If Jesus can heal people why does he do it so randomly? Why not heal everyone?
Gospel Reading: Luke 14:1, 7–14
For Sunday, August 29, 2010: Year C - Ordinary 22
Here are three pericopes, connected loosely by the theme of eating: a healing, a parable and an apocalypse. But is there some progression here, some interdependence, even some awkward omission? Like, why does the Revised Common Lectionary not include those five missing verses (2-6)?
There is one thing that seems to run through this week's Gospel reading: Jesus' rudeness. Maybe combativeness is a better way to put it. Maybe we're too embarrassed by Jesus' manners, but Luke 14:2-6, sets this whole thing up. Jesus is walking with his host and the other guests on the way to the meal.
What are you thinking?
I don’t know if they were walking in silence before Jesus speaks up or they were making polite conversation, but then Jesus sees the man with dropsy and he turns to his companions and challenges them. He knows their position on the subject. It has come up before. Pointing to the man, he asks if it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath, and they say nothing. Jesus heals him and sends him on the way and then schools/insults them, "Wouldn’t you pull your child or your ox out of a well on the Sabbath?" They again say nothing. What are they thinking? Has he bested them, or are they just unsure about this guy?
Then they arrive for the meal. The other guests seem to be taking their places, but Jesus stands apart watching them, then shaking his head he says, "See that is the problem with you people, choosing the best spots." Paraphrasing Proverbs 25:6-7, he says, "Don’t you know you are going to humiliate your selves? I’ll tell you what to do. Take the worst spots, then the host asks you to move up, and bingo—everyone there will honor you!" Again the others say nothing. What are they thinking?
After he is done insulting the guests he turns on the host. "And you know what your problem is? You invite people just so you will be honored, paid back. What are you thinking inviting your friends and relatives to eat with you, you should invite the poor, the crippled, and people that can never pay you back. Do that and you’ll get paid back — when you die!" The host says nothing. What is he thinking?
How not to humiliate yourself.
What is the point of all this? The first part is about hypocritical adherence to the law; the second part is some helpful advice on how not to humiliate yourself at a dinner party, and how to instead bring honor to yourself; and the third part is about how you should never bring honor to yourself. Instead bring shame on your self by inviting unclean guests. What sets Jesus off? Is it their suspicion of him? The reading opens with, “They were watching him closely.” Why do they say nothing? Are they being polite?
And amidst all of the Emily Post advice, Jesus heals the man with dropsy. It's an almost random healing, related in an offhanded fashion by our erstwhile Gospel writer. And I want to ask Luke, "What gives? Who's this guy with dropsy, and why did Jesus heal him?" Some details would be nice. But we get none, leading me to ask...
The Hardest Question
If Jesus can heal people why does he do it so randomly? Why not heal everyone?
Russell Rathbun is a preacher at House of Mercy in St. Paul, Minnesota, the author of Midrash on the Juanitos (Cathedral Hill Press, 2010) and the curator of The Hardest Question.
