Jesus Teaches Humility to a House Full of Guests Who Were In Dire Need of Divine Instruction

Jesus Teaches About the Importance of Humility

(Luke chapter 14, verses 1–14)

Today as we move on to chapter 14 of the Gospel of Luke, we find ourselves in an entirely new setting than we were previously. As before back in chapter 11, Jesus was invited to the home of one of the Pharisees for a formal Sabbath dinner. But, remembering how Jesus had (figuratively) turned the tables on them when they accused him of sinning by healing on the Sabbath, this time around the Pharisees plotted to entrap our Lord and Savior and so once again attempt to discredit him and his ministry. So they seated him just behind a man who was chronically ill with “dropsy”, as the Bible calls it. This is an old term for the swelling of soft tissues due to the accumulation of excess water in the extremities of the body. Thus, the person might have edema due to congestive heart failure. Having gotten that little definition out of the way, let’s begin today’s study at verse 1.

“One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. There in front of him was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus asked the Pharisees and the experts in the Law, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?’ But…