I started wondering what kind of Labor Day picnic Jesus would plan. Would he actually plan a party like the one he told the Pharisees to plan?
Jesus knew the rules, too. Just because he broke them didn’t mean he didn’t know them.
As he arrived at the dinner, he discovered that he wasn’t the only special guest. In front of him as he walked in was a man who was retaining fluid. It’s not clear where. It could have been that his ankles were swollen, or his abdomen. He wasn’t well. And there are some commentators that suggest that people had this problem because of judgment from God for some bad behavior. Like the story of Pinocchio’s nose which grew when he lied, this man was believed to have something going on.
So when would a man who was under judgment be invited to a Pharisee’s house? Give that Jesus was being carefully watched, it sounds like a trap. Someone invited this man with an obvious physical ailment to be in front of Jesus when Jesus walked into a party on the Sabbath day, the day of rest, carefully monitored by the Pharisees.
“Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” Jesus asks. He knows what the Pharisees believe. He’s been running into their complaints for a month of Sabbaths. And he knows that they won’t answer him.
He walks to the man, close enough to touch him. And then he grabs his hand, puts his arm around the man’s shoulder, holds his face between his hands. Jesus takes hold of the man.
And heals him.
No prayer. No commentary. Jesus HEALS the man. And sends him out.
The man who showed up to be a trap for Jesus was freed from the trap by Jesus. And freed from his symptoms as well.
Jesus gives the Pharisees a chance to assess his behavior. “If you have a child or an ox in the well, will you pull it out?” They sit silently. No one wants to become part of the trap themselves.
So the first thing about a picnic that Jesus plans is this: He’s not going to let us decide who he’s going to judge. Don’t invite people thinking that Jesus will shame them. Don’t invite people intending to point out what’s wrong with them. Because Jesus is good at setting people free.
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300 words a day 