Mercy Fulfils God’s Law!

Friday, October 30, 2026

Phil 1: 1-11; Lk 14: 1-6

Today’s Gospel highlights the greatness of a human person created in God’s image and likeness.

A leading Pharisee invites Jesus to a meal. The setup is such that everyone has been watching him carefully. In front of that crowd, Jesus chooses to heal a man suffering from dropsy. 

In the process, Jesus asks the crowd two questions. They remain silent on both occasions. Though their silence may seem harmless, it is actually strategic. With these two questions, Jesus wants to spark a discussion about God’s law. He wants to shape the crowd’s understanding of it. However, they resist what would have been a wonderful moment of learning and enlightenment. Their hard-heartedness only disappoints Jesus. 

In Jesus’ healing of the man suffering from dropsy, we find three important insights. 

1. For Jesus, the man suffering from dropsy is not a hypothetical or imaginary case. His visible suffering demands Jesus’ urgent intervention. Here the Lord wants to teach the crowd about the usefulness of the law. By healing the man, Jesus shows that holiness is often revealed through compassion, though they understood God’s law as detached from mercy. 

2. The crowd finds Jesus’ second question hard to refute. With this question, Jesus means that if rescuing their own son or animal on the Sabbath does not violate the law, why can’t they recognize the urgency of healing a person in pain? God’s law cannot be applied for self-serving reasons; it must genuinely serve others.

3. The crowd’s strategic silence betrays their refusal to be led to truth regarding God’s law. A reasoned debate demands openness. By choosing silence, they reveal hearts that resist reason and truth. Thus, their silence is merely avoidance, not humility. In the end, Jesus does not leave the man at the mercy of a lifeless law which God never intended.

Let us pray that we may reveal the heart of God through our words and actions. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar