Luke 14 commentary

LUKE 14 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Jesus at a Pharisee’s House
1 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the
house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being
carefully watched.
BARNES, "It came to pass - It so happened or occurred.
As he went ... - It is probable that he was invited to go, being in the
neighborhood Luk_14:12; and it is also probable that the Pharisee invited him for the
purpose of getting him to say something that would involve him in difficulty.
One of the chief Pharisees - One of the Pharisees who were “rulers,” or
members of the great council or the Sanhedrin. See the notes at Mat_5:22. It does
not mean that he was the head of the “sect” of the Pharisees, but one of those who
happened to be a member of the Sanhedrin. He was, therefore, a man of influence
and reputation.
To eat bread - To dine. To partake of the hospitalities of his house.
On the sabbath-day - It may seem strange that our Saviour should have gone to
dine with a man who was a stranger on the Sabbath; but we are to remember:
1. That he was traveling, having no home of his own, and that it was no more
improper to go there than to any other place.
2. That he did not go there for the purpose of feasting and amusement, but to do
good.
3. That as several of that class of persons were together, it gave him an
opportunity to address them on the subject of religion, and to reprove their
vices.
If, therefore, the example of Jesus should be pled to authorize accepting an
invitation to dine on the Sabbath, it should be pled just as it was. If we can go “just as
he did,” it is right. If when away from home; if we go to do good; if we make it an
occasion to discourse on the subject of religion and to persuade people to repent,
then it is not improper. Farther than this we cannot plead the example of Christ. And
surely this should be the last instance in the world to be adduced to justify dinner-
parties, and scenes of riot and gluttony on the Sabbath.
They watched him - They malignantly fixed their eyes on him, to see if he did
anything on which they could lay hold to accuse him.
CLARKE, "Chief Pharisees - Or, one of the rulers of the Pharisees. A man who
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was of the sect of the Pharisees, and one of the rulers of the people.
To eat bread on the Sabbath day - But why is it that there should be an
invitation or dinner given on the Sabbath day? Answer: The Jews purchased and
prepared the best viands they could procure for the Sabbath day, in order to do it
honor. See several proofs in Lightfoot. As the Sabbath is intended for the benefit both
of the body and soul of man, it should not be a day of austerity or fasting, especially
among the laboring poor. The most wholesome and nutritive food should be then
procured if possible; that both body and soul may feel the influence of this Divine
appointment, and give God the glory of his grace. On this blessed day, let every man
eat his bread with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God. In doing this,
surely there is no reason that a man should feed himself without fear. If the Sabbath
be a festival, let it be observed unto the Lord; and let no unnecessary acts be done;
and avoid that bane of religious solemnity, giving and receiving visits on the Lord’s
day.
They watched him - Or, were maliciously watching, παρατηρουµενοι - from παρα,
intens. or denoting ill, and τηρεω, to observe, watch. Raphelius, on Mar_3:2, has
proved from a variety of authorities that this is a frequent meaning of the word: -
clam et insidiose observare, quid alter agat - to observe privately and insidiously
what another does. The context plainly proves that this is the sense in which it is to
be taken here. The conduct of this Pharisee was most execrable. Professing
friendship and affection, he invited our blessed Lord to his table, merely that he
might have a more favorable opportunity of watching his conduct, that he might
accuse him, and take away his life. In eating and drinking, people feel generally less
restraint than at other times, and are apt to converse more freely. The man who can
take such an advantage over one of his own guests must have a baseness of soul, and
a fellness of malice, of which, we would have thought, for the honor of human nature,
that devils alone were capable. Among the Turks, if a man only taste salt with
another, he holds himself bound, in the most solemn manner, never to do that
person any injury. I shall make no apology for inserting the following anecdote.
A public robber in Persia, known by the name of Yacoub, ibn Leits Saffer, broke
open the treasury of Dirhem, the governor of Sistan. Notwithstanding the obscurity
of the place, he observed, in walking forward, something that sparkled a little:
supposing it to be some precious stones, he put his hand on the place, and taking up
something, touched it with his tongue, and found it to be salt. He immediately left
the treasury, without taking the smallest article with him! The governor finding in
the morning that the treasury had been broken open, and that nothing was carried
off, ordered it to be published, that “Whoever the robber was who had broke open
the treasury, if he declared himself, he should be freely pardoned, and that he should
not only receive no injury, but should be received into the good graces of the
governor.” Confiding in the promise of Dirhem, Yacoub appeared. The governor
asked; How it came to pass that, after having broken open the treasury, he took
nothing away? Yacoub related the affair as it happened, and added, “I believed that I
was become your Friend in eating of your Salt, and that the Laws of that friendship
would not permit me to touch any thing that appertained to you.” D’Herbelot. Bib.
Orient. p. 415. How base must that man be, who professes Christianity, and yet
makes his own table a snare for his friend!
GILL, "And it came to pass,.... The Persic version adds, "on a certain day"; and it
is afterwards said to be the sabbath day. This seems to have been somewhere or other
in Galilee; see Luk_17:11.
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As he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees; or rather, one of the
rulers, and of the sect of the Pharisees: and he might be either a ruler of a synagogue,
or a member of one of the lesser or greater sanhedrim; such another as Nicodemus,
who was of the Pharisees, and a ruler of the Jews, Joh_3:1 for that there was any
distinction among the Pharisees as a sect, does not appear: to this man's house Christ
went, after he came out of the synagogue, being invited by him;
to eat bread on the sabbath day. The sabbath day was a feasting day with the
Jews, in which they made very large and magnificent entertainments, for the honour
of the sabbath; and he was reckoned the most praiseworthy, that exceeded this way;
and no doubt, since this man was a Pharisee, one that was tenacious of the traditions
of the elders, and was also a ruler, his table was well spread: the rules concerning this
part of keeping the sabbath, are these (g);
"what is this delight? the wise men say, a man ought to prepare abundance of food
and spiced liquids, for the sabbath, all according to a man's substance; and whoever
multiplies in the expenses of the sabbath, and in preparing food, much and good, lo,
he is praiseworthy; and if he is not able, though he only prepares boiled food, and
such like, on account of the glory of the sabbath, lo, this is the delight of the sabbath:
and he is not obliged to straiten himself, nor to ask of others, to increase the food of
the sabbath: the ancient wise men said, make thy sabbath a common day, and do not
make thyself necessitous to men; he who is delicate and rich, and lo, all his days are
as a sabbath day, ought to have food on a sabbath day, different from that on a
weekday; and if it is not possible to change, let him alter the time of eating; if he had
been used to have it soon, let him have it late; and if late, let him have it sooner: a
man is obliged to eat three meals, or feasts, on a sabbath day; one in the evening, and
one in the morning, and one at the time of the meat offering; and he ought to take
heed to those three feasts, that he does not diminish them at all; and even a poor
man that is maintained by alms, must keep the three feasts.''
And this last canon, or rule, is of the utmost importance with them; for they (h) say,
"whoever keeps the three feasts on the sabbath day, shall be delivered from three
punishments, from the sorrows of the Messiah, from the judgment of hell, and from
the war of Gog and Magog.''
That they watched him; that is, those that sat down to meat with him, the lawyers
and Pharisees: and it is very probable, that it was not out of pure respect to him, that
he was asked to eat meat at this ruler's house; but with a design to observe whatever
might be said, or done by him, they could take any advantage from, against him.
HENRY, "In this passage of story we find,
I. That the Son of man came eating and drinking, conversing familiarly with all
sorts of people; not declining the society of publicans, though they were of ill fame,
nor of Pharisees, though they bore him ill will, but accepting the friendly invitations
both of the one and the other, that, if possible, he might do good to both. Here he
went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees, a ruler, it may be, and a magistrate
in his country, to eat bread on the sabbath day, Luk_14:1. See how favourable God is
to us, that he allows us time, even on his own day, for bodily refreshments; and how
careful we should be not to abuse that liberty, or turn it into licentiousness. Christ
went only to eat bread, to take such refreshment as was necessary on the sabbath
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day. Our sabbath meals must, with a particular care, be guarded against all manner
of excess. On sabbath days we must do as Moses and Jethro did, eat bread before
God (Exo_18:12), and, as is said of the primitive Christians, on the Lord's day, must
eat and drink as those that must pray again before we go to rest, that we may not be
unfit for that.
JAMISON, "Luk_14:1-24. Healing of a dropsical man, and manifold teachings
at a Sabbath Feast.
CALVIN, "This narrative contains nothing more than a miracle which Christ
performed, in order to correct the superstitious observance of the Sabbath. For
he did not, intend, as some imagine, absolutely to abolish the Sabbath, but only
to point out, that neither the works of God, nor the duties of charity, violate the
holy rest which is enjoined by the law. Whether or not those very persons had
purposely brought the dropsical man to that place cannot be known with
certainty. He unquestionably could not be present at the table by accident, nor
break into a private dwelling without the permission and consent of the owner. It
is therefore probable, that he was placed there with the concealed design of
tempting Christ, which, on their part, was as foolish an action as it was wicked;
for they had already known by experience what Christ was accustomed to do,
whenever a similar occasion presented itself.
LIGHTFOOT, "[To eat bread on the sabbath day.] The Jews' tables were
generally better spread on that day than on any others: and that, as they
themselves reckoned, upon the account of religion and piety. I have spoken to
this elsewhere: take here a demonstration. "Rabba Bar Rabh Houna went to the
house of Rabba Bar Rabh Nachman. He set before him three measures of rich
cake: to whom he, 'How did you know of my coming?' The other answered, 'Is
there any thing more valuable to us than the sabbath?'" The Gloss is; 'We do by
no means prefer thee before the sabbath: we got these things ready in honour of
the sabbath, not knowing any thing of thy coming.'
"Rabba Abba bought flesh of thirteen butchers for thirteen staters, and paid
them at the very hinge of the door." The Gloss tells us, 'That he bought of
thirteen butchers, that he might be sure to taste the best: and before they could
come that should bring the flesh, he had gotten his money ready for them, and
paid them at the very gate, that he might hasten dinner: and all this in honour of
the sabbath-day.'
R. Abhu sat upon an ivory throne, and yet blew the fire: that was towards the
cooking of his dinner in honour of the sabbath. It ought not to be passed by
without observation, that Christ was at such a dinner, and that in the house of a
Pharisee, who doubtless was observant enough of all ceremonies of this kind.
COKE, "Luke 14:1. One of the chief Pharisees— A member of the great council,
or sanhedrim, who had a country-seat in Perea. The higher courts among the
Jews allowed some recess to their members. This person's invitation to our
Lordwas insidious; for we are told that they watched him.
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COFFMAN, "This section of Luke (Luke 14:1-17:10) is made up practically
altogether of "material which Luke alone reports."[1] This chapter recounts the
healing of the man with dropsy at the Pharisee's feast (Luke 14:1-6), the teaching
on humility which Jesus addressed to the guests (Luke 14:7-11), advice to the
host regarding his list of guests (Luke 14:12-14), the parable of the slighted
invitation (Luke 14:15-24), and Jesus' pronouncement on the cost of discipleship
(Luke 14:25-35).
THE HEALING OF THE MAN WITH DROPSY
And it came to pass, when he went into the house of one of the rulers of the
Pharisees on a sabbath to eat bread, that they were watching him. (Luke 14:1)
Went into the house of one of the rulers ... In view of the opposition of the
Pharisees and rulers to Jesus, it is a little surprising that he should have been
invited and that he should have accepted such an invitation; but this is clear in
the light of two considerations. First, as Barclay said, "Jesus never refused any
man's invitation to hospitality, ... and never abandoned hope of men."[2] Second,
the Pharisee intended to use the occasion against Jesus. As Clarke said:
Professing friendship and affection, he invited our blessed Lord to his table,
merely that he might have a more favorable opportunity of watching his
conduct, that he might accuse him, and take away his life.[3]
On the sabbath ... The following miracles were performed on the sabbath day:
The healing of Simon's wife's mother (Luke 4:38)
The healing of the man with the withered hand (Luke 6:6)
The healing of the woman crippled eighteen years (Luke 13:14)
The healing of the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:9)
The healing of the man born blind (John 9:14)
The healing of the demoniac in the synagogue at Capernaum (Mark 1:21)
The healing of the man with dropsy, as recorded herSIZE>
Thus, the Pharisees had every reason to believe that if confronted with the
opportunity Jesus would surely heal on any sabbath day; therefore they
contrived the incident before us. The invitation for Jesus to have a sabbath meal,
the dramatic appearance of a man with dropsy, and the presence of many
distinguished guests "had been carefully preconcerted among the Pharisees as a
trap for Jesus."[4]
"The Jews took only two meals on week days, but they had three meals on the
sabbath";[5] that extra meal was celebrated after the morning worship and was
the big meal of the entire week. "The only restriction upon those feasts was that
the food had to be cooked the day before."[6]
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[1] Norval Geldenhuys, Commentary on the Gospel of Luke (Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1951), p. 386.
[2] William Barclay, The Gospel of Luke (Philadelphia: Westminster Press,
1956), p. 194.
[3] Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Whole Bible (New York: Carlton and
Porter, 1829), Vol. V, p. 451.
[4] J. S. Lamar, The New Testament Commentary, Vol. II (Cincinnati, Ohio:
Chase and Hall, 1877), p. 191.
[5] Norval Geldenhuys, op. cit., p. 387.
[6] Charles L. Childers, Beacon Bible Commentary (Kansas City: Beacon Hill
Press, 1964), p. 546.
BARCLAY, "UNDER THE SCRUTINY OF HOSTILE MEN (Luke 14:1-6)
14:1-6 On the Sabbath day Jesus had gone into the house of one of the rulers
who belonged to the Pharisees to eat bread; and they were watching him. And--
look you-- there was a man before him who had dropsy. Jesus said to the Scribes
and Pharisees, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? Or, is it not?" They kept
silent. So he took him and healed him and sent him away. He said to them,
"Suppose one of you has an ass or an ox, and it falls into a well, will he not
immediately pull it out, even if it is on the Sabbath day?" And they had no
answer to these things.
In the gospel story there are seven incidents in which Jesus healed on the
Sabbath day. In Luke we have already studied the story of the healing of Simon's
mother-in-law (Luke 4:38); of the man with the withered hand (Luke 6:6); and
of the woman who was bent for eighteen years (Luke 13:13). To these John adds
the story of the healing of the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:9); and of
the man born blind (John 9:14). Mark adds one more--the healing of the demon-
possessed man in the synagogue at Capernaum (Mark 1:21).
Anyone would think that a record like that would have made a man beloved of
all; but it is the tragic fact that every miracle of healing that Jesus wrought on
the Sabbath day only made the scribes and Pharisees more certain that he was
dangerous and irreligious and must at all costs be stopped. If we are to
understand what happened to Jesus it is essential to remember that the orthodox
Jews of his day regarded him as a law-breaker. He healed on the Sabbath;
therefore he worked on the Sabbath; therefore he broke the law.
On this occasion a Pharisee invited him to a meal on the Sabbath. The law had
its meticulous regulations about Sabbath meals. Of course no food could be
cooked on the Sabbath; that would have been to work. All food had to be cooked
on the Friday; and, if it was necessary to keep it hot, it must be kept hot in such a
way that it was not cooked any more! So it is laid down that food to be kept
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warm for the Sabbath must not be put into "oil dregs, manure, salt, chalk or
sand, whether moist or dry, nor into straw, grape-skins, flock or vegetables, if
these are damp, though it may be if they are dry. It may be, however, put into
clothes, amidst fruits, pigeons' feathers and flax tow." It was the observance of
regulations like this that the Pharisees and scribes regarded as religion. No
wonder they could not understand Jesus!
It is by no means impossible that the Pharisees "planted" the man with the
dropsy in this house to see what Jesus would do. They were watching him; and
the word used for watching is the word used for "interested and sinister
espionage." Jesus was under scrutiny.
Without hesitation Jesus healed the man. He knew perfectly well what they were
thinking; and he quoted their own law and practice to them. Open wells were
quite common in Palestine, and were not infrequently the cause of accidents
(compare Exodus 21:33). It was perfectly allowable to rescue a beast which had
fallen in. Jesus, with searing contempt, demands how, if it be right to help an
animal on the Sabbath, it can be wrong to help a man.
This passage tells us certain things about Jesus and his enemies.
(i) It shows us the serenity with which Jesus met life. There is nothing more
trying than to be under constant and critical scrutiny. When that happens to
most people they lose their nerve and, even more often, lose their temper. They
become irritable; and while there may be greater sins than irritability there is
none that causes more pain and heartbreak. But even in things which would
have broken most men's spirit, Jesus remained serene. If we live with him, he can
make us like himself.
(ii) It is to be noted that Jesus never refused any man's invitation of hospitality.
To the end he never abandoned hope of men. To hope to change them or even to
appeal to them, might be the forlornest of forlorn hopes, but he would never let a
chance go. He would not refuse even an enemy's invitation. It is as clear as
daylight that we will never make our enemies our friends if we refuse to meet
them and talk with them.
(iii) The most amazing thing about the scribes and Pharisees is their staggering
lack of a sense of proportion. They would go to endless trouble to formulate and
to obey their petty rules and regulations; and yet they counted it a sin to ease a
sufferer's pain on the Sabbath day.
If a man had only one prayer to pray he might well ask to be given a sense of
proportion. The things which disturb the peace of congregations are often trifles.
The things which divide men from men and which destroy friendships are often
little things to which no sensible man, in his saner moments, would allow any
importance. The little things can bulk so large that they can fill the whole
horizon. Only if we put first things first will all things take their proper place--
and love comes first.
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NISBET, "SABBATH WORKS AND WORDS
‘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.’
Luke 14:1
Let us follow the Lord in spirit, and listen to the instruction that He gave to those
who were gathered with Him at the board. Our subject calls us to notice two
things in particular:—
I. His Sabbath works (Luke 14:1-6).—All His works may be summed up in one
word—‘Who went about doing good’ (Acts 10:38). And the Sabbath was no
exception. As the Father does good by carrying on His works of providence, so
the Son His works of grace (John 5:16-17). See on the present occasion. He finds
a poor man in the house suffering from dropsy. Without waiting for an
application for help, He anticipates the sufferer’s wants (Isaiah 65:24; Psalms
59:10). He anticipates also the thoughts of the murmurers’ hearts (Luke 14:3;
Matthew 9:4; Hebrews 4:12-13; Revelation 2:23). He performs the good deed of
healing (Exodus 15:26; Jeremiah 17:14). He justifies Himself at the expense of
His enemies (Luke 14:5-6; Romans 3:9). They were really annoyed with Christ,
because He did good upon the Sabbath (1 John 3:12-13; cf. John 10:32-33).
II. His Sabbath words (Luke 14:7-11).—Like His works, they were always good.
He always turned the conversation to what was important and edifying
(Ephesians 4:29). Thus was He the faithful and true Witness (John 18:37). One is
inclined to be silent in the presence of the wicked (Psalms 39:1-2), but not so
Christ. See on the present occasion how He improves the opportunity. From the
feast He leads their thoughts to the gospel feast (Luke 14:16). From their taking
seats at table He teaches them humility (Luke 14:8-11). Christ’s eye is upon us in
the commonest actions (Psalms 139:2). He sees us take our place at table, and
remarks upon it. He bids us esteem others better than ourselves (Philippians 2:3;
3 John 1:9). Pride goes before a fall (Luke 14:9; Proverbs 29:23). Before honour
there must be humility (Luke 14:10; Proverbs 15:33; Proverbs 25:6-7).
Let us not fail to lay these things to heart. I fear that with many of us Sunday
words and Sunday deeds are not what they should be. How much time is lost in
idleness or foolish talking! Let us listen to the words of the Apostle, when he calls
us to be followers of Christ (Ephesians 5:1-2; Ephesians 5:4; Ephesians 5:16).
—Bishop Rowley Hill.
Illustration
‘All God’s people always had the institution of the Sabbath. There was first of all
the patriarchal Sabbath instituted of God, which was the life of the family, and
for this patriarchal or family life God instituted the seventh day as a day of rest.
This was followed by the Jewish or national institution, with additional
ceremonial observances. And then, last of all, followed the Christian Sunday,
which included the family and the national life, and also the whole world. First,
the seventh day, then the Sabbath and the ceremonial observances, and then, last
of all, the Lord’s Day. The Sabbath, under the Jewish régime, became almost a
purely ceremonial observance; it overlapped everything, even to absurdity. So
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the institution of the Lord’s resting day had been over-larded by effete, absurd,
and exacting ceremonials. Then comes our Lord and Master, and gives us very
definitely the law about the Christian day of rest—the Lord’s Day.’
BURKITT, "Several particulars are here worthy of our observation and
imitation.
Note, 1. The freedom of our Lord's conversation with men: he delighted in
human society, and was of a sociable temper; we do not find, that whenever he
was invited to a dinner, he disdained to go, not so much for the pleasure of
eating, as for the opportunity of conversing and doing good.
Note, 2. The house he goes into, and is entertained in, one of the chief Pharisees',
who were some of his chiefest enemies; a great instance of our Lord's humanity,
humility, and self-denial, in that he refused not the conversation of those whom
he knew did not affect him; teaching us to love our enemies, and not to shun
conversing with them, that thereby we may gain an opportunity of being
reconciled to them.
Note, 3. The day when our Saviour dined publicly at the Pharisee's house, among
the lawyers and Pharisees; it was on the sabbath day.
Learn hence, that it is not simply unlawful for us to entertain our friends and
neighbors with a plentiful meal on the Lord's day; it must be acknowledged, that
feasting upon any day is one of those lawful things which is difficulty managed
without sin, but more especially upon that day, that it does not unfit us for the
duties of the sabbath. However, our Lord's example in going to a public dinner
amongst lawyers and Pharisees evidently shows the lawfulness of feasting on that
day, provided we use the same moderation in eating and drinking that he did,
and improve the opportunity as a season for doing good, as he has taught us by
his example.
Note, 4. How, contrary to all the laws of behavior, the decency of conversation,
and the rules of hospitality, the Pharisees watched him, making their table a
snare to catch him, hoping they might hear something from him, or see
something in him for which they might accuse him: He entered into the house of
the Pharisees to eat bread, and they watched him.
Note, 5. Our Saviour chose the sabbath day as the fittest season to work his
miraculous cures in; in the Pharisee's house he heals a man who had the dropsy,
on the sabbath day. Christ would not forbear doing good, nor omit any
opportunity of helping and healing the distressed though he knew his enemies
the Pharisees would carp and cavil at it, calumniate and reproach him for it; it
being the constant guise of hypocrites, to prefer ceremonial and ritual
observation, before necessary and moral duties.
Note, 6. How our Saviour defends the lawfulness of his act in healing the
diseased man, from their own act in helping a beast out of the pit on the sabbath
day: as if Christ had said, "Is it lawful for you on the sabbath day to help a
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beast? And is it sinful for me to heal a man?"
Note, lastly, how the reason and force of our Saviour's argument silenced the
Pharisees; convincing them, no doubt, but we read nothing of their conversion:
the obstinate and malicious are much harder to be wrought upon than the
ignorant and scandalous; it is easier to silence such men than to satisfy them; to
stop their mouths than to remove their prejudices; for obstinacy will hold the
conclusion, though reason cannot maintain the premises: They could not answer
him again to those things.
BI 1-6, "He went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees
The gospel for the seventeenth Sunday after Trinity
I.
WE HERE BEHOLD OUR SAVIOUR IN THE SOCIAL CIRCLE. Jesus was not a
recluse. He had a kind and social heart. He came to instruct, benefit, and redeem
men, and He took pleasure in mingling with them. With all His holiness, majesty,
and glory, He was a meek and social being, worthy of all admiration and imitation.
II. WE HERE HAVE A REMARKABLE TESTIMONY TO CHRIST’S GOODNESS.
There is reason to suspect that His invitation to this Pharisee’s house was for no
friendly purpose. The Pharisees, as a class, hated Jesus, and were intent upon
bringing Him into condemnation; and this man had distinguished friends with him
on this occasion, who were no exception. This is proven from what occurred when
they all got together in the house. Immediately in front of Christ, and in a manner
thrust upon His notice, was “a certain man that had the dropsy.” How he got there is
to be inferred. Evidently he was placed there to tempt our Lord to commit Himself.
Yes, even their hard and bitter hearts were so assured of the Saviour’s goodness, that
they felt warranted in building on it their plot to ruin Him. Sabbath day as it was,
their convictions were deep and positive that He would not pass by the opportunity
for exercising his marvellous power to cure the invalid they had stationed before
Him. And that one incidental fact speaks volumes. It tells of the constant stream of
healing power dispensed by the Saviour wheresoever He went. As the very cloud that
would cover the sun with darkness bears the bow which the more beautifully reflects
his glory, so the very wrath and malignity of these designing hypocrites did the more
magnificently attest the gracious goodness of our Lord. Nor did they miscalculate.
Knowing full well the nature and intent of the arrangement, and comprehending all
the ill use the treacherous watchers around Him meant to make of it, He did not
flinch from His wont, nor suffer His merciful power to be diverted or constrained.
III. BUT HOW BASE THE COWARDICE BROUGHT BEFORE US IN THE
CONDUCT OF THESE MEN! To wish to unseat and injure one of whose goodness
they were so thoroughly convinced, was in itself a self-contradictory wickedness
almost beyond comprehension. Shame on a zeal that attaches sanctity to such
hypocrisy, or honour to such cowardice!
IV. WE HERE BEHOLD THE TRUE SPIRIT OF THE LAW. The Sabbath was not
ordained for itself and its own sake; nor as a mere arbitrary act of Divine sovereignty;
but for the good of the living beings concerned in its observance.
V. WE LIKEWISE BEHOLD FROM THIS NARRATIVE, THAT AN
UNCHARITABLE PUNCTILIOUSNESS ABOUT RELIGIOUS THINGS, IS APT TO
HAVE, AS ITS ACCOMPANIMENT, IF NOT ITS ROOT, SOME HIDDEN
SELFISHNESS AND SELFCONSEQUENCE. It was not that they so loved God’s
appointments, or that they were so devoutly concerned to obey them; but anxiety for
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a bludgeon to break the head of Him whose pure teachings were undermining their
falsehood and tyranny. It was not God, but greed; not righteousness, but honour,
place, and dominion; not concern for Moses and the prophets, but for themselves
and their own consequence. On the occasion before us, there was a marked concern
about honours and place. This was the inspiration of their assumed sanctity, and all
their superior orthodoxy was only a sham for pride and lust of power. And only too
apt is this to be the case in every intolerant and uncharitable ado about the mere
“mint, anise, and cummin” of the faith.
VI. BUT THE END OF THE WHOLE MATTER IS ALSO HERE SHOWN US. Such a
spirit has no favour with God, and has nothing good to expect. (J. A.Seiss, D. D.)
They watched Him
What may be learnt from watching Christ
If we watch Christ also, we see how exalted piety instructs the worldly-minded.
1. He condescends to accept in friendly spirit the invitation that appeared to be
friendly.
2. He explains and defends the right use of the Sabbath.
3. He rebukes pride by inculcating humility.
4. He unfolds to those around Him the nature of true humility.
5. From humility as His subject, in the presence of the proud, He proceeds to
speak of hospitality in the presence of the selfish.
6. Our Lord distinguishes between the hospitality of ostentation, and the
hospitality of true benevolence.
7. He deduces His instruction from passing events or from surrounding objects.
8. Seated at the supper, He utters to His host and the guests the parable of the
Great Supper. (Van Doren.)
Healing on the Sabbath
Is it lawful to do anything but heal on the Sabbath day? Certainly not; that is the
purpose of the day; it is a day of healing. If, therefore, in the very complex
arrangements of our modern life, we are trying to interfere with anything that is
customary on the Sabbath day, we should ask whether we are interfering with that
which has a healing effect, or whether we are interfering with that which has an
injurious effect; because there are many things that in their outward form are
“works” that nevertheless in their general effects are healing. (T. T. Lynch.)
The coming Sabbath
We have been thinking and speaking of a miracle done on the Sabbath. It is evident
that our Saviour had a preference for the Sabbath as a time for working miracles.
How, then, is it with respect to ourselves—we who, many of us, would be glad to have
a miracle wrought on our behalf, and yet have no right whatever to expect one? It is
just thus—we are waiting for the Sabbath. In other words, it was intended, no doubt,
to be taught us by our Saviour’s practice, that there is a special time of rest coming,
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when all the various troubles that hamper and injure us will be utterly removed—our
burdens unbound; our fevers cooled for ever; our weakness changed to strength; all
our heaviness lightened; our blind eyes made clear; our deaf ears unstopped; our feet
filled with vigorous leaping blood; and all that is within us lighted up with joy, even
as the house was lighted up, and music and dancing sounded in it, when the prodigal
came home. There is a Sabbath coming; and as Christ wrought His cures upon the
Sabbath, when He was upon earth, we are taught to look on to a day of cure that is
coming—that Sabbath, namely, of rest, into which we hope to enter hereafter. It may
be needful for our perfection, and the perfection of our friends, that we should still be
burdened; but we are quite sure that, after the round of the six days, there will come
the seventh; we are quite sure, when the time of trial has ended, the boon of health
will be granted. (T. T. Lynch.)
The dropsy
Dropsy a figure of avarice
Dropsy is a disease which in general attacks only those of an advanced age. In a
similar manner, from indifference to God and celestial things, and attachment to
earthly goods, arises avarice—a vice to which many fall victims, especially in
advanced years.
I. SIMILARITY BETWEEN DROPSY AND AVARICE.
1. In the thirst occasioned by both.
2. In the sufferings occasioned by both.
(1) Want of rest and joy.
(2) Pains throughout the whole body.
3. In the dangerous character of the respective diseases.
(1) Avarice is difficult of cure.
(2) Should the avaricious man be converted, there is the utmost danger of his
relapsing into his former sins.
(3) Avarice frequently causes premature death.
(4) Avarice causes everlasting death.
II. DEATH THE DELIVERER FROM BOTH DISEASES.
1. Death and the grave warn us to despise earthly goods.
2. The judgment warns the avaricious to tremble on account of their possessions.
For they provoke God—
(1) By their injustice and hard-heartedness, which are often the cause of sins
crying to heaven.
(2) By the false confidence which they place in their goods.
3. Eternity teaches us to covet unfailing goods. (Venedien.)
Grief aiding thought
Here, then, stands the man that had the dropsy. Does he object to a miracle on the
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Sabbath day? It is surprising how our own necessities give an internal light to our
principles. Many a thing that has been wholly dark to a man, so that he has said, “I
cannot understand it,” becomes translucent to him as soon as God has lighted up a
grief within him. Put a grief inside a thought, and it is astonishing how much clearer
the thought is. This man had clear views of the Sabbath—very clear views. The dropsy
had given him those views. (T. T. Lynch.)
MACLAREN, "THE LESSONS OF A FEAST
Jesus never refused an invitation, whether the inviter were a Pharisee or a publican, a
friend or a foe. He never mistook the disposition of His host. He accepted ‘greetings
where no kindness is,’ and on this occasion there was none. The entertainer was a
spy, and the feast was a trap. What a contrast between the malicious watchers at the
table, ready to note and to interpret in the worst sense every action of His, and Him
loving and wishing to bless even them! The chill atmosphere of suspicion did not
freeze the flow of His gentle beneficence and wise teaching. His meek goodness
remained itself in the face of hostile observers. The miracle and the two parables are
aimed straight at their errors.
I. How came the dropsical man there?
Possibly he had simply strayed in to look on at the feast, as the freedom of manners
then would permit him to do. The absence of any hint that he came hoping for a cure,
and of any trace of faith on his part, or of speech to him on Christ’s, joined with his
immediate dismissal after his cure, rather favours the supposition that he had been
put as the bait of the trap, on the calculation that the sight of him would move Jesus
to heal him. The setters of the snare were ‘watching’ whether it would work, and
Jesus ‘answered’ their thoughts, which were, doubtless, visible in their eyes. His
answer has three stages-a question which is an assertion, the cure, and another
affirming question. All three are met with sulky silence, which speaks more than
words would have done. The first question takes the ‘lawyers’ on their own ground,
and in effect asserts that to heal did not break the Sabbath. Jesus challenges denial of
the lawfulness of it, and the silence of the Pharisees confesses that they dare not
deny. ‘The bare fact of healing is not prohibited,’ they might have said, ‘but the acts
necessary for healing are.’ But no acts were necessary for this Healer’s power to
operate. The outgoing of His will had power. Their finespun distinctions of deeds
lawful and unlawful were spiders’ webs, and His act of mercy flew high above the
webs, like some fair winged creature glancing in the sunshine, while the spider sits in
his crevice balked. The broad principle involved in Jesus’ first question is that no
Sabbath law, no so-called religious restriction, can ever forbid helping the miserable.
The repose of the Sabbath is deepened, not disturbed, by activity for man’s good.
The cure is told without detail, probably because there were no details to tell. There is
no sign of request or of faith on the sufferer’s part; there seems to have been no
outward act on Christ’s beyond ‘taking’ him, which appears simply to mean that He
called him nearer, and then, by a simple exercise of His will, healed him. There is no
trace of thanks or of wonder in the heart of the sufferer, who probably never had
anything more to do with his benefactor. Silently he comes on the stage, silently he
gets his blessing, silently he disappears. A strange, sad instance of how possible it is
to have a momentary connection with Jesus, and even to receive gifts from His hand,
and yet to have no real, permanent relation to Him!
The second question turns from the legal to a broader consideration. The
spontaneous workings of the heart are not to be dammed back by ceremonial laws.
Need calls for immediate succour. You do not wait for the Sabbath’s sun to set when
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your ox or your ass is in a pit. (The reading ‘son’ instead of ‘ox,’ as in the Revised
Version margin, is incongruous.) Jesus is appealing to the instinctive wish to give
immediate help even to a beast in trouble, and implies that much more should the
same instinct be allowed immediate play when its object is a man. The listeners were
self-condemned, and their obstinate silence proves that the arrow had struck deep.
II. The cure seems to have taken place before the guests seated
themselves.
Then came a scramble for the most honourable places, on which He looked with
perhaps a sad smile. Again the silence of the guests is noticeable, as well as the calm
assumption of authority by Jesus, even among such hostile company. Where He
comes a guest, He becomes teacher, and by divine right He rebukes. The lesson is
given, says Luke, as ‘a parable,’ by which we are to understand that our Lord is not
here giving, as might appear if His words are superficially interpreted, a mere lesson
of proper behaviour at a feast, but is taking that behaviour as an illustration of a far
deeper thing. Possibly some too ambitious guest had contrived to seat himself in the
place of honour, and had had to turn out, and, with an embarrassed mien, had to go
down to the very lowest place, as all the intermediate ones were full. His eagerness to
be at the top had ended in his being at the bottom. That is a ‘parable,’ says Jesus, an
illustration in the region of daily life, of large truths in morals and religion. It is a
poor motive for outward humility and self-abasement that it may end in higher
honour. And if Jesus was here only giving directions for conduct in regard to men,
He was inculcating a doubtful kind of morality. The devil’s
‘darling sin
Is the pride that apes humility.’
Jesus was not recommending that, but what is crafty ambition, veiling itself in
lowliness for its own purposes, when exercised in outward life, becomes a noble,
pure, and altogether worthy, thing in the spiritual sphere. For to desire to be exalted
in the kingdom is wholly right, and to humble one’s self with a direct view to that
exaltation is to tread the path which He has hallowed by His own footsteps. The true
aim for ambition is the honour that cometh from God only, and the true path to it is
through the valley; for ‘God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.’
III. Unbroken silence still prevailed among the guests, but again Jesus
speaks as teacher, and now to the host.
A guest does not usually make remarks on the composition of the company, Jesus
could make no ‘recompense’ to His entertainer, but to give him this counsel. Again,
He inculcated a wide general lesson under the guise of a particular exhortation
appropriate to the occasion. Probably the bulk of the guests were well-to-do people of
the host’s own social rank, and, as probably, there were onlookers of a lower degree,
like the dropsical man. The prohibition is not directed against the natural custom of
inviting one’s associates and equals, but against inviting them only, and against
doing so with a sharp eye to the advantages to be derived from it. That weary round
of giving a self-regarding hospitality, and then getting a return dinner or evening
entertainment from each guest, which makes up so much of the social life among us,
is a pitiful affair, hollow and selfish. What would Jesus say-what does Jesus say-
about it all? The sacred name of hospitality is profaned, and the very springs of it
dried up by much of our social customs, and the most literal application of our Lord’s
teaching here is sorely needed.
But the words are meant as a ‘parable,’ and are to be widened out to include all sorts
of kindnesses and helps given in the sacred name of charity to those whose only claim
is their need. ‘They cannot recompense thee’-so much the better, for, if an eye to their
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doing so could have influenced thee, thy beneficence would have lost its grace and
savour, and would have been simple selfishness, and, as such, incapable of future
reward. It is only love that is lavished on those who can make no return which is so
free from the taint of secret regard to self that it is fit to be recognised as love in the
revealing light of that great day, and therefore is fit to be ‘recompensed in the
resurrection of the just.’
2 There in front of him was a man suffering
from abnormal swelling of his body.
BARNES, "A certain man before him - In what way he came there we know
not. He might have been one of the Pharisee’s family, or might have been placed
there by the Pharisees to see whether he would heal him. This last supposition is not
improbable, since it is said in Luk_14:1 that they watched him.
The dropsy - A disease produced by the accumulation of water in various parts of
the body; very distressing, and commonly incurable.
CLARKE, "The dropsy - ᆙδρωπικος, dropsical; from ᆓδωρ, water, and ωψ, the
countenance, because in this disorder the face of the patient is often very much
bloated. Probably the insidious Pharisee had brought this dropsical man to the place,
not doubting that our Lord’s eye would affect his heart, and that he would instantly
cure him; and then he could most plausibly accuse him for a breach of the Sabbath. If
this were the case, and it is likely, how deep must have been the perfidy and malice of
the Pharisee!
GILL, "And behold, there was a certain man before him,.... Who sat just
before him, as he was at table; who either came there of himself, in order to receive a
cure; or rather, since it was in a private house, and he at table too, was brought and
set there on purpose by the Pharisees, to try whether Christ would heal him on the
sabbath day, that they might have somewhat against him; which they doubted not
but he would do, knowing his compassionate and beneficent disposition to do good
to creatures in distress, whenever he had an opportunity:
which had the dropsy: or "gathered waters", as the Syriac version renders it; was
filled with water, which is the nature of that disease, and distinguishes it from what is
called the dry dropsy: this disease is a preternatural collection of serum, or water in
some part of the body; or a too great proportion thereof in the blood. The "dropsy"
acquires different names, from the different parts it afflicts, or the different parts the
waters are collected in; that of the "abdomen", or lower belly, called simply and
absolutely "dropsy", is particularly denominated "ascites"; that of the whole habit of
the body, "anasarca", or "leucophlegmatia"; that of the head, "hydrocephalus"; that
of the scrotum, "hydrocele".---There is also a species of this disease, supposed to be
caused instead of water, by a collection of wind, called "tympanites"; and by
Hippocrates, the "dry dropsy": we also meet with dropsies of the breast, pericardium,
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uterus, ovaries, &c. The causes of dropsies in general, are whatever may obstruct the
serous part of the blood, so as to make it stagnate in the vessels; or burst the vessels
themselves, so as to let the blood out among the membranes; or weaken and relax the
tone of the vessels; or this the blood, and make it watery; or lessen perspiration.
These causes are various, viz. sometimes acute diseases, scirrhous tumours of any of
the more noble viscera, excessive evacuations, particularly haemorrhages, hard
drinking, &c. The "ascites", or "water dropsy" of the "abdomen", is the most usual
case, and what we particularly call the "dropsy": its symptoms are tumours, first of
the feet and legs, and afterwards of the "abdomen." which keep continually growing;
and if the belly be struck or shook, there is heard a quashing of water: add to this,
three other attendants, viz. a dyspnoea, intense thirst, and sparing urine; with which
may be numbered heaviness, listlessness, costiveness, a light fever, and an
emaciation of the body (i). Such we must suppose to be the case of this man, and that
he was now in such a condition, as to be thought incurable.
HENRY, "II. That he went about doing good. Wherever he came he sought
opportunities to do good, and not only improved those that fell in his way. Here was
a certain man before him who had the dropsy, Luk_14:2. We do not find that he
offered himself, or that his friends offered him to be Christ's patient, but Christ
prevented him with the blessings of his goodness, and before he called he answered
him. Note, It is a happy thing to be where Christ is, to be present before him, though
we be not presented to him. This man had the dropsy, it is probable, in a high degree,
and appeared much swoln with it; probably he was some relation of the Pharisee's,
that now lodged in his house, which is more likely than that he should be an invited
guest at the table.
III. That he endured the contradiction of sinners against himself: They watched
him, Luk_14:1. The Pharisee that invited him, it should seem, did it with a design to
pick some quarrel with him; if it were so, Christ knew it, and yet went, for he knew
himself a match for the most subtle of them, and knew how to order his steps with an
eye to his observers. Those that are watched had need to be wary. It is, as Dr.
Hammond observes, contrary to all laws of hospitality to seek advantage against one
that you invited to be your guest, for such a one you have taken under your
protection. These lawyers and Pharisees, like the fowler that lies in wait to ensnare
the birds, held their peace, and acted very silently. When Christ asked them whether
they thought it lawful to heal on the sabbath day (and herein he is said to answer
them, for it was an answer to their thoughts, and thoughts are words to Jesus
Christ), they would say neither yea nor nay, for their design was to inform against
him, not to be informed by him. They would not say it was lawful to heal, for then
they would preclude themselves from imputing it to him as a crime; and yet the thing
was so plain and self-evident that they could not for shame say it was not lawful.
Note, Good men have often been persecuted for doing that which even their
persecutors, if they would but give their consciences leave to speak out, could not but
own to be lawful and good. Many a good work Christ did, for which they cast stones
at him and his name.
JAMISON, "man before him — not one of the company, since this was
apparently before the guests sat down, and probably the man came in hope of a cure,
though not expressly soliciting it [Deuteronomy Wette].
COFFFMAN, "Spectators often entered the house to witness an eastern
banquet";[7] but as Russell noted, "Other schemes of the Pharisees on like
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occasions make it very probable that the Pharisees had placed him there."[8]
Of course, all eyes were fixed upon Jesus; as the previous verse said, "They were
watching him." The word used for watching in the text means "interested and
sinister espionage."[9]
[7] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan
Company, 1937), p. 756.
[8] John William Russell, Compact Commentary on the New Testament (Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1964), p. 175.
[9] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 194.
COKE, "Luke 14:2. There was a certain man before him— He was either set
before him by way of a snare, or had conveyed himself thither in hopes of a cure,
which is the most probable; for it appears from Luke 14:4 that he was not one of
the family, because Christ dismissed or let him go.
3 Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the
law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or
not?”
BARNES, "Jesus, answering - To “answer,” in the Scriptures, does not always
imply, as among us, that anything had been said before. It means often merely to
“begin” or to take up a subject, or, as here, to remark on the case that was present.
Is it lawful ... - He knew that they were watching him. If he healed the man at
once, they would accuse him. He, therefore, proposed the question to them, and
when it was asked, they could not say that it was not lawful.
GILL, "And Jesus answering, spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees,.... All
the Oriental versions, for "lawyers", read "Scribes": these, with the Pharisees, were
got together in a body, in their brother Pharisee's house, to watch the motions of
Christ; who knew their designs upon him, and the thoughts of their hearts, and made
answer to them, by putting the following question;
saying, is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? The occasion of the question
was the object before him, whom Christ had a compassionate regard to, and
determined to cure; but knowing that these men were catching at every thing, to
traduce him, was desirous of having their sentiments first; not but that he knew full
well, what was agreeable to the law of God, and what was not; and what also were the
traditions of their elders, which they held, and which allowed of healing on the
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sabbath day, where life was in danger.
CALVIN, "3.Is it lawful to cure on Sabbath? The meaning of this question is,
ought the curing of a man to be reckoned among the works which violate the
Sabbath? If they had said that the observance of the Sabbath is violated in this
way, the reply was obvious, that it is a work of God. Now the law of the Sabbath
goes no farther, than that men shall rest from their own works. Christ first puts
the question to them, and he does so for the purpose of guarding against offense.
It would not have been necessary for him to pacify them, if they had not been
instigated by hardened malice. Not that he always laid himself under this
restriction; for in many cases he did what had been enjoined on him by the
Father, without attending to the offense that might arise from it. But he intended
to show by this example, that he did not inconsiderately perform miracles on
Sabbath, because he was prepared to assign a reason for what he did. They, on
the other hand, make it evident by their silence, that their desire of finding fault
is stronger than their zeal for the law; and therefore Christ treats with utter
indifference their opinion about his action, because it was evident that they
intentionally sought out an occasion of offense.
LIGHTFOOT, "[Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?] A Jew will be ready to
cavil against the truth of the evangelists upon the occasion of this and such like
questions they report from our Saviour. What need had he (will such a one say)
to ask this question, when he could not but know that, in danger of life, it was
permitted them to do any thing towards the preservation of it. Nay, where there
was no imminent danger, they were allowed to apply medicines, plasters, &c.;
especially, which I must not omit, to apply leaven even in the time of Passover to
a 'Gumretha,' some very burning distemper.
This is all true indeed; and this no doubt our Saviour understood well enough:
but withal he could not but observe with how ill an eye they looked at him, and
would not allow that in him which was lawful in another man. He was always
accused for healing on the sabbath day, which whiles he did with a word
speaking, he could not violate the sabbath so much as even their own canons
permitted him: and wherefore then should they accuse him? In mere hatred to
his person and actions. There are two little stories we meet with in places quoted
before, which perhaps may serve in some measure to illustrate this matter.
"The grandchild of R. Joshua Ben Levi had some disease in his throat, There
came one and mumbled to him in the name of Jesus the son of Pandira, and he
was restored." Here we see the virtue and operation of Jesus not so utterly
exploded, but they did allow of it.
"When R. Eliezer Ben Damah had been bitten with a serpent, and Jacobus
Capharsamensis came in the name of Jesus the son of Pandira to heal him, R.
Ismael forbade it." And so the sick man died.
COFFMAN, "Significantly, Jesus answered not the words of his watchers, but
their thoughts. Like human vultures, those evil men were waiting for Jesus to fall
into their trap; but he took it all in at a glance, snaring them with one of their
18

own devices, a dilemma. If they said, "Yes," they had no case; if they said, "No,"
they would have spoken a lie. "The law did not condemn such acts of mercy; and
they undoubtedly saw the point of the Master's question."[10]
ENDNOTE:
[10] Charles L. Childers, op. cit., p. 546.
BRUCE, "THE SPIRIT OF SUNDAY OBSERVANCE
‘Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?’
Luke 14:3
It was at Capernaum that the controversy with our Lord about the Sabbath took
place. What do we learn from our Lord’s teaching?
I. All the ceremonial prescription must give way to necessity.—When the
disciples of the Lord were hungry, and plucked the ears of corn and rubbed
them in their hands, and so broke the law from necessity, He commended what
they did. And so, we know, then, that when there is a case of necessity, the
ceremonial law may be broken. And it comes into our lives in this way—some
one says: ‘If I do not keep my little shop open on Sunday, I shall starve.’ Very
well, if it is a case of starvation, I won’t say a word against it. If a man were to
say, ‘It is absolutely necessary for me to go right away on the Sunday’—if it is
absolutely necessary, you may cover yourselves under your Master. But the
question is, Is it absolutely necessary? The Lord certainly did tell us all
prescriptive ceremonial must give way to necessity.
II. Prescriptive ceremonial must give way to service—God’s service.—And if this
first law of the Lord was for the people, this is for God’s ministers, ‘The priests
in the Temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless.’ They kept the law by
breaking it. Their work was very arduous. So arduous was the priest’s work,
that, month by month, he had to go and rest. And that covers God’s ministry. In
most cases, the clergy have the hardest work to do upon the Sunday. We can
cover ourselves under the law of our God and Master, and say, the priests who
did God’s service were blameless.
III. All ceremonial observance must give way to mercy.—If you are coming to
church, and, in some necessity of life, some poor soul calls you away, needing
your help, you must not say: ‘If I help that poor chap, I shall miss church’; or, ‘I
shall be late for church’ You must say: ‘No; mercy is greater than sacrifice.’ You
had much better stop and do a little work of mercy, and miss church, even on
Sunday.
IV. ‘The Sabbath was made for man.’—It was made, first of all, for the family; it
was made for the nation, and now it is made for the whole world. He, the Son of
Man, is Lord of the Day that He hath made, and that is the only reason why we
have from our Lord the authority for keeping the Lord’s Day, His day.
We ought to be on the Sunday the Lord’s Day observers. That is as the Bible has
indicated to us and the Church, and I tell you our one duty is to go to the Lord’s
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service on the Lord’s Day.
Rev. A. H. Stanton.
Illustration
‘In the French Revolution they wished to abolish it altogether, and the men in
the time of the Revolution said: “Let us have seven days’ work and seven days’
pay,” and they had it; and now they have seven days’ work, but only six days’
pay. They have lost their day of rest, and long to get it back. It was made for
them, and they destroyed it.’
4 But they remained silent. So taking hold of the
man, he healed him and sent him on his way.
BARNES, "They held their peace - They were silent. They “could” not say it
was not lawful, for the law did not forbid it. If it had they would have said it. Here
was the time for them to make objections if they had any, and not after the man was
healed; and as they “made” no objection “then,” they could not with consistency
afterward. They were, therefore, effectually silenced and confounded by the Saviour.
He took him - Took hold of the man, or perhaps took him apart into another
room. By taking hold of him, or touching him, he showed that the power of healing
went forth from himself.
CLARKE, "They held their peace - They could not answer the question but in
the affirmative; and as they were determined to accuse him if he did heal the man,
they could not give an answer but such as would condemn themselves, and therefore
they were silent.
GILL, "And they held their peace,.... Or were silent, choosing to say nothing,
which might countenance such an action; and yet knew not how to condemn it:
and he took him, and healed him, and let him go; he took him by the hand, or
laid his hands on him; he touched him, and, it may be, stroked the part affected, and
in an instant the prodigious swelling of his body came down: for he who at his rebuke
could dry up the sea, could by a touch dry up such a quantity of water, as was in this
man's body; and then he dismissed him from the table and company, and he went
home perfectly cured.
HENRY, "IV. That Christ would not be hindered from doing good by the
opposition and contradiction of sinners. He took him, and healed him, and let him
go, Luk_14:4. Perhaps he took him aside into another room, and healed him there,
because he would neither proclaim himself, such was his humility, nor provoke his
adversaries, such was his wisdom, his meekness of wisdom. Note, Though we must
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not be driven off from our duty by the malice of our enemies, yet we should order the
circumstances of it so as to make it the least offensive. Or, He took him, that is, he
laid hands on him, to cure him; epilabomenos, complexus - he embraced him, took
him in his arms, big and unwieldy as he was (for so dropsical people generally are),
and reduced him to shape. The cure of a dropsy, as much as any disease, one would
think, should be gradual; yet Christ cured even that disease, perfectly cured it, in a
moment. He then let him go, lest the Pharisees should fall upon him for being
healed, though he was purely passive; for what absurdities would not such men as
they were be guilty of?
COFFMAN, "Astounded by the position in which Jesus had placed them, and
being unable to discover some means of saving face, they simply remained silent;
whereupon, Jesus healed the man; and, since the man was evidently not one of
the guests invited to dinner, the Lord sent him on his way.
COKE, "Luke 14:4. And he took him,— The original επιλαβομενος, signifies
either his taking hold of him, or laying his hand upon him. Doubtless our Lord
could have accomplished this cure as well by a secret volition, and so might have
cut off all manner of cavilling; but he chose rather to produce it by an action in
which there was the very least degree of bodily labour that could be, because
thus he had an opportunity of reproving the reigning superstition of the times.
5 Then he asked them, “If one of you has a
child[a] or an ox that falls into a well on the
Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it
out?”
BARNES, "See the notes at Mat_12:11.
Which of you ... - In this way Jesus refuted the notion of the Pharisees. If it was
lawful to save an ox on the Sabbath, it was also to save the life of a man. To this the
Jews had nothing to answer.
GILL, "And answered them, saying,.... Murmuring secretly at what he had
done:
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? being just ready to be drowned
there; and therefore it must be much more right and necessary to cure a man, a
reasonable creature, just drowning with a dropsy, as this man was. The Syriac and
21

Persic versions, instead of "an ass", read "a son", very wrongly: a like kind of
reasoning is used by Christ, in See Gill on Mat_12:11, Luk_13:15.
HENRY, "V. That our Lord Jesus did nothing but what he could justify, to the
conviction and confusion of those that quarrelled with him, Luk_14:5, Luk_14:6. He
still answered their thoughts, and made them hold their peace for shame who before
held their peace for subtlety, by an appeal to their own practice, as he had been used
to do upon such occasions, that he might show them how in condemning him they
condemned themselves: which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, by
accident, and will not pull him out on the sabbath day, and that straightway, not
deferring it till the sabbath be over, lest it perish? Observe, It is not so much out of
compassion to the poor creature that they do it as a concern for their own interest. It
is their own ox, and their own ass, that is worth money, and they will dispense with
the law of the sabbath for the saving of. Now this was an evidence of their hypocrisy,
and that it was not out of any real regard to the sabbath that they found fault with
Christ for healing on the sabbath day (that was only the pretence), but really because
they were angry at the miraculous good works which Christ wrought, and the proof
he thereby gave of his divine mission, and the interest he thereby gained among the
people. Many can easily dispense with that, for their own interest, which they cannot
dispense with for God's glory and the good of their brethren. This question silenced
them: They could not answer him again to these things, Luk_14:6. Christ will be
justified when he speaks, and every mouth must be stopped before him.
CALVIN, "5.Which of you shall have an ox or an ass? Though they did not
deserve that Christ should take pains to remove the offense, yet he shows that he
did nothing inconsistent with the observance of the Sabbath. And this he
undoubtedly does, not so much with the view of instructing them, as of
protecting himself against their slanders; for he knew that they were too much
blinded by virulent hatred to yield submissively, to argument, but wished to
triumph over their malice, by compelling them through shame to be silent. If we
are at liberty to relieve brute animals on Sabbath, it would be unreasonable that
we should not perform a similar office of kindness to man, who is formed after
the image of God.
LIGHTFOOT, "[Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, &c.] It
being an undoubted maxim, "That they must deal mercifully with an Israelite's
goods," the doctors in many things dispensed with the sabbath for the
preservation of a beast. "They do not play the midwives with a beast that is
bringing forth its young on a feast day, but they help it. How do they help it?
They bear up the young one, that it doth not fall upon the ground: they bring
wine, spirt it into the nostrils: they rub the paunch of the dam, so that it will
suckle its young."
"A firstling if it fall into a ditch [on a fast day, or the sabbath], let the Mumcheh
look into it; and if there be any blemish in it, let him take it out and kill it: if not,
let him not kill it." He draws it out however, that it might not be lost. And so
they deal with other beasts; only the Mumcheh is not made use of.
COFFMAN, "It was well known that the Pharisees would indeed do such things
on the sabbath; and here Christ pointed out the first of three reversed ethics in
the Pharisees' thinking, the first being that they valued property above a man.
22

"Jesus did not condemn this act of mercy (to animals); but he did condemn their
attitude toward men."[11]
ENDNOTE:
[11] Herschel H. Hobbs, An Exposition of the Gospel of Luke (Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Baker Book House, 1966), p. 227.
6 And they had nothing to say.
GILL, "And they could not answer him again to these things,.... The justice,
equity, mercy, and humanity that appeared in our Lord's reasonings, and the cases he
instanced in, being agreeable to their own tenets and practices, their mouths were
shut up, and they could not return an answer to them, without being exposed,
COFFMAN, "And they could not answer again unto these things. As Hobbs said,
"They did not want to admit that they valued their law and property more than
they valued a man; but their attitude spoke louder than their words."[12] There
is no New Testament example of an episode in which the Pharisees were able to
answer Jesus' words in open debate.
ENDNOTE:
[12] Ibid.
7 When he noticed how the guests picked the
places of honor at the table, he told them this
parable:
BARNES, "A parable - The word parable, here, means rather a “precept, an
injunction.” He gave a “rule or precept” about the proper manner of attending a feast,
or about the humility which ought to be manifested on such occasions.
That were bidden - That were invited by the Pharisee. It seems that he had
invited his friends to dine with him on that day.
23

When he marked - When he observed or saw.
Chief rooms - The word “rooms” here does not express the meaning of the
original. It does not mean “apartments,” but “the higher places” at the table; those
which were nearest the head of the table and to him who had invited them. See the
notes at Mat_23:6. That this was the common character of the Pharisees appears
from Mat_23:6.
CLARKE, "They chose out the chief rooms - When custom and law have
regulated and settled places in public assemblies, a man who is obliged to attend may
take the place which belongs to him, without injury to himself or to others: when
nothing of this nature is settled, the law of humility, and the love of order, are the
only judges of what is proper. To take the highest place when it is not our due is
public vanity: obstinately to refuse it when offered is another instance of the same
vice; though private and concealed. Humility takes as much care to avoid the
ostentation of an affected refusal, as the open seeking of a superior place. See
Quesnel. In this parable our Lord only repeats advices which the rabbins had given to
their pupils, but were too proud to conform to themselves. Rabbi Akiba said, Go two
or three seats lower than the place that belongs to thee, and sit there till they say unto
thee, Go up higher; but do not take the uppermost seat, lest they say unto thee, Come
down: for it is better that they should say unto thee, Go up, go up; than that they
should say, Come down, come down. See Schoettgen.
GILL, "And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden,.... To the
dinner at the Pharisee's house, particularly the lawyers, or Scribes and Pharisees:
when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; the uppermost places
at the table, which these men loved, coveted, and sought after; See Gill on Mat_23:6.
saying unto them; as follows.
HENRY, "Our Lord Jesus here sets us an example of profitable edifying discourse
at our tables, when we are in company with our friends. We find that when he had
none but his disciples, who were his own family, with him at his table, his discourse
with them was good, and to the use of edifying; and not only so, but when he was in
company with strangers, nay, with enemies that watched him, he took occasion to
reprove what he saw amiss in them, and to instruct them. Though the wicked were
before him, he did not keep silence from good (as David did, Psa_39:1, Psa_39:2),
for, notwithstanding the provocation given him, he had not his heart hot within him,
nor was his spirit stirred. We must not only not allow any corrupt communication at
our tables, such as that of the hypocritical mockers at feasts, but we must go beyond
common harmless talk, and should take occasion from God's goodness to us at our
tables to speak well of him, and learn to spiritualize common things. The lips of the
righteous should then feed many. Our Lord Jesus was among persons of quality, yet,
as one that had not respect of persons,
I. He takes occasion to reprove the guests for striving to sit uppermost, and thence
gives us a lesson of humility.
1. He observed how these lawyers and Pharisees affected the highest seats, towards
the head-end of the table, Luk_14:7. He had charged that sort of men with this in
general, Luk_11:43. Here he brings home the charge to particular persons; for Christ
will give every man his own. He marked how they chose out the chief rooms; every
man, as he came in, got as near the best seat as he could. Note, Even in the common
actions of life, Christ's eye is upon us, and he marks what we do, not only in our
24

religious assemblies, but at our tables, and makes remarks upon it.
JAMISON 7-11, "a parable — showing that His design was not so much to
inculcate mere politeness or good manners, as underneath this to teach something
deeper (Luk_14:11).
chief rooms — principal seats, in the middle part of the couch on which they
reclined at meals, esteemed the most honorable.
CALVIN, "7.And he spoke a parable to those who were invited. We know to
what an extent ambition prevailed among the Pharisees and all the scribes.
While they desired to exercise a haughty dominion over all other men, the
superiority among themselves was likewise an object of emulation. It is
constantly the case with men who are desirous of empty applause, that they
cherish envy towards each other, every one endeavoring to draw to himself what
others imagine to be due to them. Thus the Pharisees and scribes, while they
were all equally disposed, in presence of the people, to glory in the title of holy
order, are now disputing among themselves about the degree of honor, because
every one claims for himself the highest place.
This ambition of theirs Christ exposes to ridicule by an appropriate parable. If
any one sitting at another man’s table were to occupy the highest place, and were
afterwards compelled to give way to a more honorable person, it would not be
without shame and dishonor that he was ordered by the master of the feast to
take a different place. But the same thing must happen to all who proudly give
themselves out as superior to others; for God will bring upon them disgrace and
contempt. It must be observed, that Christ is not now speaking of outward and
civil modesty; for we often see that the haughtiest men excel in this respect, and
civilly, as the phrase is, profess great modesty. But by a comparison taken from
men, he describes what we ought to be inwardly before God. “Were it to happen
that a guest should foolishly take possession of the highest place, and should, on
that account, be put down to the lowest, he would be so completely overpowered
with shame as to wish that he had never gone higher. Lest the same thing should
happen to you, that God would punish your arrogance with the deepest disgrace,
resolve, of your own accord, to be humble and modest.”
COFFMAN, "JESUS' LESSON FOR THE GUESTS
A parable ... "This word PARABLE is an elastic word. Here it means a piece of
advice, inculcating humility."[13] This is not therefore the usual type of parable
with clear analogies.
The chief seats ... As Plummer said, "In the mixture of Jewish, Roman, Greek
and Persian cultures at that time, we cannot be sure which were the `chief
seats'"[14] The Talmud ranked three seats on a couch by making the center
chief, the one on the right second, and the one on the left third! Whatever were
accounted the most honorable seats, there was a vulgar scramble among the
guests on that occasion, each man jockeying with others for the better places.
25

[13] J. R. Dummelow, op. cit., p. 757.
[14] Alfred Plummer, The Gospel according to St. Luke (New York: T and T
Clark, 1922), in loco.
COKE, "Luke 14:7. Chief rooms;— Chief places:— πρωτοκλισιας, chief seats,
and so where the word room occurs: from this circumstance, and from what is
said Luke 14:12 it appears that this was a great entertainment, to which many
were invited. Very probably therefore the meeting was concerted, and the
company chosen, with a view to ensnare Jesus,—as we observed on Luke 14:1.
So that his being invited was a matter, not of accident, but of design.
BARCLAY, "THE NECESSITY OF HUMILITY (Luke 14:7-11)
14:7-11 Jesus spoke a parable to the invited guests, for he noticed how they chose
the first places at the table. "When you are bidden by someone to a marriage
feast," he said. "do not take your place at table in the first scat, in case someone
more distinguished than you has been invited, for in that case the man who
invited you will come and say to you, 'Give place to this man.' And then, with
shame, you will begin to take the lowest place. But, when you have been invited,
go and sit down in the lowest place, so that, when the man who has invited you
comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, come up higher.' Then you will gain honour in
front of all who sit at table with you. For he who exalts himself will be humbled,
and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
Jesus chose a homely illustration to point an eternal truth. If a quite
undistinguished guest arrived early at a feast and annexed the top place, and if a
more distinguished person then arrived, and the man who had usurped the first
place was told to step down, a most embarrassing situation resulted. If, on the
other hand, a man deliberately slipped into the bottom place, and was then asked
to occupy a more distinguished place, his humility gained him all the more
honour.
Humility has always been one of the characteristics of great men. When Thomas
Hardy was so famous that any newspaper would gladly have paid enormous
sums for his work, he used sometimes to submit a poem, and always with it a
stamped and addressed envelope for the return of his manuscript should it be
rejected. Even in his greatness he was humble enough to think that his work
might be turned down.
There are many stories and legends of the humility of Principal Cairns. He
would never enter a room first. He always said, "You first, I follow." Once, as he
came on to a platform, there was a great burst of applause in welcome. He stood
aside and let the man after him come first and began himself to applaud. He
never dreamed that the applause could possibly be for him; he thought it must be
for the other man. It is only the little man who is self-important.
How can we retain our humility?
(i) We can retain it by realizing the facts. How ever much we know, we still know
26

very little compared with the sum total of knowledge. However much we have
achieved, we still have achieved very little in the end. However important we may
believe ourselves to be, when death removes us or when we retire from our
position, life and work will go on just the same.
(ii) We can retain it by comparison with the perfect. It is when we see or hear the
expert that we realize how poor our own performance is. Many a man has
decided to burn his clubs after a day at golf s Open Championship. Many a man
has decided never to appear in public again after hearing a master musician
perform. Many a preacher has been humbled almost to despair when he has
heard a real saint of God speak. And if we set our lives beside the life of the Lord
of all good life, if we see our unworthiness in comparison with the radiance of his
stainless purity, pride will die and self-satisfaction will be shrivelled up.
BURKITT, "It was observed before, that our blessed Saviour dined publicly on
the sabbath day with several Pharisees and lawyers: that which is here worthy of
our notice is this; how holy and suitable our Lord's discourse was to the
solemnity of that day; may it be the matter of our imitation! It is not unlawful for
friends to dine together on the Lord's day, provided their discourse be suitable to
the day, such as our Lord's here; for observing how the company then at the
table did affect precedency, and taking place one of another; he that before their
eyes had cured a man of a bodily dropsy, attempts to cure the person that dined
with him of the tympany of pride.
Where note, that it is not the taking, but the affecting of the highest places and
uppermost rooms, that our Saviour condemns. There may and ought to be a
precedency amongst persons; it is according to the will of God, that honor be
given to whom honor is due; and that the most honorable person should sit in the
most honorable places: for grace gives a man no exteriour preference: it makes a
man glorious indeed, but it is glorious within.
Note farther, the way our Saviour directs persons to, in order to their attaning
real honor, both from God and men, namely, by being little in our own eyes, and
in lowliness of mind, esteeming others better than ourselves; as God will abase,
and men will despise, the proud and haughty, so God will exalt, and men will
honor, the humble person: Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he
that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
BI 7-11, "He put forth a parable to those which were bidden
Christ’s great text book
“When He marked how they … ” The book of daily life was Christ’s great text-book.
What every man did, gave Him a subject; every word He heard started a novel theme.
We poor preachers of the nineteenth century often cannot find s text, and say to one
another, “What have you been preaching about? I wish I could get hold of another
subject or two.” Poor professional dunderheads! and the great book of life—joy,
sorrow, tragedy, comedy—is open night and day. Jesus Christ putforth a parable, not
after He had been shutting Himself up for a fortnight, and reading the classic
literature of immemorial time, but “when He marked how they … ” Keep your eyes
open if you would preach well keep your eyes open upon the moving panorama
27

immediately in front of you, omit nothing, see every line and every hue, and hold
your ear open to catch every tone, loud and sweet, low and full of sighing, and all the
meaning of the masonry of God. Jesus Christ was, in this sense of the term,
preeminently an extemporaneous speaker, not an extemporaneous thinker. There is
no occasion for all your elaborate preparation of words, if you have an elaborate
preparation of yourself. Herein the preacher would do well, not so much to prepare
his sermon as to prepare himself—his life, his manhood, his soul. As for the words,
let him rule over them, call them like servants to do his behest, and order them to
express his regal will. What sermons our Saviour would have if He stood here now!
He would mark how that man came in and tried to occupy two seats all to himself—a
cunning fallow, a man who has great skill in spreading his coat out and looking big,
so as to deceive a whole staff of stewards. What a sermon lie would have evoked on
selfishness, on want of nobleness and dignity of temper! How the Lord would have
shown him how to make himself half the size, so as to accommodate some poor weak
person who had struggled miles to be here, and is obliged to stand. I have been
enabled to count the number of pews from the front of the pulpit where the man is. I
paused there. My Lord—keener, truer—would have founded a sermon on the ill-
behaviour. He would have spoken about us all. He would have known who came here
through mere curiosity, who was thinking about finery and amusement, who was
shopkeeping even in the church, buying and selling to-morrow in advance; and upon
every one of us, preacher and hearers, lie would have founded a discourse. Do you
wonder now at His graphic, vivid talk? Do you wonder now whence He got His accent
Can you marvel any longer to what He was indebted for His emphasis, His clearness,
His directness of speech, His practical exhortation? He put forth a parable when He
remarked how they did the marketing, dressed themselves, trained or mistrained
their families, went to church for evil purposes, spake hard words about one another,
took the disennobling instead of the elevating view of their neigh hours’ work and
conversation. The hearers gave that preacher His text, and what they gave lie took,
and sent back again in flame or in blessing. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
Sit not down in the highest room
Lessons
1. That Christianity is intended to enter into our whole conduct, not only when
we are engaged in religious exercises, but even in our social intercourse with our
fellow-creatures. Nothing, you see, can be a greater mistake than to suppose that
religion is to be confined to the church or to the closet. It is intended to regulate
our thoughts and passions, and to dispose us always to cherish those dispositions
which are amiable.
2. We infer from this passage that humility is a disposition essential to true
Christianity, which ought to be exercised, not only on great occasions, but at all
times; and that it does not consist merely in speeches, but includes actions done
even in the most common intercourse of life.
3. Nothing can be more true than the declaration of our Saviour in the eleventh
verse: “For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted.” In uttering this maxim He addresses human feelings.
He allows that all men aspire after distinction and honour, but requires that these
should be sought after by humility. For he who is not humble, but cherishes pride
and vanity, shall be subjected to mortification and disgrace. On the other hand,
all are ready to raise the humble man, and to rejoice in his exaltation. Even if he
should pass unnoticed by his fellow-creatures, the exercise of humility will
28

constantly improve him, and will at length enable him, with the blessing of God,
to attain the true dignity which belongs to superior excellence: “For the kingdom
of heaven is his.” (J. Thomson, D. D.)
Christ’s table-talk
Some interesting volumes have been published under the title of Table-Talk. That of
Luther is well known, in which many striking sayings of the great reformer are
preserved, which would otherwise have sunk into oblivion. To other works of a
biographical character, the above designation might have been appropriately given,
especially Boswell’s “Life of Johnson.” We need not say that its chief charm, the one
feature in which its interest and value pre-eminently consists, is not the incidents it
contains, but the conversational observations which are recorded. The table-talk,
however, of Luther and Johnson, instructive and important as it was, is not for a
moment to be compared with that to which we are permitted to listen on the present
occasion. We have in this chapter, as well as in many other parts of the gospel
narratives, the table-talk of Christ. And while in His more public addresses, “never
man spake like this man,” the same can be said of Him with equal truth concerning
all He uttered in those social gatherings to which, from various motives, He was
occasionally invited.
The gospel inculcates good manners
There are no manners so refined and graceful as those taught in the gospel, because
the gospel refers all to the heart. The habit of “pushing,” as we expressively call it,
whether in affairs of smaller or greater importance, seems expressly discountenanced
by the spirit of the gospel, and something very different is taught. We who have to
bring up our children to make their way in life, should be careful how far we
stimulate in them the pushing instinct. Do not encourage them to be loud and
clamorous in asking, and to make the interest of “Number one” the point of only or
first importance, and to thrust others aside. Doubtless we have much counter-
opinion to meet on points like these, but let us hold to it that the manners which are
pervaded by the evangelical spirit and temper are the true manners, both for the
gentleman and the man of the world. It is said, “If we do not look after ourselves, no
one else will.” Certainly, as our great poet says, “Self-love is not so vile a sin as self-
neglecting.” But this is not the point. It is a self-love indulged so far that it becomes
indifferent to the rights of others; it is the restless desire to get out of our proper
place, and seize that which belongs to another, which is condemned. The world is
always glad of people who are bent upon doing their duty and who keep their place,
and takes delight in putting down those who do not know their place, and would
grasp at honours not their due. Christ’s lesson is one that comes home to us. It is not
in the first instance a lofty and spiritual lesson, but a hint for our behaviour in the
world of every day. And it is observable that He appeals to two very powerful
passions—the sense of shame and the love of honour. If, in effect He says, you will
persist in snatching at honours or advantages to which you are not entitled, you are
on your way to be ridiculed, perhaps to be disgraced. If, on the other hand, you take a
low place, lower, possibly, than that to which you are entitled, the chances are all in
your favour. You may be promoted, and your promotion will bring honour upon you.
An Oriental proverb says, “Sit in your place, and no man can make you rise.” In other
words, at life’s feast sit down where all will accord you room, where none will dispute
your right to be—a place that is lowly, therefore not envied; and there you may sit in
peace and comfort. No man can disturb you in a place secured to you by the good will
and respect of your neighbours. How much better this than to be contending for a
position which the spite of others will not permit you to enjoy, and from which,
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sooner or later, you are likely to be removed. To how lofty a religious application is
this lesson carried in the parable of the Pharisee and the publican! (E. Johnson, M.
A.)
Amongst the lowly
We are all the subjects of love and of truth. We should indeed be dishonoured by
absence from the feast; but as present, we show our fitness for honour by placing
ourselves at the disposal of our royal host. We take the lowest room, and in that
bright presence not the remotest corner is dark. Admission even, without promotion,
is happiness. But Love, with his truth-anointed eyes, will soon see at which of the
lesser tables we are suited to preside; among which group of guests we may best
receive and dispense joy; and in what place and office of the festival we shall find our
strength most free for generous exertion. Possibly, Love may see that we shell find it
the truest promotion to remain in the lowest room and keep the door, and make
those happy who, not fitted as yet to occupy high places, were nevertheless thought
worthy of admission. Some of the great must always remain amongst the lowly, lest
these become neglected and desponding, and a lowly heart is needed for this service.
Perhaps our Saviour was sitting in a humble place, that the humbler part of the
company might see and hear Him; and had declined, though with acknowledgment,
the courteous request of the Pharisee that He would “come up higher.” (T. T. Lynch.)
Promotion not to be sought apart from ability
There is a weapon much used in the contests of life—the elbow. We elbow our way on
in the world. And there is another weapon, less regarded, but powerful—the knee. We
must stoop the back to succeed in husbandry; and we must bend the knee to subdue
the evil power that assails us from below, the enemy, whose strength is in his pride.
And humility is not a temper to be put off on promotion; it is our safeguard in the
sorrows of our early career, our ornament in elevation. At the first, like a shield—
beautiful as well as protective; and at the last, like health—safety as well as beauty. If,
then, you ask, Am I sure of promotion if I take the lowest place? Yes, sure, we reply, if
you take it with a lowly heart. But many seek promotion, as if it were—in a spiritual,
that is, in a real, sense—possible, apart from true ability. Will any one blame the
sapling for desiring to become an oak? or even the little forget-me-not for wishing to
be made the memorial of some good man’s friendship? No; nor will we blame any
man for asking a field for his strength, and an opportunity for his talent. Rut many
seek promotion with little thought of service and capacity. As if one should come to
us, complaining of his lot, and we should say, “I need a captain for one of my ships;
will you take the post?” “Captain of a ship,” he exclaims, “I never was at sea.” “Oh,”
but we say, “there are two hundred men on board to do your bidding.” “Ah,” but he
cries, “I could not even tell them what sails to unfurl.” “But,” we add, “the ship is
going on a lucrative voyage; the captain will be well remunerated.” “Ah,” he says, “I
could take the money.” And, indeed, that is what he seeks. Men may not know how to
earn a loaf, still less how to make and to bake one; but they know that they could eat
it. They may know themselves unable to fulfil a high function, yet they do not deem a
high chair unsuitable for them, because the cushion is soft! True promotion,
however, is like that of the captain, who is the first man in the rule of a storm, and
the last man in flight from a peril. No man should wish for degrees of wealth and
praise unsuited to his inward attainments. He cannot indeed be rich to good ends, to
his own welfare or his neighbour’s, without being wise and good. He cannot honestly
and safely receive the praise of men unless he deserves their love. Humility is then
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the necessary condition of all true and abiding promotion. All going forward that
comes of a vain heart comes to a bad end. Vanity raised us; into “vanity” we sink. We
have but stepped on, to be put back again. Now we begin with shame to take the
lowest room. Humility does not imply, but is inconsistent with, baseness of spirit. It
knows self as feeble, because it knows God as strong. It is the vision of God’s glory
that gives us the discovery of our own poverty; we feel, but not abjectly, our
dependence upon Him. We are utterly yet hopefully dependent. It is He who shall
appoint to us our places, we seeking first to do the duties next us in the best way;
content with a low place because of a good work, wishing for a higher one because of
a better. Through humility the lowest things are well done; and as we rise, we shall
need the knowledge that experience of such work will bring us, for we shall need to
direct, and still occasionally to perform, labours which once exclusively occupied us.
The wise master-builder is acquainted with the humbler tools and meaner services
his work needs, and so can both control and encourage all the workmen he employs.
Humility may fail to secure earthly promotion, and yet the capable man will often
rise through it to places of serviceable power and pleasant esteem.
Results in this world do not at once and invariably illustrate spiritual laws, but they
frequently do so. (T. T. Lynch.)
Take the lowest room
Most persons agree to say that their earliest religious days were their happiest and
best. May not this be traced, in part at least, to the fact that, at the beginning, we all
take “a lower place” than we do afterwards? Was not it that then you were least in
your own eyes—that your feelings were more child-like—that you had more abasing
views of the wickedness of your own heart than now? Or, you say, “My prayers are
not effectual. I do not get answers when I pray, either for myself or others; and, in
consequence of this discouragement, prayer has become lately a different thing to
me, a thing without life, a thing without reality—then I remind you, Those that point
their arrows high must draw theirbows down low. You must “go lower.” Remember
that it was to one who felt herself “a dog” that our Lord said, “O woman, great is thy
faith;” and then gave her everything she asked—“Be it unto thee even as thou wilt.”
Be sure there is “a lower room” in prayer than you have yet found. You must discover
it, and go down into it, or you cannot find real peace of mind. Now, let us go into this
matter a little deliberately. You use the ordinances of the Church and the private
means of grace. It is well. Do you look for peace because you do this You say, “No; I
look for peace because I trust in Christ.” That is better. But there is “ a lower room”
than that; and therefore a better way than that. We get forgiveness—and peace, the
fruit of forgiveness—not because we do anything, or believe anything, or because we
are anything—but because God is God, and because Christ is Christ. It is the out-
flowing of the free sovereignty of God’s eternal grace, which, by believing, we take—
and we, where are we?—but for that grace, in hell! You are to feel the amazing
distance which there is between you and a holy God. “God, be merciful.” That is “the
lowest room;” and the way home is nearer and quicker—“I tell you that man went
down to his house justified.” (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
True humility
“Sit down in the lowest room.” But first, let me guard my meaning. To say, “I am not
a child of God, He does not love me,” this is not to “sit down in the lowest room.”
This lowers God’s grace, but it does not lower you; rather, it puts you up. Neither is it
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to “go down, and sit in the lowest room “ to reason upon any duty; it is above that—
“Who am I that I should do such a work as this?” Do you not know that you are one
thing, and the grace of God that is in you is another thing? Nor yet is it to “take the
lowest room “ to be ignorant of, or to deny the possession of talents which God has
given you. Still less is it intended that these words should extend to heaven, and that
we should be content with the “lowest place” in the “many mansions.” I can never for
a moment hold with those who say, “Let me get only within the gate of heaven, and I
shall be satisfied.” Avoiding, then, these misinterpretations, let us now consider what
is the real meaning of the words. First, towards God. What is “the lowest room”
towards God? Now I conceive it to be, to be content simply to take God at His word,
without asking any questions, or raising any doubts, but to accept, at His hand, all
that God graciously vouchsafes to give you, the pardon, and the peace; to be a
receptacle of love, a vessel into which, of His free mercy, He has poured, and is
pouring now, and will go on to pour for ever, the abundance of His grace. Next, it is
to be just what God makes you, to rest where He places you, to do what He tells you,
only because He is everything, and you are nothing, conscious of a weakness which
can only stand by leaning, and an ignorance which needs constant teaching. But now,
how to man? This is the point which I wish to view this morning as practically as I
can. But unless the relationship is right with God, it is quite useless to expect it will
be right with man. Then make the well-balanced sense of what you are, and what God
is, the inner sense of weakness and strength which makes true humility, a subject of
express, special prayer; that when you pass into company, you may be able to know,
by a quick perception, what your own proper part is—to speak, or to be silent; to take
a lead, or to go into the shade. But whichever it be, bare prepared yourself to put self
out of sight; do not make yourself the hero of what you say, specially when you speak
of personal religion. I)o not expect, or lay yourself out for notice, but seeks others’
preferment. Anything approaching to argument would be an occasion which would
especially call for this self-discipline of “taking the lowest room.” Be on your guard,
then, that self does not go up. Have a strong jealousy for the right, and fight for it;
but do not confound your victory and the vindication of truth. If there be anything
particular to be said, or any work to be done, and you see another willing to do it, and
who can do it better than you, stand by, and let that other speak or act. But if there be
not such a one, it will be as true humility to go boldly forward, and do it yourself.
Only copy your great Pattern, and retire out of sight the moment it is said or done. If
there be one among those you meet who is less thought of than the rest, show to that
one the more kindness and attention. Do not put yourself up into the chair of
judgment upon any man; but rather see yourself as you are—everybody is inferior in
something, far worse than that man in somethings. If you wish to do good to any one,
remember that the way is not to treat him as if you were above him, but to go down
to his level, below his level, and to speak to him respectfully. Sympathy is power; but
there is no sympathy where there is self. If, brethren, you have failed in any relation
towards God or man, the reason is mostly that you have not yet gone “low” enough. If
you have not peace—if you have few or no answers to prayer—here, probably, is the
chief cause. Therefore just try the remedy, “Go and sit down in the lower room.” If
you are troubled with suggestions of infidelity, the main reason is this, intellect has
gone up too high. You are sitting as judge upon the Bible, when you ought rather to
be the culprit at its bar. Be more a little child, handling the immensities of the mind
of the Eternal. “ Go and sit down in the lower room.” And if you have not succeeded
in your mission of life, this is the root; if you will go and be less, you will do much
more. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
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