Luke 14:1

He went into the house. There are no clues as to the time and place of this incident, except that the context in which it appears in the Gospel of Luke implies that it may have been in Peraea, between the Feast of Dedication in the winter of A.D. 30-31 and Passover the following spring.

One of the chief Pharisees. Compare a previous occasion on which Jesus had accepted the dinner invitation of a Pharisee (chapter 11:37-54). The present narrative implies that Jesus’ host upon this occasion was an influential and wealthy rabbi. There is no Scripture record that Jesus ever refused an invitation, whether it was from Pharisee or publican (see on Mark 2:15-17).

Eat bread. A common Jewish idiom meaning “dine.”

Sabbath. It seems to have been fairly common among the Jews of Christ’s time to entertain on the Sabbath. The food was, no doubt, prepared the day before and kept warm, or possibly eaten cold. It was considered unlawful to light a fire on the Sabbath (see on Exodus 16:23; 35:3); hence, all food was to be prepared on the day preceding the Sabbath (see on Exodus 16:23). A feast to which friends were invited was commonly viewed as a type of the blessings of eternal life (see on Luke 14:15; cf. COL 219).

They watched him. No doubt there were spies present on this occasion (see on chapter 11:54), watching with evil intent (see on chapter 6:7). Whether the spies had arranged for the man with “dropsy” to be present, we do not know. But they had observed in times past that Jesus did not hesitate to heal a man on the Sabbath, in contravention of their legal tradition, and probably they presumed that He would again do so. Altogether seven instances of the healing of individuals on the Sabbath are reported in the gospel narratives, this being the seventh and the last in point of time (see Luke 4:33-36, 39; 6:6-10; 13:10-17; 14:2-4; John 5:5-10; 9:1-14).