August 27. Luke 14. Eugene Wilson

Humility and the Sabbath

It’s not “good enough” to simply, hold firmly to what you have been taught to believe. You must ask the question, “Why do I believe what I believe?”

Examination is crucial. It is vital to dig deeper into any given subject or any way you are entrusting your well-being. We are not to just accept the things which were told.  

The Pharisees were blindly observing their traditions. In the case of the Sabbath, they were not considering the true purpose of it. Why it was given? In Mark 2:27, Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” But this was not their focus; they were just simply trying to trap Jesus. 

So, Jesus posed to them, which seems to me, a rhetorical question, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” (Luke 14:3). I believe that is why they didn’t bother to answer the question, because the obvious answer was, “yes.”  

To reinforce this, Jesus gave them a couple of practical examples, and “they had nothing to say” (Luke 14:5). The simple examples reenforced the first question in the positive.  

Jesus further pointed out to them that they should not honor themselves but honor others.  This is how their thinking (and our thinking) should be, we should take the position of humility and serve others (Luke 14:8-14). We should not look for or expect to be compensated by each other, but rather by God.