NOTES for Лк 14:1-6
It is striking that the Pharisees remain silent in response to Christ’s question about whether it is lawful to heal on the Sabbath. Deep down, they actually believed that it was not lawful. Whether healing constitutes work, “doing one’s own business,” which is forbidden on the Sabbath, is a major question. The Pharisees thought it was work, but their opinion was far from self-evident. More importantly, the Pharisees believed that a person who had been ill for a long time could wait until the next day so as not to create a troubling situation. After all, perhaps the Almighty might still consider healing to be work and therefore a violation of the commandment. It is this point of view with which the Lord disagrees. He compares the sick man, who at last reached Him at the cost of enormous effort, to an ox that has fallen into a pit and must be pulled out immediately lest it perish. Theological doubts and ritual recede into the background before the suffering of a person who has finally appeared before the face of God. This is precisely what makes faith in Christ for us an answer to the question of life and death, rather than to the question of conduct that is more or less sinful.