EXPOSITION. the evangelist with dramatic clearness: CHAPTER XIV. "And, behold, there was a. certain man Vers. 1-6.-The Pharisee's feast on a before him which,'' etc. In an instant aabbath day. The healing of tl1e sick wit/, Jesus grasped the whole situation. It was dropsy, the sabbath, and there before him wa.s one Ver. 1.-And it oame to paes, aa he went grievously sick with a deadly chronic malady. into the houae of one ofl the ohief Pharisees Would he pass by-contrary to his wont- to eat bread on the sabbath day, Still on such a sufferer? Would he heal him on the the same journey : the Lord was approach- sabbath day? Could he? perhaps thongl:tt ing gra<lually nearer Jerusalem. The house the crafty foes of the great Physician-Teacher. into which he entered this sabbath belonged The disease was a deadly one, utterly incur- to one who was a leading member of the able, as they thought, by earthly means. Pharisee party, probably an influential Ver. 3.-And Jesua answering spake unto rabbi, a man of great wealth, or a member the lawyers and Pharillees, saying, Is it of the Sanhe<lrin. "To eat bread on the lawful to heal on the sabbath day l And sa.bbath day," as a guest, was a usual prac- the Heart-reader read their thoughts, and in tice: such entertainments on the sa.bbath a moment he saw all and llnderstood all, day were very usual: they were often and o.nswered the unasked question of his luxurlous and costly. The only rule ob- host and the assembled guests by putting served was that all the viands provided to them another query, which went to the were cold, everything having been cooked root of the whole matter which they wc:o on a previous dey. Augustiue alludes to pon<lering in their evil hearts. these sabbath feasts as including o.t times Ver. 4.-And they held their peace. W!Ja.t singing and dancing. They watched him, could they say? If they had pressed the This explBins the reason of the invito.tion to absurd restrictions with wliich they hedged the great Teacher, on the part of a leading round the s11bbath day, they felt they would Pharisee, after the Master's bitter denuncia- be crushed by one of the Master's deep and tion of the party (see eh. xi. 39-52). The powerful arguments. They had hoped he feast and its attendant circumstances were would have acted on the impulse of the all arranged, o.nd Jesus' watchful euemiee moment, and healed the sufferer or else we,ited to see what he would do. failed: but his ea.Im question confused them. Ver. 2.-And, behold, there was a oertain And he took him, and healed him, and let man before him which had the dropsy, him go. With one of bis majestic exercises This was the schema of the Pharisee host. of Divine power-so slight a task to Christ The sick man was not one of the invited -the deadly disease was cured in o moment, guests: with the freedom which attends a and then, with quiet crushing contempt, the feast in a large Oriental house, the afflicted Physician passed into the Rabbi, and to the man was introduced, as though by chance, awe-struck guests he put a question : it was with other lookers-on. The skilful plotters his apology for the late infringement of the stationed him in o. promineut position, where traditions of the sabbath day. What had the eyes of the strange Guest would nt once they to say? foll on him. The situation is describe<l by Ver. 5.-And answered them, saying,
1 Cf. Brown's •Divine Glory of Obrist,' pp. 9, 10. 24 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. [en. xiv. 1-35,