Luke 14:5 — Community Reflections

LUKE 14:5 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?”

Then he asked them, if one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out? — the child-or-ox-in-a-well argument is the Sabbath emergency precedent: no one leaves a child (or animal) in a well to observe the Sabbath rest. The emergency overrides the restriction. The man with dropsy is at least as urgent as a child in a well.

Church Fathers on Luke 14:5

Although our Lord knew the malice of the Pharisees, yet He became their guest, that He might benefit by His words and miracles those who were present. Whence it follows, And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him; to see whether He would despise the observance of the law, or do any thing that was forbidden on the sabbath day. When then the man with the dropsy came into the midst of them,…
Cyril of Alexandria · 5th century

When it is said that Jesus answered, there is a reference to the words which went before, And they watched him. For the Lord knew the thoughts of men.
Bede · 8th century

But by His question He exposes their folly. For while God blessed the sabbath, they forbade to do good on the sabbath; but the day which does not admit the works of the good is accursed.
Theophylact · 11th century

Read all 13 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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