Luke 14:1-6

Romans 9:1-5

Psalm 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20

Luke 14:1-6

On a sabbath, Jesus went to dine

at the home of one of the leading Pharisees,

and the people there were observing him carefully.

In front of him there was a man suffering from dropsy.

Jesus spoke to the scholars of the law and Pharisees in reply, asking,

“Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath or not?”

But they kept silent; so he took the man and,

after he had healed him, dismissed him.

Then he said to them

“Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern,

would not immediately pull him out on the sabbath day?”

But they were unable to answer his question.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, every Sunday, I praise you for your work of creation. Every Sunday, I praise you for sending your Son to redeem us from sin and death. Every Sunday, I thank you for sending your Spirit to sanctify your people and bring us into the heavenly Kingdom.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Curing on the Sabbath: Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and stops at the home of a leading Pharisee on the Sabbath to have a meal. This is the third time in the Gospel of Luke that he has a meal at the home of a Pharisee (see Luke 7:36 and 11:37). Once again, the question about working and healing on the Sabbath arises. In today’s passage, there is a contrast between the “leading Pharisee” and the “man suffering from dropsy.” Dropsy was a condition often associated in the ancient world with insatiable thirst. The man with dropsy thirsts for water, but the leading Pharisee thirsts for honor. Jesus often corrects the Pharisaical view of religious practice and asks whether it is lawful to cure on the Sabbath (Luke 6:9). Once again, Jesus uses the teaching technique of the lower to the greater: If you can pull a son or ox out of a cistern on the Sabbath (see Deuteronomy 22:4), then why can’t you pull a man out of dropsy on the Sabbath. This alludes to the original purpose of the Sabbath to commemorate God’s rest and the call of human beings to share in this divine rest and life.

2. The Children of Israel: Today, in the First Reading, we begin to read Romans 9-11, one of the most difficult passages in the New Testament to understand. In these three chapters, Paul begins a profound theological meditation on God’s unwavering faithfulness to his covenant promises. Paul concentrates on the promise to restore the twelve tribes of Israel, even as the Gentiles are being included in salvation history. In Romans 9, Paul anguishes over unbelieving Israel and their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah. In his anguish, Paul knows that the Scriptures testify to God’s sovereign election through figures like Jacob and Esau. Jacob and Esau were both grandsons of Abraham. Jacob represents the faithful remnant, and Esau those who reject the Lord and his plan. The faithful remnant of Israel is also exemplified by the 7,000 faithful Israelites in Elijah’s day. Even though the majority of the northern Kingdom of Israel was worshipping false gods, there was a small, but faithful, remnant of 7,000. This faithful core prefigures the Church’s role in fulfilling Israel’s vocation. Romans 10 shifts to the universality of righteousness by faith and Paul’s typological reading of Deuteronomy 30. The chapter contrasts the law’s external demands with the Incarnate Word’s nearness in Christ, accessible through confession and belief that unites heart and mouth in covenant obedience. Israel’s partial “stumble” over accepting Jesus as the Messiah paradoxically provokes jealousy, spurring the Gospel’s spread to the Gentiles, while affirming that salvation remains rooted in Israel’s scriptures and calling.

3. All Israel will be Saved: In Romans 11, Paul contemplates the mystery of Israel’s temporary hardening as a divine strategy to graft Gentiles into the olive tree of Israel. This ensures the fullness of both peoples’ ingathering into the Kingdom before Christ’s return, culminating in the triumphant declaration that “all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26). Drawing on the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, Paul says that “all Israel will be saved,” but this doesn’t mean that each individual Israelite will be saved, but that the Israelites scattered among the Gentile nations will be brought into the Church and the salvation of Jesus Christ. In Romans 11:33-36, Paul defers to divine wisdom and reminds his readers that God’s plan offers mercy to all – Jews and Gentiles alike. Paul warns against arrogance and urges humility, support for Israel, and hope in covenant restoration as the capstone of salvation history.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you have revealed profound mysteries about salvation. I trust that you will bring me to share in the salvation you have merited for us. Raise me up with your grace and enable me to love as you did.

Living the Word of God: What is my deepest desire? Do I desire above all things the coming and definitive establishment of God’s Kingdom and its justice (righteousness)? How can I overcome earthly and temporal desires?