or even thought of as part of the community... and he wasn't  invited to dinner parties at all, much less this party. So what was he doing here at the leader of the Pharisees house?
The man with dropsy was no doubt, part of the set up. 

You see, it was the Sabbath.  According to Jewish law, there was to be no work, including healing, performed on the Sabbath… And that was right in scripture … one of the big laws. (Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy) But the Pharisees knew Jesus- he was a healer-they had seen it before.  They knew Jesus couldn’t stand to see someone suffer…but he also knew the law.  Would Jesus go so far as to break one of the ten commandments in front of  them?

 Jesus of course, knows it's set up. So when he looks straight into the eyes of the man with dropsy, he knows every eye in the room is on him! And as the room holds its breath as they wait for him to make a move,  Jesus looks from the man’s eyes, around the room at those who have set him up, and his heart aches for them. He sees their struggle… their desire to be right… their desire to keep God’s laws holy as they understand them- mixed with their desire to be powerful in their own world… and  so, instead of callously calling them on their stuff, he asks them a question- one that will remind them of the true nature of God.  “You are all keepers of the law," Jesus says… "Is it against the law to heal someone on the Sabbath or not?” 
 
No one moves a muscle… 
 
So Jesus continues… “Most of us in this room are rabbis- we have wives and children… so let me ask you… if one of your children falls into a well on the Sabbath, or better yet, if one of your animals falls into a well on the Sabbath, what would you do?  Would you leave them there, or would you go over and pull them to safety?“
             
And people around the room probably started to fidget, but they didn’t answer… because all of a sudden, the law, that a moment ago was black and white, was turning grey before their eyes.   Jesus had forced them to look at what they knew was a hard and fast rule, and to see it differently, to see with eyes of compassion… the from the perspective of love…and also, from the standpoint of practical hands on ministry. Who would leave a loved one suffering at the bottom of a well?  
 
And Jesus waits no longer for what they think… its time to do ministry… and without another word, he reaches down into that well,  puts his arms around the man with dropsy, and pulls him out… he heals him… And everyone in the room stares with open mouths, as the man skips out the front door, laughing and crying at the same time… to celebrate a brand new healthy life. 
  
And now, since no one really does  know what to say, people start moving to their seats for dinner.  And the people begin putting themselves around the tables, with everyone after the best seats, closest to the host… trying to fight for 'most important',  and I think maybe Jesus was wondering how God's simple message of loving and caring for one another ended up so distorted… 
 
And Jesus says… “Are you sure you’re going to the right seats?

And they turn toward Jesus like he's EF Hutton, and he throws out a parable- a riddle- a thinking question-  “why not sit in the cheap seats- and if someone important wants you nearer to them, they can come and get you…and you could walk to the head table in front of everyone… wouldn’t that be great?... (crickets)... When you have a party, don’t worry about inviting people who can give you something back- invite the people who can’t give you anything… the ones who you don’t normally think twice about except in pity or disgust.  Invite those people to your party, and see what a great time you have- you’ll feel like a million bucks  and your whole outlook on life will change...” 
 
So what Jesus is saying to his host- to all who are in the room worried about position and who sits where and when and with whom… is that the one who should have been invited to dinner is the man with dropsy… That guy who they thought so little of that they used him as a plant… that guy who they pulled off the street to set someone up- that guy who not only would they never invite to their home, because that guy couldn’t give them anything in return... no prestige came from being with him, no power came because of him or from him... worthless.   

All that guy could ever give to them, was the gift of humanity… the gift of finding inside of themselves, a place that hadn’t been hardened by society, that hadn’t been smothered by materialism and wealth and power… a place yet to be discovered inside themselves where compassion still lived, where human connection and caring  remained unadulterated by prestige or the power of selfishness… 

Do you know that place? It lives in all of us… and I know most of us have experienced  it... feeling true compassion for someone else. And while it may briefly feel good to glimpse the beauty of it, we are often quick to shut the door on that place, because when we go there, it reminds us that we are a little too close to being the man with dropsy ourselves… when we open the door to our compassionate selves, we become aware of our own sins and our faults; all of a sudden we feel the pain of our own swollen arms and legs... It’s the place where we realize our common vulnerability as human beings- and also our fear that, if anyone found out about the us, we could be shut out- excluded… and we see our connectedness, yes, but also our brokenness.  It’s the place, that in order to get there, we need to confront our deepest selves…And for many of us that is a scary  place to be.  
 
But what Jesus tells us, is that in that deepest, perhaps most vulnerable place, where no one likes to go for very long- we aren’t alone- that it is through vulnerability, that utter dependence on each other, that binds us to each other… and much as we try to vie for place or exalting ourselves over one  another- we are, at our most basic level, all exactly the same. 
And that’s what Jesus is trying to get them to see, and praise God, what we can take away from this. 

That if we can drag ourselves to that place… and we realize that our value comes, not from what the world says about us, or even what WE say about us, but what Christ says about us… then we open  ourselves up to freedom!  That  every single day, when we embrace the Christ in the other, and we can drop the pretense, put on a burger king crown and laugh so hard the soda comes out our nose...  Do you see? It's joy and happiness and compassion and connection that God intends for us… that we can have a heck of a better time delighting in each other than in competing with  each other…