Luke pictures our Lord not as a severe ascetic but as a man of human
sympathies and social instincts, mingling freely with his fellow men,
worshiping with them in their synagogues and eating with them in their
homes. No domestic scene in the life of our Lord is sketched with more
detail than that of the Sabbath feast in the house of a Pharisee. Jesus is
pictured as entering with the guests, noting the ranks of society to which
they belong, and taking a leading part in their conversation. Yet he never
for a moment forgot his mission; he seized every opportunity for
delivering some needed message. Here his tones were unusually severe, for
he was among persons who, while formally courteous, were in their hearts
hostile to him; but he showed to all his unfailing grace, and his desire
for their highest good.

While the guests were assembling Jesus saw a man suffering from disease.
He knew that the Pharisees were watching him and would object to his
effecting a cure upon the Sabbath Day and he therefore turned to ask
whether a cure would be lawful. When they hesitated to reply, he healed
the sufferer and then rebuked their hypocrisy, and warned against all
insincerity in religion by reminding these formalists that they would not
hesitate on the Sabbath to rescue a beast they owned; should they regard
it as sinful to deliver a human being from distress? Jesus never
encouraged breaking the Sabbath law, but he taught that this law must be
interpreted by love.

When the guests were seated and Jesus saw how they chose for themselves
the most desirable places, he took occasion to rebuke selfish ambition and
to give a lesson in humility. Evidently, when Jesus advised a guest to
"sit down in the lowest place; that when he that hath bidden thee cometh,
he may say to thee, Friend, go up higher," he was not merely teaching good
manners or worldly wisdom, nor was he advising the pride that masquerades
as humility. He was stating the great law that among his followers true
lowliness and conscious unworthiness in the sight of God are the real
conditions of advancement and honor; "For every one that exalteth himself
shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

Then as Jesus looked around upon the company he took occasion to teach a
lesson in true charity. He told his host--and there was something of
playfulness in his voice--that in selecting guests one should invite not
only the rich, lest he might be so unfortun