It is a holiday. Jesus is invited to a feast. Let’s bring it to our time: Someone invites us to a festive lunch. The host watches us, along with the other diners, to see how we behave. An unpleasant and tense situation. And as is customary, something gets complicated, and the situation becomes—at least—curious. A sick man appears, not invited to the table, but came to Jesus specifically to be healed.
Jesus asks, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” But they were silent. No one answers; they are still on alert. They think: We will not be so easily tempted to express ourselves; let it be expressed!” ” And Jesus does what he does regularly: he touches and heals. So he took him, healed him, and let him go. Jesus frees people with his words and gestures—he unties them from what binds them and lets them go freely. He does not bind them to himself either: they are free from having to be grateful to him “from now until death” for having turned to them and healed them. In freedom, Jesus chooses to do good by setting people free.
Jesus is also free in his relationship with God’s holy law: he is not some pious man who trembles before the scribes and Pharisees. He does not do what they think he should do. He puts man at the center of his attention and does good to him.
Why ? Because this is how God looks at man, he loves man. Nowhere in the passage is it said that this dropsy posed a mortal danger to this man. Nowhere is it said that this man would have died or that his condition would have worsened significantly if Jesus had not come to his aid at that moment. He could have waited. He could have said, “Wait until another day and then come.” Or at least he could have waited until after so many guests had left. But Jesus loves the man. He does good. Let’s do the same!
