June 6, 2026 · David Farmer
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“One Sabbath, when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” And they could not reply to these things.”
Luke 14:1-6 →
## Anything Wrong
If this were your donkey, would you help him get out? Would you stop and check the calendar first? Would it be wrong to help him on one day and not another? Have you ever caught someone in an act that leaves them with no reply to defend themselves? Have you ever been caught doing something that you couldn’t reply for? I’ve even been caught at work doing what I thought was right and soon learn from the boss that it’s very wrong from his perspective. Jesus makes another huge statement here against legalism. Legalism can bind us up so much that we don’t do anything “good” in the name of our religion. In fact, it is “in the name of religion” that most people are bound. Doing the acts of religious observance aren’t necessarily anything wrong, but doing nothing beyond that...
## In A Well on Sabbath
Just recently, in Luke 13:10-17, we looked at a bunch of donkey lovin’ hypocrites. Jesus unbound a woman from demonic oppression and led her to freedom, while the synagogue ruler only untied his donkey to lead it to water. Here He compares a man with dropsy to a son in a well. If you think about it, this is almost comical. Today dropsy is called edema. It’s a condition of gathering fluid and swelling in different parts of the body. But see: this man has fallen into a bad sickness of water
overtaking him. A son in a well would definitely be in a bad situation of water. Now what if he fell into the well on the Sabbath?! Legally, you would yell down the well and say, “Just hold on! We’ll get you out...tomorrow!” But realistically, any one of us would probably start acting without considering what day it was. Jesus uses the word “immediately” to indicate they wouldn’t think twice about it.
## Self-Check
## Are we getting the point?
When you see a soul despair, do you deliberate long over the decision to help or not, or put a hand out to assist without considering? You may think you’re doing all the right stuff, but when the Boss comes, it could be very wrong from His perspective. How would you reply? How could you reply?
## Forrest and Jenny